Music One-to-One
Final Report
March 2006
Acknowledgements
Project Team
Helen Brayley: Music Practitioner: Exeter
Eleanor Davies: Research Assistant, University of Exeter
Tracey Milne: Music Practitioner: Oxford
Dr Alison Street: Project Officer, University of Exeter
Dr Susan Young: Project Director, University of Exeter
Rachael Cox Interviewer, Birmingham
Sarah Shakespeare Interviewer, Birmingham
With thanks to the Esmeé Fairbairn Foundation and Youth Music who funded the
project.
We are grateful to the setting managers and staff who supported the project by
enabling us to organise groups and run sessions in their settings. We also thank the
mothers and children who took part in the project and the practitioners who allowed
us to interview them and to observe them.
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Contents
Executive Summary
Key Findings
Implication for Policy and Practice
Implications for Research
Page No.
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Section 1
Background and Rationale
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Project Aim
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Section 2
Stage 1: Information Gathering
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Everyday Music with Under Two-year-olds
2.3 Findings
2.3.1 Resources for music
2.3.2 Recorded Music from Audio and Mixed Media Sources
2..3.3 Singing and Song Repertoire
2.3.4 Music at Bedtime
2.4 Conclusion
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Section 3
Stage 1: Information Gathering
3.1 Interviews with early childhood music practitioners
3.2 Background qualifications and training
3.3 Employment status
3.4 Expanding practice
3.5 Structured Sessions
3.6 The purpose of music with under-twos
3.7 Conclusion
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Section 4
Stage 2: Fieldwork: Trials
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Trial One
4.2.1 Analysis of pre-and post-intervention interviews
4.2.2 Trial 1: Discussion
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4.3 Trial Three
4.4 Conclusion
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Section 5
Stage 3: Dissemination
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Dissemination activity
5.2.1 Family Centre Staff: The Roundabout Centre, Barton, Oxford
5.2.2 Britannia Road Family Centre, Banbury, Oxon
5.2.3 Workshops with Trio Childminders’ Association
5.2.4 Liaison with Pre-School Music Association (PRESMA)
5.2.5 Leicester Toddler Time Library Assistants
5.2.6 Rutland Children’s Services Workshop
5.2.7 Bookshare: Leicester
5.2.8 South Asian Mothers Group
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Section 6
Final Summary
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Recommendations
6.3 Postscript
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References
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Appendices
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3
Executive Summary
This report presents a research project which ran from November 2004 until March
2006. The aim of the project was to arrive at suggestions and recommendations for
practice in music with under-two-year-olds which are intended to be useful to a wide
range of early years and music practitioners. These suggestions emerged from a
process of information gathering integrated with exploratory practice. The study
investigated the everyday musical experiences of under-two-year olds in the home
through a set of 88 questionnaire/interviews with mothers who visited early
childhood settings in central and South West England. In addition, 15 music
practitioners with experience of working with under two-year-olds were interviewed
to explore their background training, versions of practice and the values and
priorities which underpin their work. We also observed sessions given by five of
these practitioners.
The project included 3 trials run by the two project practitioners in 3 different
settings linked to Sure Start units. The aim of these trials was to explore approaches
to practice and in a cyclical action research process of review and forward planning,
decide upon some principles upon which work with under two-year-olds in music
might proceed.
Key Findings
1. Under two-year-olds are experiencing a wealth of music in the home and this
musical experience is integrated into screen-based multi-media, play with
musical toys and sociable play within the family. We challenge those studies
that have tended to report negatively on the demise of parental singing to
very young children by drawing attention to this quantity and variety of
musical experience.
2. Mothers report the value and purpose of musical activity for the regulation of
mood and physical state, benefiting both babies and themselves. Many
mothers use soothing music at bedtime but this is in many instances provided
by toys, mobiles or recorded music in place of singing.
3. Music heard in the home is more likely to be the mothers’ or family members’
choice of music and not music specifically selected for the under two-yearold. The TV, however, is reported as often tuned to children’s TV
programmes and we propose that the musical experiences provided by these
programmes are central.
4. Mothers do not know a wide repertoire of songs for singing to and with their
children, they rely on learning songs from early childhood groups they
attend. They also sing songs with their children taken from TV and radio
(both children’s and adults’).
4
5. Mothers described their under two-year-olds as responding actively to music,
particularly well known recorded music, either on their own or among other
family members. They described their children enjoying being the centre of
attention and of drawing others in to sociable music activity.
6. Mothers value music for a range of purposes, but the more ‘educative’
purposes tended to be emphasised by those with a higher qualifications
background. There may be a mismatch between the aims and purposes for
music expressed by professionals (for language, social skills and musical
development) and those of the mothers they are working with.
7. The majority of music practitioners working with under-twos whom we
interviewed have a formal ‘classical’ music training and/or some kind of
education background. Two practitioners had folk music backgrounds but
none in our sample had popular music or world music backgrounds. We
consider this range of musical background to be typical of early childhood
music practitioners.
8. Early years music practitioners start working in an entrepreneurial way by
setting up private music classes. They seek out short training courses in early
years music, after they have started work in this field, which they fund
themselves. The majority take courses rooted in or strongly influenced by the
Kodaly approach.
9. Where music practitioners have longer-term employment, from an arts or
education organisation, they have developed more integrated ways of
working with settings and practitioners than is possible in short-term funded
projects.
10. There is a ‘consensual’ model of early years music practice which is based on
group singing of a repertoire of children’s songs, movement and instrument
activities, and an ‘elements of music’ approach.
11. The majority of music practitioners describe the aims of their work as being to
develop aspects of the adult-child relationship, to promote musical and
language development and social skills. However, the ideology of adultchild relating and communication is not carried through into the descriptions
of typical activities which are education derived in style. This was further
supported by our observations of music sessions.
12. There is a notion of ‘everyday’ music expressed by some music practitioners
but this tends to be conceived as a one-way process, with expectations that
parents/carers will take activities away from the session, not that practitioners
will seek to find out and build on what families are already doing. The
consequence is a mismatch between what parents/carers may benefit from the
most and what the practitioners consider they need.
5
13. At the end of the trial sessions, the mothers taking part in the project sessions
increased their repertoire of songs and reported that they sung more with
their babies at home. They also gained a repertoire of activities for playing
with and managing the mood and physical state of their children.
14. They valued the flexible, easy pace of the sessions and the opportunity for
social contact with other mothers. Expectations of regular week-by-week
attendance are unrealistic and programmes should be planned accordingly.
Implications for Policy and Practice
The aim of the project was to arrive at a set of recommendations and suggestions for
practice which would be widely applicable to professionals in a range of situations.
These are given in detail in the final summary. However, a number of broader
implications arise from the project which are as follows:
1. Early childhood music practice needs to be identified as a distinct form of
practice with a set of skills, knowledge base, prior and substantial training
requirements and professional networks.
2. There needs to be forms of training for early years music professionals which
equip them for changing roles as the work expands into community early
childhood settings. The training should recognise the priorities and aims of
working in music with families from a diversity of backgrounds and in a
range of situations.
3. This work needs a strong theoretical base, built on an understanding of
communicative musicality in early childhood, drawing on a variety of
approaches in method and incorporating diverse musical styles.
4. Early Childhood Music Practice should emphasise consultation with others;
other professionals, families, community leaders and musicians, so that
perspectives and values are understood and incorporated into ways of
working.
5. Funding for music work should recognise that continuity and consistency are
required to ensure sustainability and ownership.
Implications for Research
This was a medium scale study with a specific aim and at the same time it sought
wide ranging information which was used to inform the exploratory approaches to
practice. These explorations drew attention to areas of importance which deserve
further research. The following areas for further research are identified:
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1. This information has opened up a little explored area, that of the
everyday musical experiences of under two-year-olds, which has
revealed important and significant findings for the field of early
childhood music education. Further studies of young children’s
everyday musical practices are required, particularly among Black
and Minority Ethnic families, and also exploring the impact of
digitisation on music and musical practices in families.
2. Further studies are required which will explore ‘infant directed
singing’ (or a necessary revision of IDS) among working class, Black
and Minority Ethnic families and incorporate this information into
notions of ‘communicative musicality’ which are currently influential
on early years practice.
3. In addition, the interviews with music practitioners, suggest that an
extensive survey of a larger sample early childhood music
practitioners would provide information that would assist in
understanding what factors contribute to effective practice and
contribute to the development of professional models of practice.
4. Further developmental work is required in the form of action research
projects in which practitioners can explore innovative approaches to
early years music practice and assess their impact.
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Section 1
Background and Rationale
1.1 Introduction
Current government policy in the UK is prioritising initiatives aimed at improving
the education and care of the very young. The Sure Start programme (DfEE, 1999)
aims at early intervention in providing support for parents with babies to promote
intellectual and social development, (Sure Start UK, 2001, p.1). The UK government
has recently pledged further generous financing to assist voluntary and community
organisations in the delivery of parenting support. These broad policy and practice
directions are influencing funding allocations within arts organisations resulting in
considerable increased of arts-based activity focused on the very young (Artservice,
2002).
However, these sources of funding, while promoting activity are not primarily
designed to support work which is concerned with the development of models of
practice to ensure they are appropriate, are developmentally beneficial and reaching
the most in need. Funding tends to emphasise value for money, numbers taking
part, providing opportunity and access for wide participation. For their part, arts
organisations are used to applying evaluation procedures, but these tend to be
derived from traditions of audience/participant monitoring and measurements of
satisfaction, tied in to promotional and marketing priorities. They tend to assemble
straightforward information about attendance, the demographic details of
participants and practical details such as access and timing. Information about
responses to content is often collected selectively from comments sheets and reported
as ‘good news’ anecdotes. Rarely is the nature of practice itself examined and
certainly not in consultation and review with early childhood practitioners. Practice
design is left in the hands of providers. A recent report commissioned by the Arts
Council to explore arts initiatives for very young children from birth to school-age
(Clark, Hepstenstall, Simon & Moss, 2002) recommended a number of areas for
development, not one of which was concerned with research into or the strategies to
evolve exemplary models of practice. With broad, national structures representing
considerable investment in place, it was our view that this needs to be followed by
detailed attention to raising, and evening out, the understanding of what might
constitute exemplary versions of practice if resources are to be used effectively.
Motivated by this rationale, the project, Music One-to-one, was initiated.
There is increasing evidence arising from research in a range of fields; music therapy
(Standley, 2002), neuroscience, music psychology and developmental social
psychology, to suggest that musical activity can play a significantly important part in
the early development of children (Young, 2003). Some of this evidence has been
wildly exaggerated in media reporting and so much of this media ‘hype’ needs
taking with a ‘pinch of salt’. However, from reliable sources, there is some
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accumulating evidence that from birth and into the first years of childhood, singing,
rhymes, musical games and listening to music are potentially beneficial to infant and
child physiological and emotional well-being and early learning (see Trehub, 2003a,
2003b for useful overviews; also Calne, 1991.) That traditions of singing, rhyming
and rhythmically moving young babies exist through history and across cultures
(Trehub, Unyk & Trainor, 1993) provides substantiation that singing, quasi-musical
vocal and movement activities contribute to parenting practice with very young
children. Trehub and colleagues identified distinct musical characteristics when
adults and older siblings sing to babies and very young children which she termed
‘infant directed singing’ (see Trehub, 2003a). The broader notion of an envelope of
interaction characterised by music-like characteristics of rhythmic phrasing has been
termed ‘communicative musicality’ by Malloch (2000) and Trevarthen (2000)
Specifically, introducing singing and musical play with babies can provide a frame
for carer-infant interaction. Sensitive, responsive interaction is believed to have a
major impact on social, emotional and cognitive development (Shonkoff & Meisels,
2000). A study of mothers singing to their infants in domestic settings suggested that
mothers are able to engage and develop interaction with their babies more
successfully through vocalising and rhythmic movement than through talking to
them (Street, Young, Tafuri & Ilari, 2003). While singing to babies has traditionally
been part of care-giving routines, recent evidence (Clift, 2002) suggests that this can
no longer be assumed, nor, based on my observations in daycare (Young, 2003), can
it be assumed of professional staff working with babies and toddlers in a range of
settings. Given that musical activity has been shown to assist with the regulation of
affect (Robb, 1999; Trehub, 2003b p.11), current interest in the early development of
‘state’ control, including arousal, attention and affective behaviours (e.g. Super,
Harkness, van den Boom, Granger & Molenaar, 2005) and the influence of
parenting/caring practices on this development supports the hypothesis that
‘communicative musicality’ might constitute an important early influence on the
foundation of children’s later ability to monitor and self-regulate their emotions.
There is, however, an important issue to raise. The research which has given rise to
theoretical accounts of communicative musicality and infant directed speech has
been carried out with volunteering white, middle class mothers in laboratory
conditions. Recent work (Street, 2006) has begun to explore infant-directed-singing
in the home context and to expand the sample to include non-white participants, but
there is certainly more to be done in this respect. Gratier’s (1999) study with
immigrant Asian mothers in Paris revealed very important findings as to possible
disturbances to ‘communicative musicality’ among these women. At the same time,
there are concerns beginning to be voiced that ‘white western, middle class’ versions
of parenting are being implicitly adopted as a yardstick against which alternative
variations in parenting practice are evaluated and seen in deficit terms (e.g. Gillies,
2005). These versions of parenting tend to prize dyadic interaction and animated
exchanges in which the parent adopts a playful role. Contemporary research into
parenting practice acknowledges that there are many routes to successful parenting
(Levine, 2003; Tudge & Putnam, 1997))
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Group music sessions, gathering to sing songs, are an important component of early
childhood practice. This is the form that practitioners of early childhood music offer
to early childhood settings. A search through the Sure Start website confirms this.
However, we consider there to be a crucial distinction between group music as
recreation and entertainment, the format also for privately run sessions frequented
by middle class mothers and approaches designed to encourage music as a means to
fostering sensitive interaction as part of parenting practice. Moreover, this is a
distinction which we consider is not well recognised by those providing the music or
those engaging music practitioners. In current early childhood practice, based on our
experience, the primary justification for the inclusion of music in guidance materials
and project proposals generally takes the form of singing songs and rhymes to
support the development of language (Young, 2005). With the current drive to
improve the language ‘scores’ of children in Sure Start designated areas, this
objective is understandably driven by these imperatives. Songs and rhymes contain
rich sources of language input and music is perceived to be the ‘added ingredient’
with makes learning fun and enjoyable. ‘Finding a voice’ in the curriculum
guidance, Birth to Three Matters is narrowed to mean a speaking voice, rather than a
‘voice’ in a broader sense to engage interactively and imaginatively through
expressive vocalisations with others, to express emotion, meaning and intention.
Our aim was to arrive at suggestions and recommendations which would broaden
understanding of what communicative music in parenting practice might be and
how to foster it. Importantly it is the dynamic qualities of music, the capacity of
rhythmic, pitch-contoured expressions which are well attuned to baby to engender
interest, attention and sympathetic engagement. This is more complex and subtle
process than singing songs as a means for developing language or the voice as a
means for speaking.
We were also concerned that attendance at group music sessions is attractive and
relevant only to certain parents and carers, probably those who are already confident
and capable at accessing these kinds of groups. Our prior experience of setting up,
leading and evaluating early childhood music work, led us to be convinced that it
would be valuable for a wide range of early childhood professionals - childminders,
daycare workers, midwives, health visitors, outreach play workers, speech and
language therapists – to be equipped with a rationale for why musically playful
activity is potentially beneficial and some suggestions for what to do. Given the
emphasis that we place on a form of musical activity as a component of parenting
practice, described as intuitive even (Papousek, 1996) such a version of music will be
undemanding of formal, music performance skills. Its purpose is to generate
emotionally warm and sympathetic interaction, well ‘attuned’ to use Stern’ s term
(1985). However, practitioners do need some specific sets of skills and
understandings if they are to achieve this (Godfrey, 2001; Young, 2003, 2004; Pascal
et al, 2005). They require knowledge of communicative music in early childhood, of
how to support empathetic musical play between mothers and babies and how to
work with parents of young children from diverse socio-economic and ethnic
backgrounds. To give an example, most mothers sing to their babies, facing them,
expressively, at a slow pace, with generous pauses, adding in gentle rhythmic
movements – this characteristic way of singing is often termed infant-direct singing,
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IDS (Trehub, 2003a). Yet group music is often at a lively ‘adult’ pace to generate a
sense of fun, with no adaptation to individual rhythms and responses, babies face
outwards and it can result in an over-stimulating or bewildering experience for
them.
Equally, among music professionals there is a need for information to develop
models of practice. Although there is much excellent work taking place, many do
not recognise the repertoire of specific skills and understanding required to work
successfully with parents/carers and babies and very young children. Usually they
are working on a precarious, freelance basis, needing to work across a very wide
range of community contexts, all with their distinct demands, and there is not time,
nor money to access specific training. However, when ‘cost effectiveness’ is an
important criterion, not developing practice through appropriate training represents
poor investment in the long term.
1.2 Project Aim
The primary and wide-view aim of the project was to enhance parenting by the
inclusion of appropriate forms of one-to-one playful musical activity which we
considered would provide a frame for parent-infant interaction. This is a broad
aspiration, well nigh impossible to evaluate accurately as ultimately parenting
happens at home and is therefore difficult to access. Self-report techniques are open
to bias. As practical outcomes, and an achievable aim, the project intended to arrive
at recommendations and suggestions for music in the upbringing of very young
children which are designed for use by a wide range of early childhood professionals
and adaptable to existing early childhood and parenting support programmes.
The project was practice-oriented, but sought to inform practice with research and to
continue that process through data collection and reflection built into the practical
elements. It had, therefore, elements of action research design in its construction
around a preliminary information gathering stage followed by two – and what
became eventually three - trials with intermediary review. Desforges and Abouchaar
(2003) recently carried out a meta-analysis of parental involvement in their children’s
education which included parenting programmes. They arrived at a
recommendation for this principle of design-research, in which lessons are learned
from work in progress and then feed into continuous improvement of the approach
(Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003:90).
Importantly, however, we attempted to move beyond ‘what works’. We also hoped
to radicalise early childhood music practice by re-thinking certain key aspects of it,
not just ‘what works’ but ‘what matters’? Primarily we hoped to challenge ways of
working by examining the assumptions this kind of work, (as with much parenting
intervention), can imperceptibly and unwittingly carry.
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The project was designed in three clear phases, Stage 1, information gathering, Stage
2, field work and Stage 3, dissemination. The following sections report on each of
these phases in turn.
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Section 2
Stage 1: Information Gathering
2.1 Introduction
Information was gathered from parents, carers, early childhood practitioners and
music practitioners about their current practices in music, their knowledge of
repertoire and their perceptions of the significance, value and purposes of music
with young children. Taking into account the prior experiences, views and
perceptions of these groups was considered a necessary preliminary to designing
appropriate and feasible approaches (see Moran, Ghate & van der Merwe, 2004). We
hypothesized that activity must be perceived as relevant and appropriate if parents
are to accept and incorporate elements into their own parenting.
We were concerned initially to explore notions of ‘appropriateness’. Our own
evaluation of an earlier series of mother and baby music sessions caused us to
wonder if the type of ‘classic’ early childhood song repertoire and canon of activities
presented may be inadvertently reproducing white middle class values and priorities
within constructions of childhood and parenthood which are out of kilter with those
of the parents we aimed to involve. Recent years have seen a growing interest in
parents’ own ideas about parenting (e.g. Harkness & Super, 1995; 2002) An
important objective underlying this interest is to understand more about parental
beliefs and theories and how they manifest in their day-to-day approaches to
upbringing. Smith and Pugh (1996; also Smith, 1997)) agree that there are significant
risks inherent in parent programmes or interventions if certain key principles, such
as respect for diversity and parents’ own needs are not followed.
In particular we were concerned at the tendency to describe some communities of
mothers and babies, particularly those coping with poverty, in implicitly deficit
terms. The difference in lifestyles and family patterns of people living in
disadvantaged areas can quite easily – but erroneously – translate into one of deficit.
We intended, therefore, to look for and identify their current capabilities and then
seek to build on and expand them rather than introduce new ones. Although aspects
of parenting may be universal, there are significant differences in parenting practices
associated with race, ethnicity, religion and socio-economic status (Harkness &
Super, 1995; Hoff-Ginsberg & Tardif, 1995). Since music strongly assists in the
process of defining who we are, this may be a particularly important consideration in
terms of designing approaches based on musical activity.
2.2 Everyday Music with Under Two-year-olds
The information presented here concerning the everyday musical experiences of
under-two-year-olds was gathered from interviews carried out with 88 parents and
carers. The assembled information was intended to inform the design of these
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models of practice. When practitioners are knowledgeable about children’s family
and community interests and expertise, they are able to incorporate them and
thereby provide a meaningful programme that includes the lived experiences of the
child and family. The notion of music as part of the ‘everyday’ experience for young
children has entered the rhetoric of early years music project applications and
evaluations. However, the implicit expectation is that the music work provides ‘take
home’ elements rather than a notion that the music practitioner will find out and
build on what the children and parents already know and are doing.
In the event all the interviewees were women, all mothers of the children, with the
exception of one foster carer. We purposefully steered the sample to include Black
and Asian Minority Ethnic and white working class women by visiting settings in
urban, and rural small town locations where we knew these demographic groups
would represent the majority. Information about the sample is presented in
Appendix 3. The sample was mixed to emphasise variety and diversity of
experience. Following Rogoff’s lead (2003), the women’s background ‘culture’ was
not considered to be a stand-alone variable. Our aim was not to seek to map
diversity systematically, we were looking for insight into breadth of experience
through information from different groups.
We visited groups known generally as ‘stay and plays’, held in community nurseries
or similar accommodation, where mothers can visit for a couple of hours with their
babies and young children. The ‘stay and play’ offers parents a period of social
contact with others in spaces providing play opportunities for their children. Since
we sought children who were for the majority of their time cared for by their
mothers at home, the ‘stay and plays’ offered a probable setting to find such motherchild pairs. Although the children were aged from birth up to 24 months, the
majority, 70% of the children, were in the age bracket 9 months to 24 months.
We employed three local interviewers in some areas who matched the mothers in
terms of ethnicity, accent, dialect and in one case language, and who had knowledge
and sensitivity to the local community. Our aim was to reduce the cultural and
social differences between interviewer and interviewee with the hope of increasing
the mothers’ confidence that their responses would be received sympathetically and
no judgementally. Attempts to increase empathy between interviewer and
interviewee may be particularly important when enquiring about aspects of
parenting practice about which mothers may feel heightened sensitivity concerning
their competence. The self-report method coupled with the desire to present a
competent self-image of parenting which accords with an ideal they hold for
themselves, may encourage mothers to filter or distort to some degree the
information they present. We were aware of this. A set of questions designed to
elicit information about mothers’ own musical backgrounds, interests and activities
was not only useful in gathering information valuable in its own right, but, we
hoped, would serve to balance out and dissipate the focus of interest, lessening the
tendency to offer biased responses.
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The interviews were based on a prepared questionnaire/interview schedule which
contained a mix of closed, one-answer or tick-box questions and open questions
inviting more detailed responses (see Appendix 1). Interviewers were given detailed
instructions for how to conduct the interviews. Recognising that mothers with small
children are likely to ‘have their hands full’ and to avoid any anxieties about literacy
competence, the interviewers were asked to read out all the questions and write the
responses. This necessarily imposed certain limitations on the numbers of questions
and on the level of detail if we were to limit the interview to 20 minutes – the
maximum time we thought practical. However, the spoken interview has
advantages over the questionnaire in that it prompts more fluid, detailed responses,
although this in turn relies on the interviewers to note these quickly. In spite of our
efforts to ensure the interview procedure would be carried out uniformly, variations
between interviewers were apparent from the returned questionnaires, most notably
in the length of the written responses to the open-ended questions. The singleresponse questions were completed fully and accurately across all the
interview/questionnaires.
The purpose of the study was explained fully to all participants and they signed a
consent form. Initial questions gathered in general information concerning the
constitution of families, the ages of children, living circumstances and the mothers’
educational background. The body of the interview covered questions ranging
widely over different aspects of the child’s musical experiences, her views and
opinions concerning aspects of music with her child and the mothers’ own musical
interests. The gathered responses were analysed using a mix of numerical and crosscomparative, qualitative procedures.
There were some issues which we also probed with practitioners and had been
included in the parents’ interviews, for example, their perceptions of the purpose
and value of musical activity with young children. Responses pertaining to this issue
and other common areas could then be collated and compared across the different
groups of interviewees. We had also sought information about knowledge of
repertoire and activities and again, this more straightforward information could be
assembled across the groups.
2.3 Findings
This part of the project revealed very interesting information concerning the
everyday musical experiences of under two-year-olds in the home which is also
reported elsewhere (Young, Street & Davies, 2005; Young, forthcoming.)
2.3.1
Resources for music
An early question invited the mothers to tell us about resources for music in the
home – the toys, equipment, CDs, tapes, videos, DVDs, instruments and any other
items which incorporated digitised or mechanical sounds. The information was
organised into categories (see table 1). Musical mobiles clipped on to cots were
mentioned so frequently that they warranted a separate category. The other
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categories included sound makers such as rattles where the sound was produced by
simple shaking or banging actions [including the more traditional baby toys such as
rattles] and toy musical instruments which were toy versions of acoustic instruments
such as drums and xylophones. One category was created for audio (CDs, tapes)
and mixed media items (video, DVD).
A final category, ‘musical toys’, was created when we discovered the number of toys
described which had digitised tunes or musical effects such as rhythmic sounds or
short, melodic motifs incorporated into them, often in combination with other
functions. This latter group has rapidly expanded as a result of the technological
advancements for digitising music. A high proportion (nearly 80%) of mothers
described musical toys and many, unprompted, embarked on complex descriptions
of movements, sounds and other effects achieved by the electronic components
incorporated into these toys.
audio
Mixed
media
89.7
94.9
instruments
62.8
Musical
toys
78.2
m
us
ic
al
to
ys
en
ts
in
st
ru
m
m
ixe
d
m
ed
i
a
au
di
o
ak
er
s
m
so
un
d
m
2.3.2
sound
makers
66.7
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
ob
ile
Percentage
Musical
mobile
form
Percentage 32.1
answered
yes
Recorded Music from Audio and Mixed Media Sources
In our construction of the questionnaire we aimed to avoid suggesting any
preconceived notion of what counted as music but to allow this to emerge as the
questions unfolded. Thus a question asked, ‘day to day, what music do you think
your child hears?’ accompanied by a simple demarcation of the day into morning,
afternoon, evening and bedtime. This question was interpreted by the mothers as a
request to describe the recorded music their children heard. All children bar one,
except when they were asleep or out at toddler groups, were reported as hearing
16
some music during the day, mainly from the radio (BBC Radio 1,2 and local radio
stations) and/or from TV music channels, or children’s programmes on TV or video.
Only one mother answered, exceptionally, that there was ‘not generally’ any music
in the house.
When more information was requested about the style of music heard in the home,
the mothers mostly described for us their own music and this ranged widely,
reflecting the diverse musical interests of our interview sample. A set of questions
invited the mothers to reflect upon their own musical interests and activities. Styles
of popular music included hip hop, reggae, Asian film music and Bengali popular
music. There were two mentions of jazz and single instances of gospel, Irish folk and
country and western. Only one mother described listening to classical music, yet the
interviews with music practitioners reported in the next chapter reveal most to have
a classical music training background. There were notably few mentions of the
music playing being ‘nursery rhyme CDs or tapes’. Only 19% of mothers reported
their children listening to such tapes or CDs at some point in the day and the major
source, 67% of children’s music being from TV programmes, usually during the
morning when children were at home. So although the families possessed children’s
music tapes and CDs, it would appear they were infrequently listened to.
2.3.3
Singing and Song Repertoire
Another group of questions were designed to elicit information about whether the
mothers sing and play musical games with their children at home. Research to date
has mostly focussed on the first year of life, so this study, by including a high
proportion of children in the age bracket 9 months to 24 months complements and
extends these studies.
Although fifty-one of the 88 mothers reported some form of music at bedtime for
their children, only 17 (20%) of children were sung to, although a small number of
mothers (11) from the 88 described singing for times when baby needed soothing,
‘relaxing’ or distracting, such as when being changed. The music at bedtime was
provided by recorded music, often ‘chill out’ or ambient music, or by sleep aids such
as lullaby light shows and sleep teddies, both of which play music intended to be
soothing. A higher number of mothers, 18 from the total of 88, said they used
singing for fun and to make their children ‘happy’.
17
2.3.4 Music at Bedtime
AGE
0-3
months
4-8
months
9-15
months
16-24
months
Total
AGE
(%)
Total
0-3
months
4-8
months
9-15
months
16-24
months
music at bedtime?
Yes
No
Total
4
3
7
12
4
16
19
9
28
16
21
37
51
37
88
BEDTIME (%)
audio
None
media
mixed
media
live
singing
mobile
toy
Total
3
1
0
2
1
8
5
1
3
6
3
18
10
10
5
5
2
32
24
7
3
7
1
42
42
19
11
20
8
100
Although we did not ask mothers to provide an exhaustive list of the children’s
songs and rhymes they knew, several questions prompted mention of song
repertoire. They recounted the familiar repertoire heard in early childhood settings
such as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Incey, Wincey, Spider. The fact that we were
interviewing in these settings must have brought these songs and rhymes to mind –
but a later question which was intended to elicit information about songs with their
origins in family and/or community backgrounds produced very few replies.
Grandparents and other family members in just 6 instances were described as
teaching more songs than the mother, particularly baby songs traditional to the
family culture. What we also noticed, however, having batched the questionnaires
according to each ‘stay and play’ was the similarity of repertoire mentioned in
relation to each setting. What this suggested is that parents are relying heavily on
baby and toddler groups to learn the song and rhyme repertoire they use at home.
18
2.4 Conclusion
Babies and very young children are experiencing a rich variety of music at home
from many sources, toys, TV, music playing equipment and live music. Although
the reporting of live singing would suggest that this is only one minor part of the
children’s experiences, we found a wealth of musical experiences around toys,
recorded music and multi-media items and, particularly among toddlers, involving
sociable activity with family members (see also Young & Gillen, 2006).
To date, most studies which have had something to say about the everyday musical
experiences of under two-year-olds have only explored one dimension – either they
are enquiring about singing to babies, they are enquiring about recorded music or
they are studies interested in children’s experiences of media, which also includes
music (e.g. Marsh et al, 2005). In addition, we suggest that studies with one focus,
asking mothers what recorded music their children are listening to for example, are
likely to retrieve information which is biased by mother’s desires to report positively
on their parenting practice (Custodero, Britto & Xin, 2002). Our questionnaires were
designed to elicit information from broad-based questions and showed no particular
bias towards one type of activity. In addition we enquired about the mothers’ own
musical interests and activities, thus endeavouring to support and show an interest
in their identity through music rather than as parents. Finally, we would maintain
that the process of using local interviewers have encouraged the mothers to answer
with less bias.
19
Section 3
Stage 1: Information Gathering
3.1 Interviews with early childhood music practitioners
Early childhood music professionals who were considered to have substantial
experience at working in music with under two-year-olds and their parents/carers
were contacted for interviews, some conducted over the phone. Five practitioners
were visited to observe them working in addition to interviewing them. The sample
increased by ‘snowballing’ and reached a total of 15 interviews plus an informal
discussion with three trainees at the Sage Gateshead which we included in the data.
The interviews were based on a semi-structured format around a number of key
questions which we had identified in advance (Appendix: 2). The semi-structured
format allowed issues which we had previously not considered to emerge in the
process of the interview. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed. With
some later interviews, collection of some of the basic factual information was
obtained via a simple email questionnaire. The transcripts were reviewed and crosscompared for common themes and patterns. Although the sample is relatively small,
the interviews were detailed and we are confident that this sample of practitioners,
and therefore the gathered information and the interpretations we have arrived at,
are broadly representative.
3.2 Background qualifications and training
All those interviewed were women and ranged in age from the trainees at the Sage
Gateshead in their twenties, to late fifties. That the majority of practitioners
interviewed were middle aged may be significant in relation to working with a
generation of new mothers. The qualifications and training background of the
practitioners was collated. This revealed a range of backgrounds with the majority
having graduate status (12 out of the 15), either in music or instrumental
performance. In addition, just over half had taken training courses in one of the
recognised methods for music education, the most common being training rooted in
the Kodaly method. This is a widely available type of course orientated towards the
early years age phase. However, no practitioners had any training which specifically
prepared them for work in music with under two-year-olds although one had
focused on music in infancy for a psychology of music degree at Masters level.
Given that early years music work is concerned with music as a medium for relating,
and this was often emphasised in the interviews, it is noteworthy that only one
practitioner had expertise in music therapy.
Two practitioners were folk musicians and there were no practitioners with expertise
in popular music, jazz or what is broadly termed ‘world musics’. The sampad
project had employed a trainee who had a qualification in Asian music from the
Birmingham Conservatoire to match the musical interests of the groups of mothers
20
they were working with. Another practitioner had prior experience of music projects
in parts of Africa and incorporated songs and instrumental activities into her work.
The musical backgrounds of the practitioners contrast with the mothers’ musical
interests as reported earlier which centred on popular music and musical styles
which resonate with their cultural identities.
The Sage Gateshead offers an apprenticeship scheme in community music, for which
one focus can be early years. This is highly practice-based and involves the trainees
in working alongside the main practitioner, provides structured review and
development meetings but does not appear to include any theoretical input or
training in variety of methods or approaches. While mentoring, a model favoured by
community music approaches, has many advantages, it might result in the cloning of
one particular approach.
‘But training specifically we haven’t had, no, and I think that is something that would
be really useful to us. [The sure start workers] have told me about the kind of training
that they’ve been on and where they’ve done that kind of thing and I think that would be
really god to have a bit more of that. I think a lot of what we do we go on instinct – what
their facial expressions are or if they’re talking over what you’re doing. Instinct’s OK . .
. but it would be good to back it up with some academic knowledge . . . mostly I go by
whether they’re enjoying themselves.’
3.3 Employment status
The employment status of the music practitioners varied but the majority were
freelance and part-time; an exception being the early years specialist at an arts
organisation who has employed status and the apprenticeship scheme for a group of
trainees. Some practitioners enjoyed more stable part-time employment
arrangements – longer-term contracts with music services, early childhood settings
or with arts organisations. Some community musicians develop full-time careers by
building up a mixed portfolio of activity which may include early years work and a
couple of the musicians interviewed counted their early years work as one strand
among many.
However, the majority of early years practitioners we interviewed have specialised
in this age phase and many had built up a practice based on private classes for which
parents pay a small fee. With the expansion of early years provision and the funding
opportunities it has created, many practitioners have been able to extend their
activity to include work paid from Sure Start and/or Youth Music initiatives. For the
most part practitioners describe having slipped into the work, often when they
started their own families, adding training which they seek out and pay for
themselves after they have started to practise. There is, therefore, little employment
stability and no recognised career structure to early childhood music practice
preceded by a broad-base training leading to a recognised qualification.
21
3.4 Expanding practice
Of the practitioners we selected to interview almost all had experience of running
private classes and had expanded their work to provide music for Sure
Start/Children’s centres or similar settings. For some this expansion resulted in a
complex patchwork of different groups in different settings.
‘In addition to these ‘regular’ session in libraries, I also run sessions for community
groups, incorporating music for special needs groups, sessions at a temporary housing
centre, children’s centres and baby clinics - post natal groups etc -, a twins group and on
occasions at the Women’s Refuge I also visit Family Learning nursery and literacy
courses to add musical content.’
From many of the responses a demarcation between the two types of provision –
private and ‘community funded’ - could be identified and many talked of variations
between the two in how they worked.
…’in my private classes, mostly carers from the town in which I live and work, which is
on the whole a middle class, professional community. The carers attending the Sure
Start classes are obviously different since Sure Start activities are restricted to those
with underprivileged postcodes – often single parents, very young parents.’
‘There’s a difference between what we do in A. and what we do here for the parents
who’ve paid to come’.
When parents were paying for sessions this set up expectations for the work on both
sides of the parent-practitioner partnership, whereas subsidised sessions provided at
community settings tended to operate on a different basis. These sessions are free for
the parents and carers who attend. It is the practitioners who travel out and about to
community settings and the music is often integrated into existing groups, often at
the behest of organisers and managers rather than the mothers who attend. Who has
initiated the music sessions may be a crucial factor in how they are received and
engaged with.
‘because . . . they pay and expect a certain standard of music and want their child to have
a fantastic musical experience – not all of them, but some people say they’ve paid their
money and want to know how to make their child into a great violinist or something!’
‘Music is free for Sure Start parents. There’s no commitment and so people drop out.’
Three of the practitioners we interviewed had found ways to integrate their privately
funded sessions with community settings such as children’s centres, stay and plays
and health centres. One music practitioner who was employed by the local authority
music service worked voluntarily at health centres and had set up work with health
visitors as part of the overall programme she runs in the county. This kind of
integration requires the stability of longer-term work and developed slowly. In
22
another area, the local Sure Start subsidised places in a regular scheme of music
service classes which resulted in a more ‘integrated’ approach. However, these
mothers may still be marked out as ‘Sure Start supported Mums’.
One practitioner pointed out that the Sure Start funded music sessions had deprived
the local freelance music practitioner of employment but once the short-term funding
had dried up, she had developed other work and did not return. The recent
evaluation of Sure Start found that new initiatives can sometimes sweep away
existing satisfactory arrangements (NESS, 2005).
There was some evidence of tensions or difficulties arising from differing sets of
expectations, mostly centring on how the parents participate.
‘I once asked a mother to stop her child doing something and she just stormed out
because she didn’t like being told what to do’
‘generally as a rule of thumb the children who don’t engage have the parents who don’t
engage’
‘You get to settings where the chairs are all set round the outside of the room and the
toys are all over the carpet on the floor in the middle. And they think we’re employed to
look after their kids. And they either stay where they are and chatter on and expect us to
draw them [the children] all in or else they let the children play around on the big toys/’
‘Sometimes mums don’t come back because the group is not what they expected – they
expect to sit on the edge and watch me entertaining their children. They might be
mothers who are unsure about joining in themselves. This has happened, usually with
mums who’ve heard about the group via the Health Visitor, that is, they’ve been referred,
or are group D or E mothers’
For some groups of parents, (particularly if the music has been imposed) time to get
to know them, to build trust, may be an important initial stage before any music can
begin. But for practitioners employed and paid to ‘deliver’ music it can present a
dilemma.
You ask them if they want to learn a new song … but they don’t want anyone to
question their parental skills, particularly in front of their peers. That’s the case with
younger parents. One example is that W. and I worked in a breast feeding support
group. They were there for support and the workers thought it would be good to have a
bit of music and they were so hostile to begin with. We were sat in the corner and they
wouldn’t come and they wouldn’t sing. Over the course of 6 months we were going
every fortnight and sitting and chatting … it was a good 8 hours of work and we didn’t
do much – just sitting with babies who were interested and we’d think, what are we
going to do with the rest of the hour? We’d go and chat with the parents and gain their
trust. Then they were begging us to come back when we got to the end.
23
3.5 Structured Sessions
Typically sessions last for thirty minutes with a ‘before and after’ period of five or
ten minutes for arriving and readying and for leaving. All the practitioners
described the framework to their sessions and emphasised the importance of it
remaining the same so that it is ‘therefore predictable and safe where people know what is
going to happen.’ Only one practitioner thought that it was important to do ‘different
things every time’.
Although the practitioners we interviewed were widely dispersed geographically
and working independently, there was a surprising similarity in how they structured
their sessions and in the types of activities offered. This was corroborated by our
observations of practice. The Hello and Goodbye songs for start and finish were
universal. Between these two points, the session is typically planned around a
sequence of songs, some with movement and some involving equipment, toys or
instruments, usually small hand-held instruments given out to children ‘one each’.
The repertoire itself is individual to each practitioner and carefully accumulated with
experience over time. The repertoire conforms to a ‘canon’ of children’s songs on
typical childhood topics, ‘lots of colours, lots of animals’. Building a repertoire of
suitable songs and accompanying activities takes considerable effort:
‘It took me two years to establish that pattern. It took shape over time. Within the
framework of the Hello and Goodbye songs, I have traditional songs, lullabies, a focussed
activity, like the one on pitch – high and low, then other musical ideas or activities that
are very tactile, - lots of scarves, CD’s on – a mixture of cultural influences from African
drumming to Salsa, peekaboo games.’
There was recognition that parents and carers value learning new songs and rhymes
from the sessions. “I think they come because they feel that they have lost some of their
music making – they don’t have the repertoire and would like to know songs and would like
the children to have music in their lives.” But we understood this to be conceived as a
one-way process and our interviews picked up little expressed interest in the home
musical practices or in drawing in songs or music which were valued and important
to the families themselves. The practitioners’ sense of identity associated with
having musical expertise and the underpinning priorities they hold may well
underlie this perspective as the following quote suggests.
‘I think it’s important to broaden repertoire. I’m a musician, Kodaly trained, and I find
a lot of repertoire is quite unsuitable, the pop songs and TV adverts or nursery rhymes
they’ve dredged up – too complicated. The wide range is not suitable for developing intune singing.’
24
3.6 The purpose of music with under-twos
Of the fifteen interviewees eleven stated that one purpose of their work was to
develop the relational and communicative aspects of the mother and baby pairs who
attended.
‘The main aim for me is the development of a relationship between the mother and child.’
“Relating is more important than the music, but I like putting across musical ideas. I
suppose it’s because I have been in health – I’m aware of the importance of music as a
means for building good relationships”
Further sifting of the responses uncovered some variation in how this is conceived.
Four referred to ‘bonding’ between mother and baby, recalling the language of
attachment; three referred to ‘communication’ and five more generally to relating
and relationships.
A high proportion, eleven respondents, gave other purposes that were specifically
music focussed – ‘to lay the foundations of musical learning in the later stages’. The
development of language and social skills, including confidence, were emphasised in
about half the interviews; probably encouraged by the current emphasis on these
skills and attributes in early years provision. For the most part, aspirations were
broad and mixed.
‘Bonding and social relationships, language development, musical awareness.’
‘Well, you’re giving people life skills. It’s communication – 2-way, in a meaningful
way. It’s about attention and spending time together, and encouragement to listen, to
hear sounds and words, shape and expression, movement and actions and a sense of
pulse and language too.’
‘There’s a multitude of reasons for doing music with under-twos – emotional
engagement, language development, listening skills – essentially communication’
A few recognised, realistically, that for many the music session may have yet broader
aims, ‘providing a chance to break away from the monotony or child rearing and to have
relaxation and fun together’.
Significantly for this study, the emphasis on communication and relational aspects as
an expressed ideology tended not to be born out in the descriptions of session
activities. On the other hand, the laying of foundations for musical development was
well exemplified in the described activities and in our observations. The realisation
that the music sessions could serve broader purposes, for which the music was
secondary, seemed to be helpful to some practitioners in analysing their role and
purpose in some of the more challenging working situations, as was the recognition
25
that building rapport which might be a prerequisite to successful working together
can take considerable time.
3.7 Conclusion
The ‘classical’ and performance background of the majority of practitioners
combined with the predominance of Kodaly or Kodaly influenced training has
resulted in a model of early years music practice based on the highly structured
sessions, the group performance of songs led by a strong leader with an emphasis on
the ‘elements’ of music. This approach emphasises a style of delivery which centres
the practitioner as the musician and ‘performer’, rather than improviser, listener,
musical communicator or play partner.
This model represents a consensual version of practice. It fits comfortably with the
practitioners’ own identity and conforms to the expectations of middle-class mothers
attending privately funded music sessions who are represented as the ‘norm’. The
practitioners’ success as private practitioners may rest on their ability to create a
lively and enjoyable atmosphere in which parents are expected to take an active role
as play-partners to their children.
The practitioners generously shared information about their work with us and
conveyed the impression that they were enthusiastic about their work and found it
worthwhile and rewarding. The outlook required to be successful in developing
work independently on a freelance basis requires a kind of self-assurance. We also
suggest that the prevalent style of training tends to encourage conformity to
prescribed versions rather than a diversity of approach and does not set out to foster
reflective or exploratory approaches to practice. In addition, the freelance nature of
their work means that practitioners must ensure their ongoing employment by
building a reputation founded on recent successes. Such pressures tend to encourage
practice which has immediate, visible appeal, and to close down risk taking and
innovative, exploratory work.
Difficulties arise, the dilemmas, tensions which might lead to projections of
negativity towards participating parents, we suggest, when the prevalent model of
practice does not fit so comfortably in the Sure Start/ Children’s Centre settings.
Here it is generally imported rather than sought out by the mothers and the
practitioner may expect the same kind of engaged participation given by the ‘paidsession’ parents. Approaches developed to establish a clientele for private classes
may be inappropriate for parents whose reasons for attending may have different
sources. Practitioners may be relying on activities ‘which work’ rather than
possessing an underpinning set of principles and a reflective disposition which
enables them to revise or adapt their approaches to new contexts. However, they are
often in a difficult position; under pressure to ‘deliver’ music and meet externally set
expectations. Funding tends to limit project work to short-term series of sessions.
Short-termism mitigates against the relationship-building, stability and integration
which comes with longer-term working; mitigates against developmental work
26
which seeks to explore approaches to practice; and tends to encourage practitioners
to seek (and provide evidence of) short term indicators of success.
There may be a gap between the practitioners’ musical interests as primarily classical
trained musicians and the mothers’ musical interests, predominantly popular music,
particularly when the parents are from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. The
practitioners may be encouraged to see the parents’ musical interests in deficit terms
by notions of children requiring introduction to ‘good’ music and current media
reports (a misreporting of research findings) about the value of ‘classical’ music to
young children.
There is an emerging discourse of music for ‘relating’ or ‘bonding’ but we think that
these often remain aspirational ideals which are not born out in practice. Instead,
practice tends to be built strongly on models taken from education which import a
didactic teacher/pupil relationship, activities with learning purposes inbuilt and
focussed on the musical content. The interviews revealed a shortage of knowledge of
key aspects of music with under-two-year-olds such as the characteristics of infantdirected singing or communicative musicality and of strategies which might actively
support parents and carers in interacting with their infants. The model of practice
was largely a down-sized version of music for older children rather than constructed
on what we know of music in infancy and parenting.
Many of the music practitioners gave accounts of their work which show that they
are moving rapidly into complex working patterns involving coordination with
multi-professional teams. We suggest that this expansion of their work places new
challenges and demands and requires new sets of knowledge and skills. It was
noticeable that one practitioner who had formerly been a social worker and currently
worked for a health arts organisation was very alert to the intricacies of multiprofessional working and this strongly influenced how her music project was
organised.
To avoid any doubt, the analysis of these interviews provides a basis to critique, not
the music practitioners themselves who are hard-working, very capable and
thoughtful people, but the contexts within which they are increasingly developing
their work. The majority are working precariously, on a freelance basis, without
opportunities to receive substantial training and without professional networks.
They are increasingly being asked to map their work onto sets of expectations and
demands already imbued with certain presumptions about the nature of the work
they will do. Expectations of ‘engaging with parents’, of ‘increasing literacy or
numeracy’ competence, or ‘training setting staff’ which are usually attached to shortterm funding misunderstand the dynamics of real-life working, are laden with
assumptions about the ‘lack of’ music among parents and setting staff, built upon
27
narrowly conceived notions of music and what it means to work in music with
young children and families. The need for differentiation according to class, gender,
ethnicity and location is absent. The practitioners themselves try to absorb these
expectations and demands, negotiating and trying to rationalise the dilemmas and
difficulties in day-to-day working which they create.
28
Section 4
Stage 2: Fieldwork: Trials
4.1 Introduction
We then interrogated our accumulating evidence from the Stage 1 of the study
against our literature review of theory and findings from prior studies. From this
process of interrogation we arrived at some principles which would inform the
design of hypothetical models of practice. These models we considered to be
developmentally beneficial and, importantly, we hoped would be perceived both by
parents and early childhood practitioners as relevant, appropriate and practical.
A first trial of a series of 6 sessions was set up under ‘optimum conditions’ with a
small number of volunteer parents and carers, again all mothers and their babies, at a
Family Centre in central England. We then reviewed, evaluated and refined the
approaches and repeated the trail at another Sure Start setting in South West
England. Two practitioners with experience of working with this age group were
employed by the project and each taught one trial. The first two trials worked quite
differently and varying findings and issues emerged from each. However, there
were two significant outcomes, emphasised by both practitioners. The first was that
6 sessions were insufficient; the group had barely become established in that time.
So, because funding permitted it, we ran another two series of longer duration. The
second was that work with toddlers, up on their feet and away, had to be carried out
in a completely different way from groups with babies. So the next two trials were
focussed on parent and baby groups. However, two of the project members visited
toddler groups to explore more appropriate ways of working with this age phase,
not in structured sessions but as additional ‘music play workers’ in the stay and play
settings. This additional work sits outside these fieldwork trials.
Setting up a trial series of sessions was, we recognised, to some extent contradictory
to the primary aims of the project. But this represented a practical way to explore a
number of different ideas and approaches, even if the situation did not entirely
match that for which they are ultimately intended. However, group sessions are a
common format both for parenting education and music. Although we are
concerned that some of the most vulnerable parents do not attend groups we were
confident we would arrive at recommendations and suggestions to inform a widescope of practice.
The fluid boundaries between research and practice sometimes created conflicts.
When research procedures were considered to have impeded practice in the second
trial there was an important decision to be made. We had included in the first
meeting some interviewing of mothers to gather preliminary data, but the process of
review suggested that this felt stilted and unnatural when creating a relaxed and
welcoming environment was of utmost importance. In situations such as this,
29
practice was not compromised and one of the reasons for setting up a third series of
sessions, was to adapt the data collection procedures. In addition, we had planned to
use the CARE index, a measure of mother-infant sensitivity in interaction both as a
pre- and post- test for the second trial in order to assess whether the music sessions
had made any impact on interaction styles. While the CARE index was applied prior
to the session, in practice the cohort remained very unstable, with mothers joining
part-way through, dropping out and coming intermittently. Flexible attendance is a
characteristic we have since realised to be a defining feature of this work and should
be incorporated into the design of approaches. Therefore, there seemed little
methodological purpose in applying the CARE index in the final session.
Endeavouring, in our review and analysis, to identify the ‘active ingredients’ of the
provision proved challenging – all the trials, for example, contained similar elements
in terms of content and structure, yet creating a comfortable, positive ethos in a
group has many subtle elements. The timing, the day of the week, the season of the
year, the size of the room and its furnishings, relationships with staff in the setting,
ease of access and location, create sets of subtle, interacting factors which impinge on
how the group feels and progresses yet most are outside the control of the music
practitioner, except to be alert to them and make adaptations and changes where
possible. Every setting, every group is different. A key factor, as is often the case in
any work of this kind, was establishing positive, interested relationships between
practitioner and parents, practitioner and setting staff. In one setting the practitioner
felt there was less active interest in her work from the setting staff. In contrast, in
another two children’s centres where we worked, the setting practitioners have taken
up elements of the work and incorporated them into their ongoing work.
As emerged from the interviews with music practitioners, many early childhood
music specialists have education backgrounds and the main training programmes
available in early childhood music tend to occupy a 45 minute slot, highly structured
and based on song-singing and music-learning elements such as rhythm, pitch and
simple dynamics. Music one-to-one focussed on music as a dynamic medium for
play and interaction between mother and baby, between practitioner, mothers and
babies. Although the sessions were planned, the structure was loose and flexible. In
contrast to the usual 45 minutes, the practitioner was installed for two hours,
allowing for flexible arrival and departure times and extended time for socialising
between parents and practitioners. At the beginning, midway and at the end of
sessions were opportunities for babies to play with instruments, sound-makers,
treasure baskets or other sensory items set out on the floor by the practitioner. A
more structured series of short activities around songs would take place near the
beginning and towards the end of the session, but this moved at a slow pace, with
the practitioner very much taking cues from the mothers. Movement to music
activities, swinging babies in hammocks, floating voile fabrics, washing lines of
suspended sound makers would often take place mid-session. Here, again, the
emphasis was on the parents taking part as and how they wanted to. Partly
depending on numbers and facilities, drinks were available and mothers fed,
changed, or laid babies to sleep as they required. We placed particular importance
on the group dynamic and on providing an opportunity to create a focussed time
30
away from other pressures. There was much talking – between the mothers
themselves and between the practitioner and mothers – sociable conversation,
eliciting information about musical practices at home, giving information about
musical communication and talking with the mothers about the babies’ responses.
Observations of a range of music practitioners in Stage 1 had revealed an important
aspect of how the parents of the babies were taking part. These findings confirmed
and extended to a music context a characteristic which I had formerly identified from
research carried out for a children’s theatre working with parents and under threeyear-olds (Young, 2004). That is, that certain parents are comfortable being a
playmate in the session with and for their child. These parents are participating
actively and scaffolding, translating and converting the activities on behalf of their
children. The practitioner can gain the sense that the session is ‘working’ but close
observation often reveals that it is the parents who are the active participants, not the
children. However, many cultures do not have a model for interacting with children
on a personal, one-to-one level and may adopt more formal or instructional styles.
Parents for whom the ‘playmate’ role is not one they are used to adopting - it feels
childish or inappropriate - will take a more passive role. When this happens the
practitioner can suddenly feel at a loss and can begin to project the ‘not working’
back on to the mothers.
In the One-to-One sessions there was no expectation of participation on the part of
the mothers, nor were the activities excessively animated or ‘playful’. We avoided
playsongs which had overly stylised actions. The focus was on the babies and on
quite simple activities to interact with them. Several activities required the mothers
to cooperate – with swinging a hammock for example - so that taking part was
clearly defined and they were not doing it alone. The practitioners while guiding the
sessions, remained ‘low key’ and tried to pick up the tone and feel from the group.
The Music One-to-One practitioners also made a clear demarcation between
speaking to the mothers in an ‘adult directed’ style and speaking ‘as if’ to the babies.
We had noticed from observations that some practitioners can tend to communicate
in ‘infant directed speech’ throughout, even when communicating with parents.
Although many parents would accommodate to this without feeling patronised or
finding it inappropriate, we were concerned to change register. Equally the
practitioners needed to avoid any sense of being ‘teacher-like’. The priority was to
bring out the parents’ ideas for what to do even if it was ‘wheels on the bus’ yet
again. Making this a comfortable place to be was important. We also recognised
and acknowledged that the sessions were meeting other needs as well - for social
contact with others, to get out of the house, to share anxieties about baby care - that
for many the music session was simply the activity which brought them there and
was, in many respects, secondary. The practitioners, for their part, found it
demanding and delicate work with all the characteristics of any finely tuned group
work.
31
Importantly the sessions were carefully pre-planned, with folders for the mothers to
keep information, the handouts which accompanied each session and to put the
digital photos we sometimes took. It should have been clear that there was an
underlying structure to the sessions, not just individual sessions but across the whole
series of sessions. Upcoming sessions and a brief description of activities were
introduced to the mothers as they left, so that they knew what to expect the
following week. A lending library of books and song books was also provided. The
sessions were equipped with carefully chosen, attractive, for the most part new and
clean equipment of instruments, treasure baskets and other items. We had early on
realised that for many mothers there are anxieties around cleanliness for their babies;
hence we set this as a priority.
4.2 Trial One
4.2.1 Analysis of pre-and post-intervention interviews
For Trial 1 and Trial 3 we carried out observations and informal interviews at the
start and conclusion of the project. The two sets of interviews were then compared,
analysed and corroborated, as far as possible, by observational information. These
interviews assist the process of identifying some of the ‘active ingredients’ of the
provision.
1. The families in the trial
Trial 1 was run in a family centre in a central location in B., which serves an area of
mostly Victorian terraced housing and new blocks of flats. The family centre offers
drop in sessions and postnatal baby groups led by local health visitors. The families
in the Music One2One trial were recruited from one such group. Eight parent-infant
pairs attended in total, including one father (one session) and a grandmother (2
sessions), when one mother had to return to work. Average attendance across the 6week period was six adults with six children. Five mothers were aged 31-40 and
lived with their partners. One mother was aged 20-25 and was a single parent. Three
lived in their own homes and three were in rented accommodation. One mother had
another child who attended speech therapy while his brother was at Music. Four
described themselves as white British, one was half German and one was Czech.
2. Pre-interviews
Pre-interviews were carried out by telephone shortly after the first session. We had
gained permission to contact the parents and obtained their telephone numbers.
These presented a sequence of open questions as follows:
1. Why have you come to the sessions?
2. Do you think music is useful for your child? If so, why?
3. What sort of musical activities do you do at home?
And one closed question:
4. How many songs do you do on a day-to-day basis: Up to 4/ 5-10/ more?
32
3. Post-interviews
These were carried out after the sixth session in the mothers’ homes or at a location
convenient for them. Leaving a short lapse of time between the last session and
interview and meeting the mothers in a setting they chose were both strategies
designed to encourage the mothers to answer more directly in response to the
questions. The interviewer asked the mothers what they had noticed about their
babies’ responses in the sessions, how many songs they felt they knew, which new
and useful ideas they could use at home for interacting musically and finally,
whether and how they felt music was useful for children under two.
4. The findings
a) Knowledge of song repertoire
Four out of six mothers said they knew more songs after 6 weeks of sessions than
they had known before the intervention and that they sung these at home. The other
two mothers reported knowing more than 10 songs both before and after the
sessions.
b) Mothers’ noted responses of their children
Four mothers said they had specifically noticed how their babies had been soothed or
calmed by the music.
Four expressed the importance of their babies recognising their voice and that of
their partner, and that singing was a good way to communicate and get to know
each other.
Four reported their babies attending to and listening more to live singing compared
to recorded music.
Four talked about increased confidence in their own abilities to sing with their
babies, as illustrated by comments such as:
‘I do sing to her privately’
‘I mess around with my voice now’
‘I’m quite experienced now’
‘Singing’s sometimes easier than talking’
Three spoke of singing being associated with specific times of handling the baby,
e.g. changing and dressing.
Two spoke of the singing helping them as mothers to feel better, e.g. ‘it’s quiet with a
baby all day long’.
Two had noticed their babies were playing vocally and making more variety of
sounds as a result of the sessions. (One of these mothers had an older child with
speech and language delay and was very attentive to new sounds made by her
younger son).
One spoke of having established a routine that included singing now.
33
c) New and useful ideas
All the mothers spoke about both the musical treasure baskets and home-made
soundmakers, (e.g. plastic bottles, pots and pans, household items on a washing line)
as being good ideas and easy to continue at home.
Four mothers had already started making things and collecting things at home as a
result.
Two mothers referred to the restful activity of using light floaty fabric to waft above
the babies during singing or recorded music.
Two mothers referred to swinging the babies in hammocks as a calming while
singing and useful activity.
In general, when parents responded to the question about how music might be
useful for young children, the pre-interviews had elicited responses such as, ‘it’s
good for language development’ or ‘for playing with sounds’. The post-interview
responses suggested a shift in thinking more in terms of affect and the mothers’ own
feelings, as in the following:
‘it puts a calmness on things’
‘it helps me too’
‘it’s assuring (to her)that someone’s there; it’s not an empty world. I use it (singing) like a
bridge’
4.2.2 Trial 1: Discussion
As a result of this first trial the parents had learned more songs and they felt more
confident generally about using their voices expressively. They had found in the
activities around soundmakers and treasure baskets some new and useful ideas for
play. The post interviews revealed more detail about how music might be useful for
children under two, but this is not surprising as the questions asked what specifically
they had noticed about their babies’ responses. On balance, there were more
examples given to illustrate their views about using music and these were to do
mostly with its calming effect and about communicating. The view of music being
relaxing was in contrast to the pre-interviews where responses had suggested the
babies liked to bounce and do actions. Given that each session finished with a quiet
lullaby, accompanied by rocking and holding, this might explain this emerging view.
As a result of discussion and review with colleagues the subsequent trial spanned 8
weeks to allow time to settle in to the routine of a session and to gather mothers’
views more efficiently at either end of the intervention.
34
4.3 Trial Three
1. The families in Trial Three
Trial Three was held in the same family centre as Trial One. The group of mothers
were recruited from the centre through contacts made by centre staff by means of a
flyer advertising the sessions in their usual drop in facilities and through the Health
Visitor’s Monday afternoon baby group which was well attended by mothers who
had given birth in the previous 5 months. Thirteen mother-baby pairs attended at
least one session. The average attendance across all eight sessions was eight adults
and eight children. Three mothers brought older siblings from time to time. Pre- and
post interviews were obtained from nine mothers. The questions for this trial were all
based on the mothers’ observations about what had worked for them in the sessions
and their noted responses.
2. Pre- and post-interviews
These were the same in content as those for Trial One, but with more specific noted
responses sought both before and after the intervention. There were no set answers
for parents to tick, but as before, the questions were open-ended in order to gain as
rich as possible a variety of responses.
3. The findings
a) Knowledge of song repertoire
All nine mothers said they knew more songs and rhymes than at the outset. The
results are shown in the table below. These report what the mothers said. The songs
post-intervention referred to those they felt they knew from the sessions.
No. of parents
6
Pre-intervention
knew 3-5 songs
2
1
knew 6-10 songs
knew 20 or more
Post-intervention
1 knew 15-20 4 knew more 1 knew ‘a lot
than 5
more’
both knew ‘a lot more’
knew 10 songs
All nine said they had favourite songs from the sessions. The two most popular were
an action song in which the baby could be lifted up and down, ‘Ready and …up and
down’, with much repetition and anticipation in it, and a song in which the tempo
changed half way through; ‘Rig a jig, jig’.
35
b) Mothers’ noted responses of their children
This table shows the number of reported incidents mothers noted in their children’s
responses to music:
Response reported
Baby is soothed/calmed
Baby concentrates/ listens
Baby looks at mother
Baby laughs
Baby vocalises
Baby settles if bored
Pre-intervention
3
0
0
0
0
1
Post-intervention
8
3
3
2
1
0
The most reported response was to calm the babies. One mother stated, ‘it’s weird, it
calms him more now than when we started’.
c) Mothers’ reports of their own behaviours being different as a result of the
intervention.
The two main aspects reported were that mothers said that they now did more
animated actions with their babies compared with before the trial (8 occurrences) and
that they now did new things, especially because of the treasure baskets (5
occurrences).
d) What worked for them in the group?
The main aspect emerging was that the group was informal and ‘low key’ and
friendly (8). One mother said, ‘we were all encouraged to give our input’, while another
was relieved that ’you didn’t have to sing in front of everybody’. The second main aspect
that emerged from the responses was that parents had welcomed the chance to meet
up with others and for their babies to see other babies (4).
e) What will they continue to do after the sessions have stopped?
The most frequent response to this question was ‘singing’ (7), followed by the
activities, e.g. hammocks and making soundmakers at home (4). Three mothers said
they would definitely look for more groups and three said they would continue the
movement and dance/actions.
f) How is music useful?
The responses to Trial 3 post-interviews followed a similar pattern to those of Trial 1
in that general responses pre-intervention gave way to more specific examples in the
post-intervention interviews. They also reflected the enjoyment and fun of doing
playful activities with others, and arising from the feelings generated by being with
others with babies of a similar age. These are illustrated by one mother. In her preintervention interview she said that she thought music was good for developing
communication, a sense of rhythm, interaction and associating words with actions. In
the post interview she added that it ‘gave me confidence as a Mum – and all the
instruments, the sounds, the rhythm, the movement and the fun’. Another mother said
36
pre-trial that she thought music was good for language skills and taking turns. In her
post-interview she said that she’d realised ‘it’s OK to sing anything or make any noises
as they (the babies) really enjoy it – and it helps their development’. These two mothers
were speaking from the point of view of experiencing music as pleasurable activities
that seemed to influence how they thought of themselves as parents and in terms of
their own performance as singers – or sound-playmates.
4.4 Conclusion
In conclusion, the comparison of pre and post interviews offered some evidence that
mothers were using more music and music-based activities in their parenting at
home, and in particular singing more to their babies as a consequence of attending
the sessions. There was also evidence that they were more alert to how their babies
responded to music and how music can be used, particularly as a means for
emotional regulation. We report this evidence cautiously, however, mindful that
self-reporting is susceptible to bias. However, in terms of the project aim to identify
ways of working in music which were considered relevant and appropriate by the
mothers and thereby adoptable beyond the session, the interviews provided
information to support the principles on which we were designing the activities.
37
Section 5
Stage 3: Dissemination
4.2 Introduction
One important dimension of this project has been its focus on dissemination as an
integral, final phase of the project. It was our perception that all too often projects
terminate abruptly. Reports and other written information for journals or
presentations are provided but there is no proactive attempt to connect with those
who might potentially benefit from the findings. The final stage of this project was
designed to enable the project officer, Alison Street, to make contact with possible
users of the materials and ideas, to offer consultation and, if appropriate, bespoke
training. The setting up of the website with video clips and downloadable materials
was an important element in this process. Music One-to-One has collaborated with
‘Talk to Your Baby’ in the preparation of a set of ‘downloadables’ on musical
communication which will be widely available.
An account of the dissemination process, as provided for within the project funding
is given here. It is described in detail in the section which follows because this
captures the organic, incremental, localised growth which is a characteristic of real
and lasting development of practice. Some organisations are now inviting the project
officer to develop training which is funded independently of the project. In addition,
Alison has resumed an active role within the PEEP organisation for which she had
formerly designed the music components and is incorporating the findings of the
Music One-2-One project into the nation-wide training courses.
5.2 Dissemination activity
5.2.1 Family Centre Staff: The Roundabout Centre, Barton, Oxford
As a consequence of running music sessions in the Roundabout Centre, Barton,
Oxford between January and July 2005, the trainee, Suzy Webb began to run sessions
on her own with families with children under two both as circle times for a group
and informally as part of the ongoing day-to-day life at the centre. To this end she
was helped by other members of the team and part of this ongoing support was
reinforced by Music One2One training for three family centre workers. The training
was thus designed to meet the needs of the centre staff and in preparation for them
to take over running all music sessions in the centre in the Autumn Term. There is
now a dedicated area for music and movement in the centre, including a library of
CDs and earphones for listening, interesting instruments and karaoke.
38
5.2.2 Britannia Road Family Centre, Banbury, Oxon
1 Two training workshops for family centre staff
Trial 1 was held in April 2005 in the Britannia Family Centre. Following this, the
centre staff were enthused about the potential of music play for bringing new
parents into the centre and for fostering enjoyable creative activities. They expressed
a need for more information on the underlying rationale and practical ways for
developing music play. (They had had no contact with the first trial as they had been
busy running their usual drop in sessions during the mornings when music took
place, but they had heard and seen the effect on people arriving and leaving the
group). So Tracey Milne (project practitioner) and AS ran two training workshops
for the Centre staff which 2 family centre workers from the Sunshine Centre in
Banbury also attended.
2
Further staff initiatives
In October to November 2005, Trial 3 took place with a new group of mothers
recruited through the health visitor postnatal meetings and via word of mouth from
centre workers. This trial was run by Tracey Milne with J, one of the workers who
had attended the workshops in July, helping and taking part as a trainee. She had
negotiated with colleagues to have the time off the drop-in to do the music. This
represented a significant step forward, as it indicated a real wish to get involved and
for the staff to take a dynamic role. Following this, funding was found to purchase
some instruments (£330), e.g. gathering drums and xylophones – as opposed to the
collection of plastic maracas and sleigh bells.
Tracey Milne is liaising with J the centre worker to support the running of a brand
new baby group from March 2006. Planning for repertoire and how to use and offer
instrument play has been led by Tracey Milne from Music 121 who keeps in touch
regularly. Some funding has been set aside for providing music treasure baskets for
sitting up babies.
The music work in this centre has developed from being a music session welcomed
and run by outsiders to being a presence in day-to-day play with children in their
‘drop ins’. It has taken 9 months, during which workers have watched, recorded,
then asked for training, budgeted for, then used instruments and props, e.g. puppets
and lycra, in their own schemes of activities. In January, one worker has used her
observations of 2 and 3 year olds playing and negotiating round the gathering drum
as the subject for her essay for NVQ accreditation.
5.2.3 Workshops with Trio Childminders’ Association
Trio is a network offering childminders quality assurance activities, counselling and
advice in childcare across four counties, Wiltshire, Swindon, Oxfordshire and
Somerset. Initial consultation with area co-ordinators in Bicester and Banbury
resulted in requests for music activities to be offered in drop-in sessions for
39
childminders and their children. The perceived needs were (i.e. what the coordinators thought):
 Activities to help bonding and relating;
 Sound play with everyday objects, especially treasure baskets;
 Movement and fun;
 Music with recycled things – i.e. that do not cost a lot.
Workshops were offered in:
The Ace Centre Chipping Norton, Oxon, Sept 2005
Glory Farm Centre, Bicester, Oxon, Nov 2005
Sunshine Family Centre, Banbury, Oxon, Nov 2005
Music One2One was asked to provide an article for Trio Newsletter which was
circulated to childminders across 4 counties (see Appendix 4).
5.2.4 Liaison with Pre-School Music Association (PRESMA)
Music One2One has consulted with practitioners from PRESMA, based in Norwich,
about their strategies for working with families with children under two. As a result
of the Trials and refining of activities, Music One2One was able to offer a report for
their winter newsletter (see Appendix 4).
5.2.5 Leicester Toddler Time Library Assistants
Following consultation with Bookshare officer in Leicester in Nov 2005, three training
afternoons are underway with 15 library assistants who run story telling and toddler
activities to help communication and literacy and encourage book sharing. Links are
made between language and music activities, especially using songs and rhymes in
English, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujurati. Workshops are on 24 Jan, 7 Feb and 21st Feb.
5.2.6 Rutland Children’s Services Workshops
Two days are to be offered by Music One2One as a result of consultation with Officers
in Rutland. These will be with staff and children in six day nurseries in Rutland in
March 2006.
5.2.7 Bookshare: Leicester
Bookshare in Leicester is supported by Neighbourhood Renewal funding and aims to
promote communication, language and literacy in 0-3s through:
1. A community book loan scheme in the 10 most deprived areas of Leicester
concentrating on early years.
2. Books for babies via Bookstart - little red canvas bags and treasure
boxeswith local info in them - just started rolling out this project.
3. Training and toddler time for the children's team of assistants.
Their stated needs of Music One2One:
1. To provide a rationale: why this song? why do it?
40
2. What's going on when babies are sung to?
3. Links between non-verbal communication and movement?
4. links between books and sounds-play
5. Ways of providing ideas for doing at home?
What Music One2One is offering
1. links with language development - discussions with assistants in relation
to children they know.
2. recognition of parental strategies and what children under 2 are like and
might need - variations and diversity in mixed ethnic groups.
3. broadening of repertoire - both English and shared repertoire with
Gujurati, Hindi and Punjabi rhymes. Memories of music from the past and
links with play.
4. links between books and sounds/voice-play.
5.2.8 South Asian Mothers Group
The South Asian mothers' group in B. consists of 6 weeks of offered music sessions
and conversations with mothers about what provision might be most appropriate and
welcome. I have already reported on some of the issues e.g. the balance between
informal play and more structured circle time. Information and discipline is more
apparent here than in the predominantly white community served by the BR family
centre.
41
Section 6
Final Summary and Postscript
6.1 Introduction
In this project we have sought to develop practice through rigorous processes which
integrated theoretical knowledge with practice and used research tools to inform,
evaluate and develop ways of working. We have sought to do this in ways which
are congruent both with current policy and practice directions, and with
practitioner/parent expectations and beliefs in music.
Our findings will pose new challenges to music practitioners in terms of
understanding and knowledge required and implicate changes to the prevailing
‘consensual’ model of practice. Finally, we propose that the considerable expansion
of work for early childhood music practitioners and the increasing demands for what
this work may be able to achieve in terms of contributing to children’s overall
development calls for a professionalisation of the role. This professionalisation
would be accompanied by a recognised training background, qualification structure,
professional organisations and career pathways.
6.2 Recommendations
Finally we set out a list of suggestions and recommendations:
For practitioners:
Knowledge, skills and attributes








Knowledge of general development of under two-year-olds
Knowledge of musical development of under-two-year olds and music in
parenting
Knowledge of the value and purposes of music in earliest childhood and
ability to articulate these for different purposes in different contexts
Knowledge of a range of appropriate music and songs in different musical
styles
Knowledge of a range of methods for working with very young children and
parents/carers in music, including therapy and group work skills
Awareness of current organisational structures in early childhood and how to
work within these
Skills for multi-professional working
Awareness of local demographics and sensitivity to the circumstances of
families, alertness to variations in parenting style
42


Sense of professional identity as an ‘under twos’ music practitioner which
gives confidence in a way of working and can, if necessary, resist certain
expectations
Ability to be reflective, self-evaluative and to analyse own practice
Principles for group work









Loose, flexible structure, but a consistent pattern through the session that
parents/carers can become familiar with
Time for free play
Creating a friendly, casual atmosphere
Tuning in to and following the pace and dynamic of the group
Allowing for different forms of participation and response from mothers
(sitting out, conversing) and babies (crying, sleeping)
Inviting and using contributions from parents/carers
Inviting parents/carers to participate in their own ‘musical’ style
Drawing attention to babies’/toddlers’ responses
Suggesting practical parenting strategies based on music
For active toddlers, a looser structure of music play provision integrated into a
general stay and play setting may be more appropriate.
The content:








Variety of aural experience – recorded music, live singing, good quality
instrumental sounds
A repertoire of ‘soothing’ songs, as well as playsongs, sung in ‘infant
directed’ style
Songs invited from parents’/carers’ own musical preferences and
backgrounds
Vocal play – ditties, babbles, croons,
‘Down-winder’ activities (in balance with play songs and depending on age
of babies and needs of group)
Babies positioned to look at their parents’/carers’ faces, or to look at one
another
Modelling ways of interacting through singing, gesture and talking to babies
Shifts in spoken register to address parents/carers in ‘adult’ style or infantdirected speech
For project designers:
Project plans




Initial time for consultation with parents, practitioners, managers
Continuity across at least 10-12 sessions, ideally more
Building on an existing group or within an established setting
Overall core programme is carefully structured, but flexible in content
43




Appropriately trained and skilled staff
Small groups and ideally a ‘helper’
Fairly early start (after school drop-off) or fairly late state
Longish session (as long as 2hrs) to include relaxed start, formal input, midway play session, formal conclusion and sociable time
For setting managers:
Accommodation and resources





Spaces to work which are clean, warm, attractive
Best quality equipment
Easy access for buggies and space to store
Facilities for changing, chairs for feeding
Access to facilities for making drinks, coffee
6.3 Postscript
In terms of radicalising practice, we arrive at the end of the project with the
realisation that some of our aims to develop ‘culturally sensitive’ models of practice
were over-ambitious, naïve even. If the project has forced us to reconsider this
aspect and return to our original intentions in the light of what we discovered, then it
has been worthwhile. Certainly in our current writing and presenting, we are
flagging up our anxieties that music in early childhood may be founded on an
ideology which prizes middle class models of parenting and presents them as a norm
against which other versions are viewed as deficient (Burman, 1994: 119/120). The
idea that language learning is a dyadic process, and by implication therefore, also
infant directed singing, is a particular cultural construction that reflects, as Burman
points out, the Eurocentric and class biases of child language research (Burman, 1994:
115). Approaches, interventions and parenting programmes based on white middle
class values about what is “right” for children, deny that there are many different
pathways to healthy development and many ways for children to achieve the same
competencies. Middle class parents’ beliefs about the importance of ‘stimulation’ for
optimal child development may lead to an unnecessary concern about the earliest
possible interventions and for styles of intervention which are not widely applicable
beyond this cultural group. We also heed writers such as Furedi (2001) and Gillies
(2005) who warn of ‘the creeping ‘professionalisation’ of childrearing, the
authoritative advice on parenting ‘good practice’ (Furedi, 2001) and become uneasy
at the proselytizing undertone to much recent writing and presenting on early years
music work.
But there is an alternative perspective, often voiced by policy makers and managers,
that some parents/children will be at a disadvantage if they don’t move further along
the path of cultural change towards adaptation to modern life with its higher
demands for literacy and changed norms for social interaction. Levine (2003)
describes circumstances where the context for parenting has changed dramatically
44
yet parents hold on to parenting beliefs and practices which are poorly adapted to
the new circumstances. His notion of parenting ‘lags’ may apply to some groups of
parents who are considered to have most to gain from support and intervention.
This is an issue which we will continue to ponder.
45
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46
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49
APPENDIX 1
Please make sure the parent has signed a consent form before beginning.
A.
About you and your family
How old is your child?
Girl or boy?
How many other children live at home with you?
How old are they?
How old are you?
under 20………
20-25…………..
26-30…………...
31-40…………..
41-50…………...
over 50………….
(tick one line)
What relation are you to the child? ………………………………………………………….
How would you describe yourself ? eg Asian, White, Black British?
a) Do you have a religion? Yes…… No……
b) If ‘yes’, what? …………………………
How old were you when you left full-time education?
………………………..
What is your highest qualification? (eg GCSE, Btech, Degree, etc)
Do you go out to work?
Yes………… No…………
Do you do paid work at home?
Yes………… No…………
How many hours do you work a week?
………….………………...
a) Are you the person who mostly looks after your child at home?
Yes…….No……..
What other childcare arrangements do you usually have? ………………………………....
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
50
What sort of place do you live in?
17.
rented flat………..
(tick one line)
rented house……..
own flat………….
own house……….
Council house……
Council flat………
Other (please specify)……..
At home do you live
with your partner?……………….
on your own?……………………
with other family members?…….
other arrangement – please
describe?………………………………………………
About your child and music
18.
Day to day, what music do you think your child hears?

Morning …………………………………………………………………………………….

Afternoon …………………………………………………………………………………..

Evening …………………………………………………………………………………….

Mealtimes ………………………………………………………………………………….

Bedtime …………………………………………………………………………………….
19.
a) What sort of music do you think seems best for your child? (like song style, or
instrumental) ……………………………………………………………………
b) Why do you think so?……………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
20.
What sort of musical toys or entertainment do you have at home for your child? (eg
mobiles, CDs, tapes, DVD’s etc)
What?
Where? (eg bedroom)
51
21.
a) Does s/he play with sounds (eg at home or in nursery)? Yes…….No………
b) If yes, what sort of things does s/he do? (eg banging on a tray with spoon?)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
22.
What about the different ways s/he uses her/his voice – what have you noticed?
.…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
21.
a) Does your child react to music? Yes……………No………………
b) If ‘yes’, how? What can you tell me about it?……………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
22.
a) Do you do any songs and games with your child? Yes……..No……
b) if ‘yes’, how do you do them?
……………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
24
a) Do you think your child gets to know any songs from other people? (eg
childminder or Granny?)
Yes……..No………
b) If yes, give details …………………………………………………………………….
27.
In your opinion how could music be helpful in bringing up young children?
……………..……………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
About you and music
28.
How important is music to you in your own experience (1 = least, 5 = most)
1
29.
2
3
4
5
At home
a) Do you enjoy listening to music? Yes……….No…………
b) If yes, what sort? ………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
c) Do you play any instrument?
d) Do you sing?
Yes……….No…………
Yes……….No…………
e) If so, what sort of style?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
52
30.
What is the difference between music you like and music for young children?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
31.
Do you sing to your child?
If yes, about how often? (tick one)



once or twice a day
3-5 times a day
More than 5 times a day
Yes………No………….
……………
……………
……………
32.
Are there any family songs, rhymes or musical customs you would like to hand on to
your child? (If so please say where they come from or how you learned them)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
33.
Is there anything you would like to tell me about your own experiences of music?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Thank you very much for your time.
53
APPENDIX 2
Semi-structured interviews with music practitioners
Linda Bance, Music Education Consultant, Young in Herts
Stephanie Brandon, Sage Gateshead and some of the trainees
Margareta Burrell, Music Practitioner and music therapist, Thomas Coram Centre,
London
Gill D’Hooghe, Freelance Music Practitioner Wellingborough
Nancy Evans, Freelance early childhood music specialist, Birmingham and
Education Officer,
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
Lucinda Geoghegan, National Youth Choir, Scotland; Kodaly trainer and early
childhood music specialist
Fiona Hardman, PRESMA (Preschool Music Alliance)
Kathy Johnston, Freelance Music Practitioner
Karen Key, Freelance Music Practitioner
Karen MacKenzie, early childhood music specialist, Kent
Margaret O’Connor, Musicstart project, Isle of Wight
Sarah Robbins, Berks Young Musicians Trust
Sarah Jayne Watkinson, sampad, Birmingham
Christine Smith, Head of EarlyYears Team, Northamptonshire Music and
Performing Arts Service
And with early years music expert:
Helen Taylor, Head of Initial Teacher Training and Music Education, University of
Northumbria, and researcher for Youth Music Early Years music
Themes and Prompts for Interviewing Music Practitioners
1
Please tell me about the kinds of groups you run for children under two and
their parents (probe for more detail of how many groups, what kinds of
settings, timings, numbers in groups)
2
What is your own personal background and training for this work? (do you
have any specific training for music with under-twos)
3
What are your main aims in doing music with UTYOs? (perhaps ask for
priorities if many aims are given)
4
Why do the parents come? – and do these match your priorities?
5
So, what’s your formula? – take me through a typical group session? ( How
do you plan? What do you see as your role in a session?)
6
Do you have some ideas that ‘work well’ to suggest please? (and what makes
a good session?)
54
APPENDIX 3: Statistical Data
AGE OF INFANTS
Frequency
Valid
0-3
months
4-8
months
9-15
months
16-24
months
Total
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
7
9.0
9.0
15
19.2
28.2
27
34.6
62.8
29
37.2
100.0
78
100.0
20
Percent
10
0
0-3 months
4-8 months
9-15 months
16-24 months
Age of Infant
55
AGE DISTRIBUTION OF INFANTS
16-24 months
0-3 months
4-8 months
9-15 months
AGE PARENT
Valid
<20
20-25
26-30
31-40
41-50
Total
Frequency
5
23
15
30
5
78
Percent
6.4
29.5
19.2
38.5
6.4
100.0
Cumulative
Percent
6.4
35.9
55.1
93.6
100.0
56
20
Percent
10
0
<20
20-25
26-30
31-40
41-50
age parent
AGE DISTRIBUTION OF PARENT
41-50
<20
20-25
31-40
26-30
57
OTHERCHI
Valid
Frequency
29
25
11
8
3
2
78
0
1
2
3
4
6
Total
Cumulative
Percent
37.2
69.2
83.3
93.6
97.4
100.0
Percent
37.2
32.1
14.1
10.3
3.8
2.6
100.0
20
Percent
10
0
0
1
2
3
4
6
other children
58
NUMBER OF OTHER SIBLINGS
MAIN CARER
yes
no
jointly with
partner
Total
Frequenc
y
69
4
Valid
Percent
88.5
5.1
Cumulativ
e Percent
88.5
93.6
5
6.4
100.0
78
100.0
ACCOMMODATION
rent flat
rent
house
own
house
council
house
council
flat
other
Total
Frequenc
y
5
Valid
Percent
6.4
Cumulativ
e Percent
6.4
12
15.4
21.8
31
39.7
61.5
10
12.8
74.4
16
20.5
94.9
4
78
5.1
100.0
100.0
59
30
20
Percent
10
0
rent flat
ow n house
rent house
council house
council flat
other
accomodation
other
council flat
rent flat
rent house
council house
ow n house
60
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS (who they live with)
Valid
partner
on own
other family
other
partner &
extended
family
Total
Frequency
57
15
4
1
Valid
Percent
73.1
19.2
5.1
1.3
Cumulative
Percent
73.1
92.3
97.4
98.7
1
1.3
100.0
78
100.0
40
30
20
Percent
10
0
partner
other family
on ow n
partner & extended f
other
live with
61
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS (who they live with)
partner & extended f
other
other family
on ow n
partner
HIGHEST QUALIFICATION
Valid
none
gcse
A level
B-Tec/City &
Guilds/GNVQ
Diploma
HND
Degree
Masters
PhD
Total
Frequency
11
30
2
Valid
Percent
14.1
38.5
2.6
Cumulative
Percent
14.1
52.6
55.1
15
19.2
74.4
1
1
11
3
4
78
1.3
1.3
14.1
3.8
5.1
100.0
75.6
76.9
91.0
94.9
100.0
62
20
Percent
10
0
none
A level
gcse
Diploma
B-Tec/City & Guilds/
Degree
HND
PhD
Masters
highest qualification
PhD
Masters
none
Degree
HND
Diploma
gcse
B-Tec/City & Guilds/
A level
63
ETHNICITY
Valid
white
asian
black
british
black
african
mixed
race
Total
Frequency
59
3
Valid
Percent
75.6
3.8
Cumulative
Percent
75.6
79.5
8
10.3
89.7
3
3.8
93.6
5
6.4
100.0
78
100.0
40
30
20
Percent
10
0
w hite
asian
black british black african
mixed race
ethnicity
64
mixed race
black african
black british
asian
w hite
Musical
mobile
form
Percentage 32.1
answered
yes
sound
makers
66.7
audio
94.9
Mixed
media
89.7
instruments
62.8
Musical
toys
78.2
65
al
to
ys
us
ic
m
in
st
ru
m
m
ixe
d
m
ed
i
en
ts
a
au
di
o
ak
er
s
m
so
un
d
m
ob
ile
Percentage
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
CORRELATION BETWEEN AGE AND SINGING
We performed a Chi-square test on this data and found that there was a strong
association between age and frequency of singing, for both age of the infants and for
parents.
(Sue and Alison I am enclosing the Chi-square table for you to refer to or in case you
want to include it in the presentation)
Chi-Square (a)
df (degrees of freedom)
Assumed significance
Frequency of singing
41.744
4
0.000
Age of Parent
31.231
4
0.000
Chi-Square (a)
df (degrees of freedom)
Assumed significance
Frequency of singing
41.744
4
0.000
Age of Infant
16.564
4
0.001
As the assumed significance (p value) is well below 0.05 this shows a strong
association between age and frequency of singing.
66
How could music be helpful in bringing up young children?
Those who asserted that music had educational benefits correlated with
Mother/Father/carer’s highest qualification (%, N=87)
highest
qualification
none
GCSE
A level or
equivalent
degree or higher
degree
Total
Educational
benefits?
yes
no
2
15
15
23
Total
17
38
12
10
22
15
8
23
44
56
100
25
20
15
yes
no
10
5
0
none
GCSE
A level or
equivalent
degree or higher
degree
highest qualification
Most of those with no qualifications or those who have obtained GCSE’s only do not
assert that music has educational benefits, whilst most of those with A Level or
equivalent or a degree or higher degree believe that music does have educational
benefits.
There is a statistically significant relationship between educational attainment and
those who believe that music has educational benefits for their young child and the
proportion increases significantly with increasing level of educational attainment (p
= 0.002).
67
Breakdown of results




44% of the sample believed that music had educational benefits for their
young child
Only 13% of carers who had no qualifications believed that music can have
educational benefits, whilst 65% of those who had a degree or above believed
that music had educational benefits
33% of those who stated that music could have educational benefits
possessed GCSE’s or no qualifications at all, 61% had an A level or above and
34% had a degree or higher degree.
67% of carers who did not suggest that music can have educational benefits
possessed GCSE’s or no qualifications at all, compared to only 14% who were
educated to degree level or above.
Those who specifically mentioned that music has benefits for development of
speech and language (%, N=87)
highest
qualification
Total
none
GCSE
A level or
equivalent
degree or higher
degree
Beneficial for
language/speech
development?
yes
no
2
15
8
30
Total
17
38
6
16
22
12
12
23
28
72
100
68
35
30
25
20
yes
15
no
10
5
0
none
GCSE
A level or
equivalent
degree or higher
degree
highest qualification
There is also statistically significant relationship between educational attainment and
those who believe that music helps speech and language development for their
young child and the proportion increases significantly with increasing level of
educational attainment (p = 0.012).
Breakdown of results





28% specifically asserted that music can contribute to a young child’s speech
and language development.
Only 8% of these had no qualifications at all.
38% of these either had GCSE’s or no qualifications at all.
63% of these were educated to A level or above.
42% of these were educated to degree level or above.
Those who believe that music can change the mood of their young child
(%, N=87)
highest
qualification
Total
none
GCSE
A level or
equivalent
degree or higher
degree
Music can change
mood of child?
yes
no
3
14
14
24
Total
17
38
10
12
22
8
15
23
36
64
100
69
30
25
20
yes
15
no
10
5
0
none
GCSE
A level or
equivalent
degree or higher
degree
highest qualification
There is not a statistically significant relationship between educational attainment
and those who believed that music had mood changing benefits for their young
child.
Breakdown of results




36% believe that music can change the mood of their young child
Only 10% of these had no qualifications at all, compared to 52% who were
educated to A level or above.
23% of these were educated to degree level or above.
20% of those who had no qualifications believed that music had mood
changing benefits compared to 35% of those who had attained a degree or
above.
N.B. It must be noted that the questions asked were open ended, interviewees
were not asked outright whether they believed that music could have educational
benefits for example.
70
Music at Bedtime
music at bedtime?
yes
no
AGE
0-3
months
4-8
months
9-15
months
16-24
months
Total
Total
4
3
7
12
4
16
19
9
28
16
21
37
51
37
88
Correlations between child’s age and form of music heard at bedtime (%)
none
AGE
(%)
0-3
months
4-8
months
9-15
months
16-24
months
Total
BEDTIME (%)
mixed
live
media
singing
audio
media
mobile
toy
Total
3
1
0
2
1
8
5
1
3
6
3
18
10
10
5
5
2
32
24
7
3
7
1
42
42
19
11
19
8
100
Breakdown of Results
Due to the unequal proportions of young children in each age category (especially
the small numbers in the younger age groups) strong conclusions comparing the
different age groups cannot be drawn from this data.


58% of the whole sample listened to some form of music at bedtime, 57% of
the 0-3 month babies were exposed to music at bedtime, whilst 75% of those
in the 4-8 month age group did, 68% of the 9-15 month age group and 43% of
the 16-24 month age group.
70% of the younger babies (0-8 months) heard some form of music at
bedtime, for this age group singing was the most common form of music
heard at bed time, out of those younger babies who did hear some form of
71


music at bedtime 44% were sung to, with 25 % hearing music from a mobile
toy, 19% hearing mixed media and 13% hearing audio media.
19% of the whole sample were sung to at bedtime, out of those who did hear
some form of music at bedtime, 33% of the time it was live singing.
14% of those who heard some form of music at bedtime listened to specific
songs and 10% specifically mentioned that the young child heard mellow
music
72
APPENDIX 4: Newsletter Articles
Music One2One Article for Trio Childminders’ Newsletter
November 2005
Alisha held the piece of newspaper up hiding her face. Tanya, her
childminder watched and then covered her own head with her paper.
‘Ah…….Boo’ cried Alisha, pulling the paper down into her waist, and
Tanya blew her page so that it flopped up and down. Alisha covered
her head and copied.
‘Do as I’m doing, follow, follow me’ we sang as we crunched, stamped
on, waved and tore into shreds the ‘Property Weekly’. We must have
sung it ten times at least, as more and more ideas came from both
adults and children. Tidying up was fast and easy when it was made
into a song. To the tune of ‘The farmer’s in his den, we sang the words,
‘It’s time to tidy up’ and the task was done.
Then out came the sounds treasure baskets; collections of clattering
small pebbles tied in socks, wooden egg cups and chrome jelly dishes
bought at a charity shop, which rang when you knocked them
together, and a wok lid which boomed if you hit it with a wooden
spoon.
These three examples give a flavour of the kind of musical activities
offered by Alison Street and Tracey Milne of Music One2One, a project
based at Exeter University and funded by the Esmee Fairbairn
Charitable Trust and Youth Music. We aim to find out helpful ways of
using music with children under two years old to help their general
development. This year we have worked in Oxford, Banbury and
Bicester with small groups of families and on a one-to-one basis
alongside parents, childminders and family centre workers. Between
September and November we have run workshops at drop-in sessions
for the Trio Childminding Network in Bicester, Banbury and Chipping
Norton.
Kate Rudd from Trio says, ‘It’s great to see how music helps the
interaction between child and adult – and it shows that you don’t have
to go out and spend lots of money to make music’.
Music One2One is funded by Esmee Fairbairn Charitable Trust and
Youth Music. For information on training and workshops, contact
Alison Street on 01865 371748, streetalison@aol.com and visit the
One2One website on www.education.ex.ac.uk/music-one2one.
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Article for PRESMA Newsletter
PRESMA December 05 Newsletter Article
Music One 2 One makes time for being together
It’s a crisp frosty Monday morning in North Oxfordshire. The heating is
running full blast at the Family Centre and the front door goes ‘Bleep’
every time someone comes in. The buggies line up along the narrow
corridor and mothers walk in wrapped in winter jackets, with their
babies cocooned in quilted hoods, limbs puffed up in all-in-one suits.
Turn right into a large square room and you arrive at Music One2One.
This is the last session before Christmas – ‘Santa Claus is coming to
town’, croons the CD. The room is set up with two double duvets on the
floor and cushions round the edge. On one is placed a metallophone
with beaters and on the other a music treasure basket and numerous
picture books. Every week it is a challenge working out how to use the
space, as this is an intensively used room, affording respite care and
social services contact visits for families in difficulties. A large plastic
ball pit arrived last week and is now firmly in situ in one corner, every
so often leaking out its bright rolling contents when someone leans too
heavily on it.
The music session has been planned with children under two in mind.
Several are beginning to crawl and explore. And so there’s a mixture of
cushions and supportive chairs around too because many babies need
feeding at some time during the session. So with all the changing bags
and feeding bottles and baby bits and pieces, there needs to be room for
managing these activities alongside the musical ones. Singing and
sounds-play become part of the caring routines right then and there.
This becomes a music morning, rather than a music session, as twelve
mothers have usually arrived by 10.00 and leave after tea and coffee
between 11.30 and 12.00.
Within this time Tracey the practitioner has led an opening ‘Hello’ song,
which confirms the relationship between mother and child through
using their names in close proximity. She has extended their repertoire
of songs, using gentle bouncing ones, and energetic action songs which
encourage first time mothers to feel confident at handling and playing
with more robust movements in a controlled way. Mothers have been
thrilled to watch their babies choosing household items that rattle,
squeak, ring and clatter from the treasure basket. These are mouthed
and played. For children who are pulling themselves up and holding
the furniture, we have erected a musical washing line festooned with
silver tape. Grown ups choose which pot, wok lid, door chime or set of
wooden spoons they want and where to hang them near to the children.
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So they get to choose too and think about what sounds might hang next
to each other. Babies lying down wobbled strings of bells with their feet,
stopping from time to time to watch as they stopped ringing but
continued to turn and glint in the light above them. ‘OK shall we relax
now?’ suggests Tracey, reaching for some large bath towels and a cotton
bed sheet. These are made into hammocks with a parent at each end,
swinging a baby – or sometimes two – at a time, as all sing ‘We love
baby yes we do, Baby is our darling’ (using their names, to the slowed
down tune of ‘Skip to my Lou’).
‘So what have you noticed about your child in these 8 sessions?’ we ask.
Aaron’s mum said he was using his voice at home with different sounds
and a wider range of pitch. Lewis is really soothed and calmed by music
and really listens to sung words. All mothers think they have learnt lots
more songs and would sing more at home now. They were struck by
the variety of movement and sounds-play as well as singing that you
could do with this age group. Several wanted to get instruments as
Christmas presents for their babies and gave each other information
about useful CDs. We had set up a borrowing box and this was very
popular. ‘It was really good to be able to take things home too.’ ‘It was
good to try before you buy,’ was another way of looking at it.
We have found that music with this age group takes time – and space,
to allow people to be with each other, learn from each other and to
notice and respond to their children’s reactions and choices. As
practitioners we have had to adjust to a different pace, to find a way of
working as partners rather than assuming that we lead. We have had to
find words that draw parents’ attention to noticing and seeing the value
of providing musical play to help their joint communication and
creativity and to build confident relationships.
Thank you to those PRESMA practitioners who answered our Music
One2One questionnaire on ways of working with children under two.
For information on Music One2One training and workshops on this
area contact Alison Street, Project Officer on 01865 371748,
streetalison@aol.com, Tracey Milne, at Traceymarymilne@hotmail.com
and Helen Brayley at Helenjbrayley@hotmail.com, or visit the One2One
website on www.education.ex.ac.uk/music-one2one.
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