Ethos

Seeing music played live is exciting and inspiring there is no doubt about it. Giving very young children an opportunity to see, feel and understand how the sounds are made up close, by professional musicians, is one of the core principles of Baby Band. We want to give them this exposure early in their lives to build excitement and enthusiasm for playing music. Watching their faces when they see a live musician for the first time is priceless.

Using high quality instruments is important so that children become familiar with the textures, weights and sounds they make. Plastic toy instruments may seem like a colourful, fun and cheap alternative, but they rarely allow children to fully understand and appreciate tonal quality. Real instruments will provide a natural stepping stone towards a genuine interest in performing music as they grow up.

There is abundant research and evidence supporting the importance of learning nursery rhymes and simple songs by-heart. In short, the studies show that if a child of four is able to recite eight or more nursery rhymes by-heart, by the time they reach Key Stage 2 their Literacy skills are far more developed than that of their peers. 

Each session explores and embeds the concepts of pulse, tempo, dynamics and other key musical elements through the use of percussion instruments, singing together and carefully curated playlists. These fundamental principles will give them a head start when they begin learning a musical instrument.

Making music together is such a magical activity and has so many benefits for you and your child's development. It helps develop communication, self-expression, confidence, social, emotional, cognitive and physical skills.

Nursery rhymes are important and have their place in the development of a child's musical education. However, there are so many other wonderful styles of music to experience and be inspired by. Baby Band sessions include a wide variety of different genres from things you may hear on the radio or TV to music from across the rest of the world. Our mission is to give children a flavour of amazing styles of music they may not have heard before because even at a very early age they will develop a personal preference for their favourite genre.

Every Baby Band session will include some unfamiliar pieces of music. Before children can talk, they can follow a beat, sway with a tune, and smile to the lyrics so this is an ideal opportunity to allow some freedom of expression while actively listening to music they have probably never heard before. Listening to a variety of music like this allows children to hear instruments and vocals used in different contexts, gradually building on their understanding.