Meaningful Music with the Under 5's
Funded by Arts Council England and Gravesham Borough Council, I was able to further explore, develop and research the use of meaningful music and meaningful music activities within musical play.
I did this by partnering with libraries and other community settings across Kent to run music sessions curated following a period of research and consultation with community groups and families within the local area. The second strand of this project involved working with 6 early years settings throughout the year, in 6 week blocks to provide sessions based on the needs of their children and, to work with staff to give them a ‘toolkit’ of musical activities and songs to use with the children regularly.
There are so many benefits of music within children and music activities can be linked with almost every learning goal within the EYFS framework. Mini Maestros uses this more holistic approach within music practice to intrinsically link musical activity and a child's development. Furthermore, this project will, in part, focus on meaningful interactions including music. Participants (including parents and staff) will share their own musical interests each of which will be acknowledged within the project. As well as the positive impacts that this will have on the participants sharing their music, there are also huge benefits to the whole group in hearing many different genres and styles of music some of which they may never have been exposed to.
Read all about the outcomes of this project here.
Past Projects
Mini Maestros at The Woodville & Coldharbour Library
I am passionate that, we should be offering the highest level of creative experiences to our communities, including children and families, and this activity will enable me to make the transition to working in this area fully.
Development aims:
· Consult with local theatres, arts spaces, parents and community groups
· Continue to develop and curate my content
· Run high-quality pilot workshops and start to build a strong foundation for me to build on in the future.
The long-term objectives are to:
1. create a high-quality creative experience for babies, children and families
2. hold spaces to bring together parents who have been isolated during the pandemic
3. partner with arts-based organisations and use their community spaces to expose families to their local creative spaces and help to develop audiences for the venues.
This project met all of its objectives and allowed Mini Maestros Music to continue to develop and further build on the need to make music for the under 5's and their family more accessible to all.
Here's what people said about this project:
Our child has learnt lots of different music by attending these sessions.
We now have an increased interest in dancing and music
My child has gained more confidence around other children
Thank you so much – we loved it!
Nothing could be improved, it’s just wonderful.
We have learnt new songs to sing by coming to the sessions.
We enjoyed everything!