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Makin a Brew: traditional song and story with early years in North Edinburgh

A creative exploration of storymaking, music and song for parents and their pre-school children: a partnership project with Craigroyston and Granton Early Years Centre .

 The slow embedding of a new project based in two Early Years Centres, and the building of trust with vulnerable parents and families, have been part of an important learning curve for me in my work as a community music practitioner, writes Gica Loening. After two years of weekly immersion in Granton and Craigroyston in North Edinburgh at the nursery, and with a stand-alone parents group, my colleague Claire McNicol and I are gaining insights all the time into the small changes  and flexibility of approach that can make all the difference to achieving a successful outcome. Space for immediate reflection after each frontline session has been an essential factor in the process.

Makin a Brew aims to support and encourage parent-child connection, by weaving music and storymaking into the everyday life of home and nursery. We use oral storytelling, and a mixture of Scottish traditional as well as popular rhymes and songs. We encourage participants to tell and make their own stories both through spoken word and song. All the parents we work with have been identified and referred to the Early Years Centres as vulnerable families.

Nurturing the parent-child bond starts with building self-esteem and giving a voice to young parents, some of whom may have lacked that security and connection in their own childhoods. Accessible and participative music and story, and the synergy between the two, are among the best ways into this process. Music and story are enjoyable, relaxing, break down barriers, and allow precious time for a sharing between parent and child.

The richness of Scots traditional culture is too vital to be missed and adds significance and meaning for all participants, including the early years staff. They strongly engaged with the material and felt their confidence increase in leading songs and telling stories.

A typical session will start off in the nursery with a half hour of active songs, rhymes and a story (always told, not read), with parents, children and staff jointly participating. This is followed by a session for parents only.

The shared nursery session has evolved a repetitive groove of simple songs and rhymes followed by a story, helping to build a sense of safety and ownership. The repetition helps really embed the songs in the nursery, and aids recall at home. We have heard lovely anecdotes of children singing the songs repeatedly at home, and one wee girl (3) even leading her own group song session with other little ones in a corner of the nursery!

When singing and sharing stories as a group, the spotlight is more on the children and less on the parents, so the adults feel less self conscious and more at ease with joining in. This works magically in terms of getting to know parents, and has paved the way for working with them on their own.  We have avoided using too many props and puppets, as the aim is to empower the parents with repertoire they can recreate at home, at the bus stop or at the shopping mall, without reliance on props which they may not have.

What as practitioners, can we learn from these shared sessions?

The partnership with staff – sharing insights into each session, noticing small developments in the children or how a previously reluctant parent joined in singing – has played a vital part in our understanding of how our work impacts on the participants. We are able to log this info and monitor small transformations.

We know that familiar space and setting can make or break a good session. We also know that joining a group circle can be a daunting prospect. Alongside creating a cosy meeting space, we now ensure that as practitioners we enter the room after everyone else, allowing parents and children to occupy the space before we do, thus changing the balance of power.

As mentioned earlier, the inclusion of parents in the informal nursery session, together with their children, allows us to build rapport with them, making their participation in a stand-alone parents group more likely.

Both centres have a high proportion of children with additional support needs (ASN). We have noticed the hugely calming effect that the songs, rhymes and stories have on them and in turn how that changes the mood and atmosphere in the nursery as a whole. One 3 year-old on the autistic spectrum who would never sit in the group, or take part in songs now eagerly anticipates our arrival, helps me take the ukulele out of its case, sways to the songs, and is able to follow hand actions. This change has occurred in very small ways over the weeks, adding up to something very significant. 

The hour after the nursery session is a child-free space when the parents can meet, explore and gain confidence in their own music and storymaking skills.  All good in theory, but holding on to and encouraging them to take part has been the hardest part of this project. Their own free time is precious, and this is compounded with chronic lack of self-confidence, anxiety around notions of music and singing, and what taking part in any kind of group might entail. Finding a common ground amongst fairly disparate individuals is a challenge too. While numbers of parents staying in the group have fluctuated, we have slowly found a way in with a light touch approach, making plenty of time for chat, banter and cups of tea.  Tongue twisters, rhythm and pulse games, easy intro to the uke, and, latterly, a new focus (chosen by parents) on creative writing and poetry, has resulted in a small but cohesive and engaged group. The group has now created its own slideshow and recorded soundscape, tracking a ‘day in the life’ of our activities. 

My notes, March 2015

‘Tasha commented again how she does not normally like groups but she looks forward to this group. She commented on how she is full of good ideas and enjoys contributing them.’

A weekly traditional tale from Claire has involved another element of risk: how many of us as adults ever have stories told to  us? For some of the parents in our group this might even be the first time, but I can report I have watched young parents, some with hoods shielding faces, eye contact avoided, and heads lowered,  slowly becoming spellbound as they listened,  eyes as big as saucers, and desperate to know what happens next in the story (always kept as a cliffhanger till the following week).

In finding our way slowly forwards with the parents group, we have picked up on what works, and shed what doesn’t. We have come to realise that small numbers of parents attending doesn’t mean that we are failing. Working with ‘hard to reach’ participants , means just that, and the work is has been about quality rather than quantity.

 

Over the last year there have been some notable outcomes. As well as the slideshow and soundscape, we produced our own CD and booklet of the children’s songs, along with bedtime stories told by Claire and a staff member, Nicky, for whom this was a new experience. Parents, staff, and children all had a part in the recording. Katy, a young single parent, extremely shy, and with high anxiety levels, chose to record ‘Twinkle Twinkle’, singing together with her son for one of the tracks – a huge step forward for her. Davie, a parent with slight learning difficulties, and a keen Elvis fan, took part too, and has also made his own EP. His confidence levels have soared and after singing regularly at the centre, and at a family party, he now wants to take part in ‘Britain’s Got Talent’!

Our two CPD sessions for early years staff at the two centres have made an impact, increasing staff confidence levels in bringing oral storytelling and new songs into the nursery setting. The sessions have been useful for better understanding and more insight into how a shared partnership of practitioner and staff can work to embed Makin a Brew into the heart of the children’s centres. The sense of a shared project has increased further with our joint participation in a recent Artworks training day on quality.

“In 16 years of being involved in different kinds of groups at the centre, I have never experienced a group quite like this. I think what you do that is different is that you take us all just slightly out of our comfort zones.”  Nicola Leadbetter, Senior Early Years Practitioner.

The development process of Makin a Brew, from theoretical funding proposal to making it real and making it work, has certainly taken me as practitioner out of my own comfort zone! It has taught me that being bold, taking risks, and believing in what you do – often two steps forward, one step back – enables participants to believe in it too, resulting in life changing experiences.

Gica Loening is a musician and organiser. As well as Makin a Brew she heads up Fun Fiddle in Portobello, and is a founder-member of the klezmer band Celter Schmelter