Classical Babies - Six of the Best Regular Concerts for Little People

Back from yet another brilliantly accessible and engaging concert for the youngest of children, I wanted to round up some of the very best of the concert series we have encountered to date with the girls. Some of these are monthly, some annual and many have locations outside of London. From fancy dress and Christmas enchantment to opera for babies and an orchestra led by a Gruffalo there is something for everyone. What they all have in common is that they respect the child as able to appreciate the most mature music, use excellent musicians, engage and explain, are often immensely fun, and are just as uplifting for the accompanying adult as the child.

One of the fabulous things about living near London, is the kaleidoscopic array of cultural opportunities for children, and within this, there are some really exciting initiatives within the Tot's music scene. Happily, Classical Babies, has now rolled out to venues in Manchester and Surrey, and Bach to Baby visits venues in Essex, Kent, Surrey and the Thames Valley. In these welcoming, and often very beautiful, environments the child is king - feeding is accepted, crying is expected and toddlers can happily dance and have the opportunity to examine live instruments. Parents can meanwhile sip coffee and listen to excellent live music that may otherwise be out of their reach at this time in their lives.

1. First the critically-acclaimed Bach to Baby. The girls are regulars at these wonderful concerts, and we often see familiar faces. Founder Miaomiao talks about the many children growing up with them. We particularly love that there are now weekend specials locally in Teddington. Culturebaby has started school so she can join us at these weekend concerts and she still loves them. A few months ago we even witnessed a trumpeter create an instrument from a garden hose (held by a multitude of toddlers) and a funnel. Our first ever session, and one of my favourites, was in Highbury where Oliver Weston, professional saxophonist and Jazz educator, and Jonathan Taylor, professional pianist and jazz teacher, took us on a great journey through the history of Jazz from the 1920s to modern day. They talked us through each piece and I felt like I too learned something and had an enriching experience for myself - so important back when the children were tiny and I spent all day in toddler classes or playing with pre-lingual tots. Since then we've seen a host of other instruments. The children are able to wander freely in these concerts, dance and look forward to a selection of nursery rhymes at the end of the session. There's now a Bach to Baby CD available called Miniatures. It features Miaomiao playing high quality and memorable piano pieces chosen for children.

2. Award-winning Classical Babies, also happily featured in Teddington venues amongst others, is another brilliant concert programme. On entering the beautiful venues, children find mats, cushions and soft toys to relax with. Our first concert was a Christmas one complete with a basket of instruments for everyone to play along with, we've seen string concerts, contemporary composition, and most recently we went along to the stunning Grade 2* listed Normansfield Theatre to see the cast of Don Pasquale perform scenes from the opera in full costume! Opera for children might seem to the onlooker rather a stretch but the children were gripped. Babies crawled forward to listen, the children laughed at the comedic gestures and expressions of the actors and we watched as one toddler stood utterly enthrawled unmoving for a significant period of time. The actors were exceptionally good with their miniature audience, engaging them, lying beside them, serenading soft toys, and they even (to the children's delight) roped in a few parents for cameo, if silent, roles. What an entirely wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.



3. With a rather different format, Wigmore Hall's Chamber Tots are the most interactive and immersive of the concerts we have attended. The small group of children begin their musical journey in a room below the theatre. We started with a percussion warm-up, led by a drummer the children were encouraged to follow the rhythms and beat along. Instruments were freely distibuted. Then, with the support of a narrator and a pair of professional violinists, the children were invited to compose and suggest the next steps in a completely kinetic experience. Using their bodies to suggest the next move, to which violins responded, they built up a piece of their own invention, acting and respnding as they went. The theme of this particular event was At the Seaside, and the audience (or really participants) were taken on a journey of music and movement with periods of excitement and activity and moments of dark, starlight and relaxation. Finally, everyone moved upstairs to the theatre to sit for a number of pieces in a more formal concert setting. The whole design of the sessions was exceptionally effective and I'm just rather sad we can't get in to these more often as they are to be highly recommended. They book out quickly so do look ahead if you want to get to one of these.

Photograph from the RAH website

4. We have only recently discovered the Royal Albert Hall's superb children's musical programming. This summer we were lucky enough to get to two children's Proms and over half term we spent two days at the venue experiencing a diverse range of music. I have covered one of the Proms here and the other major events will be covered in a dedicated post, but thanks to a musical friend we found that there are regular smaller events too. Our first was the recent, and utterly brilliant, Jazz for Kids - and introduction to New Orleans Jazz with resident Albert's Band- which can only be described as an amazing party. The children were taught about the rhythms that give Jazz its distinctive sound, heard the history of a movement rooted in the opportunity presented by the wholesale abandonment of military instruments, met a sousaphone (a curly tuba for marching) and had the opportunity to dance and sing with abandon to the music. We parents enjoyed ourselves just as much. The children emerged utterly delighted and exhausted...





5. We wrote about Cadogan Hall's great selection of childrens events before, and their Christmas concerts (such as Peter and the Wolf and the Snowman and Paddington's First Concert - see here) are counted amongst some of our most magical moments. Their regular and well established Crash Bang Wallop! concerts are both an opportunity for creativity and hands on experiences with instruments and great musical entertainment. For an hour before, the children are invited to take part in arts and crafts, meet the musicians, handle a selection of instruments, and try their hands at percussion. The session we attended was an interactive hour of music along the theme of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, led by a combat-trouser-clad Puck and a Sinfonia decked with flowers and foliage.

Featuring distinctive pieces such as Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Waltz and Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, and woven through with the broad theme of spells which just don't seem to go right, the event was a triumph for, at that stage, just three year old Culturebaby. Initially she watched in awe as Puck introduced the sounds of each section of the orchestra and captured them in containers - later to be released, swirled around and mixed together at will. She hid when mispaced spells culminated in the attachment of various instruments to the heads of unsuspecting orchestra members (I suspect genuinely fearing she may end up with a permanent flute for hair), and she adored the slapstick moment when Puck slept and a wolf arrived on stage to investigate the instruments. We were treated to a great selection of music (many featuring animal sounds), joined in with actions, and laughed at the fairy mischief. Several members of the audience also became percussionists by tapping a large frog instrument. At the time, as Culturebaby ducked to avoid the spells and bounced in delight at other pieces, I wasn't sure how this experience would affect her, but as the days passed and she talked and talked about it - scanning my camera for pictures of the event and listening to our story book of the Sorcerer's Apprentice - I can see that the concert (one of her first) affected her rather profoundly.

6. Finally it is really worth mentioning the St Albans Symphony Orchestra's annual Little Monsters' concert, which two years ago was a simply wonderful introduction for both the Culturebabies to their first full orchestra. Conducted by The Gruffalo and performed by a host of monsters, princesses, bugs and even a stormtrooper, an audience of children in fancy dress perched right at the feet of the musicians, a hair's breadth away from the strings. Peppered with poems and featuring both popular classics and music from movies such as Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark, the children were taken on a magical journey through a selection of thoroughly spellbinding pieces of music. Unable to control my tearducts as I watched the youngest of children captivated as the orchestra reached emotive crescendos I felt completely elated. The atmosphere was thoroughly unpretentious, welcoming and joyful. Babies toddled around, children danced. A miniature spiderman, the winner of the costume competition, was invited to conduct the orchestra as they performed The Flintstones.

Perhaps best of all, and with a great trust and generosity, at the interval every child was invited to meet the members of the orchestra, handle any and as many instruments they wished, and have a turn at playing them. The musicians were so good with the children, gently showing them how to create sounds from their instrument of choice. I've rarely been to such an uplifting event and it was a real bargain at £1 per child and £5 per adult.

The appealing and uniting thing about all of these concerts is that they showcase excellent composition, introduce improvisation- so important to the development of creativity- and through their intelligent choices of music they show a fundamental respect for the child. Children can enjoy and concentrate on complex or classical melodies or rhythms. They can be introduced to the glorious nature of a live concert in an inspiring venue. I love what Miaomiao says about the inspiration behind her idea: "My idea is to provide top quality classical music to entertain adults, while giving children the chance to hear and explore live instruments up close during the crucial early years. Children have an innate ability to understand complexity almost through osmosis. It is my firm belief that the music our children listen to doesn't have to be dumbed down". I absolutely agree.

Disclaimer: We received tickets to one Bach to Baby and one Classical Babies Concert (we have attended very many since), and the tickets for Cadogan Hall, Wigmore Hall and The Royal Albert Hall events were given in exchange for an honest review. All others we bought ourselves and to many we return again and again! Thanks to Wigmore Hall for their photographs. Just a note to say I don't presume to give an exhaustive list here. We have heard concerts at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Southbank Centre and Barbican are also fabulous. We just haven't made it to some of these yet...

Pattan's Pumpkin: An Indian Flood Story

Today we have a guest post from author Chitra Soundar, author of a gorgeous new picture book re-telling a traditional Indian flood myth. 

As an anthropologist, I've always been fascinated by the way in which different societies have explored the relationship between themselves, nature and divinity and sought to explain their origins in the absence of modern science. Myths, of course, are not fairy tales; they are ancient stories which reveal truths or philosophy to us, and are immensely valuable to children as they develop their understanding of their world and learn about the diversity of other cultures. It's also interesting to identify the commonalities between various origin or disaster myths. Pattan's Pumpkin bears striking similarities to the Epic of Gilgamesh (a Mesapotamian flood myth) and our own biblical Noah. It also gives an encouraging message about the importance of ingenuity and a respect for nature. It's a great addition to the bookshelf. Here's Chitra talking about how she discovered this tale, written down here for the first time, and what we can learn from it: 


It’s great to stop by at CultureBaby to tell you about my new picture book Pattan’s Pumpkin. Here we come rolling down the mountain to talk about a story so ancient that it has only been passed down orally through many generations.

Ancient legends, folktales and even ghost stories that came to us from our ancestors give us the foundation to build our imaginations. While some stories manage to get written down, many are still hidden in the wisdom of our elders.

Pattan's Pumpkin is one such story that has never been written down until now. It is not just a story of ingenuity and adventure, but also of Pattan’s love for his valley, animals and birds that live there. 

When I discovered the skeleton of this story, it fascinated me because it was set in the UNESCO heritage site of the Western Ghats. These mountain ranges are older than the Himalayas. They feature in Indian epics not just as part of our physical landscape but also add to our cultural heritage. In this valley for thousands of years, tribes have lived in harmony with nature. But in the recent past, the land grab of modern society has deprived many communities of their habitat and their heritage.
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By S N Barid (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This story that I had found in the crevices of research notes came from one of the Irular tribe. The story Pattan’s Pumpkin predates this tribe’s reputation as hunter-gatherers, when they were guardians of the land in the valleys of these mountains. In recent times, this tribe’s reputation as snake-catchers fascinates the urban dweller. But it also denies the tribe a dignified place in the society.

While every religion told its flood tales, this one was unique. This wasn’t about the religion, but about the determination of one man and his love for his valley. In contrast, the story of Manu and the Fish is a Hindu flood tale that involves a boat just like the Christian story of Noah. But Pattan isn’t a boat-builder. He is not getting help from Vishnu, in the form of fish. Pattan has to use his own ingenuity and his enormous pumpkin. This resonates with history when people of both Asia and Africa hollowed out gourds like the bottle gourd and pumpkins to create drinking jugs and calabash.

But how do you explain the enormous pumpkin without imagining a miracle? Super-sized pumpkins are neither miracles nor a freak of nature. The world’s largest pumpkin in modern history weighed 2323.7 pounds in weight in 2014. If a modern-day farmer from an industrialised nation can produce a massive pumpkin with good seeds, organic fertilisers and tremendous care, then I’m quite inclined to believe that the enormous pumpkin that Pattan grew wasn’t a miracle at all – but the habit of nature when she’s undisturbed and protected from human greed especially in one of the most bio-diverse valleys in the world.

For me this story is not just a rollicking Indian tale about a bumpity-bump ride inside a pumpkin. It is that. But it is also about living in harmony with nature. It is for every child who deserves a greener tomorrow. I really hope children enjoy reading this story with their parents and grandparents. I hope they enjoy the words and the fabulous pictures by Frané Lessac, and also take in Pattan’s message – cherish the nature around you, nurture it and pass it on to your descendants.

Pattan’s Pumpkin by Chitra Soundar is available now here.

The Museum of Me

This month debut author and illustrator Emma Lewis has published a new book with Tate The Museum of Me. We are always on the look-out for accessible and inspiring books to accompany our museum visits and this one is truly original and enchantingly illustrated. It's the sort of book that has left us pondering for days, as every good book should.  

Inspired by folk art and Scandinavian design, Emma Lewis uses a combination of illustration, collage and photographs to take us on a simple journey through the various sorts of museums at our fingertips from the British Museum (stuffed with antiquities), the Natural History Museum and its wealth of specimens, Art Museums and Science Museums to the sorts of places we might not think of as such - botanical gardens and growing collections. Though we can instantly recognise many loved London places and spaces in this book, it is transferable to many other cities and collections. Manchester University Museum, Kelvingrove, or Royal Albert Memorial Museum Exeter, for instance, with their breadth of collections in one building; parks and gardens - such as Kew or the Yorkshire Sculpture Park; living museums; and small local exhibits (which are covered too).

This clever book, which is intended to get us to think about the reasons why we collect and preserve objects, then takes us rather closer to home. At the coda we are presented with another sort of precious space - our own museums created with the meaningful items of our own lives. The artefacts we choose to surround ourselves with in everyday life, and particularly those we treasure. What do the things we collect say about us?

At the beginning of September to celebrate the launch of the book, Tate challenged us to gather our own Me in Five Objects collection. This was so tricky to find just five things that speak about our passions, background and personality. We were discussing it for days until we finally set up our little Museums of Me. 

Culturebaby chose her ballet shoes, violin and swimming kit, her paints and a picture she'd drawn of her family. Culturetot selected her Today Book (her diary), favourite doll, ballet shoes, swimming costume and a photograph of her nursery friends. I changed my items several times for those with multiple meanings and settled on my engagement ring (representing marriage, family and my love for Art Deco), an Egyptian cat (Egyptology and felines), a guide to music, my favourite book (Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh) and a model of Aslan (children's literature and faith). What a lovely exercise and great opportunity for dinnertime discussion with the family and chance to really explore with the girls what they really love.

To celebrate this fabulous book, I thought we'd share some further ideas for DIY museums. One of our favourite activities, either after a museum visit that we wish to re-live, or often at times when we are unable to venture out for the day but wish we could, we create our own museums at home. From modern art to jewellery, science and fashion to antiquities and sculpture, these are all so simple to create and incorporate into imaginative play.

1. The Shoebox Museum

We saw this wonderful idea online a long time ago and we have used it over and over to re-live visits to the Tate, create Mummy rooms and treat a host of play characters to an educational visit. The simplest way to do this is simply with a large shoe box, blue-tack and a selection of postcards. When we've been to an exhibition the girls choose a couple of favourite postcards, or for particular blockbusters I buy a postcard pack. We select favourites to display and you have an immediate playspace for small characters. You can join several boxes together - the girls are rather keen on creating the necessary cafe space too!

 

 

2. The Converted Doll's House

Doll's houses can be easily converted into gallery spaces in a very similar way to a shoebox museum. The beautiful book Henry Tate can serve as great inspiration for how a home can become a gallery, as can trips to spaces such as the Wallace Collection and other house galleries. We particularly like using part of my old Galt house from my childhood - it can easily be set up as a four room open gallery with thematic rooms and a cafe.

3. The Book Back-drop Gallery

We have a number of wonderful books that open out to reveal timelines of historical objects or strings of art works. These are so simple to set up and can become immediate mini museums. The most effective and regularly used we have is Art for Baby Colour - a box containing four mini concertina galleries in each of red, blue, yellow and green and featuring 44 works by leading modern and contemporary artists. These can be easily moulded into room shapes and corridors for miniature characters to navigate.

We also constructed our own little dress museum at home using the gorgeous fold out title from Big Picture Press Shirts, Skirts and Shoes illustrated by Sanna Mander. Whilst this volume only covers the last 100 years or so, it is a work of art; folding out to over two metres and forming the perfect museum backdrop. We've spent some extremely happy creative sessions discussing our favourite designs and again emulating these styles for dolls with simple (no sew) off-cuts of fabric, ribbons and a few items I've had since I was a child. We've explored the Edwardian, the '20s and the '50s and 60's. Simple and so much fun... 

 

Similarly the sister book Planes, Trains and Automobiles by Mike Lemanski has been used as a backdrop for our own science museum transport galleries at home using some of our favourite resources - Safari Toobs (miniature educational models). The Disney Princesses, led by bookworm Belle, trooped round the exhibits - each identifying their favourite train or plane - and watched with delight our miniature moving railway exhibit. Culturebaby played happily with it all afternoon.We've also done the same sort of thing with DK's Play Dinosaur (card landscapes). 

4. Felt Museum Collages

For a couple of the Tate Modern's blockbusters I have created felt works of art for the children to explore and re-create in the galleries in front of the original paintings. These are really useful as they can be transported easily and don't involve pens or other art materials in the galleries. I've done Matisse's La Gerbe and Malevich's Dynamic Suprematism. We've also produced Mondrian lolly-pop arrangement (an idea spotted on the internet). These DIY art works are accessible for younger children and can also be used afterwards at home. I was also really impressed when we visited Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum in July that they have created a similar sort of resource using felt versions of iconic items in their museum, and children were invited to select and place these on large black backgrounds. I think I may try to replicate this idea at home.

5. Postcard Chronology Games

Culturebaby has become really interested in the concept of stratigraphy and chronology. What came first, how do streets change with time, what is older and younger? At a recent visit to the V and A, she particularly loved the jewellery galleries. I purchased a postcard pack featuring 16 different items of jewellery, ordered and numbered these on the back, and created a simple numeracy and ordering game to put the artefacts in the right date order - relative to each other. This has been surprisingly successful.

 

6. Miniature Sculpture Parks

Once the children have been in the habit of setting up their own museums, they have increasingly improvised with interesting results. When we studied Calder (see HERE) Culturebaby created a series of sculptures with a box of Shapescapes ("Sculpture in a Box") and turned this into a Sculpture Park for her miniature dolls to explore, climb, ride and discuss. As a child (and adult) I've always loved Galt's Octons, a great construction tool made up of various coloured 8 sided shapes. There are all sorts of materials that can be used to create a colourful landscape of interesting miniature art.

Disclaimer: We received a copy of The Museum of Me for review purposes. All opinions are entirely my own.