Singing plays an important role in children's learning, and when working with parents to support that learning, then families' own musical memories and repertoire of rhymes and songs can also be powerful resources. Just how powerful has been revealed through 'Time to Play', an action research project where creative play practitioners worked with mothers and children in settings serving predominantly Muslim communities in Oxford, Birmingham, Bristol and Southampton.
The project was managed by PEEP (Parents Early Education Partnership), in Oxford, and evaluated by Susan Young from Exeter University.
Research shows us that singing can have a rich variety of meanings for babies and very young children and that these depend on the sound worlds that they experience from birth - and even before. From around 20 weeks' gestation the foetus can hear the voices of their immediate family and will have become acquainted with the sonic 'scape' of their home.
As babies become increasingly expressive through their babbling and body gestures, their vocal play and exploratory speech patterns reflect their home culture. These are, therefore, also part of their musical culture. As well as being unique to each child, these expressions emerge within and are an ongoing part of their daily lives because of the social interactions around them.
So, the rhythmic patterns of speech, the soothing and rousing tones of mother-ese as well as the sounds from TV, digitised toys and media in the home can all influence the way that young children express themselves with their voices and bodies. Patricia Sheehan-Campbell reminds us that 'their expressive music is related to the music they have received' (2011: 76).
Research also suggests that singing for adults when they are with children can have a range of meanings (Street, 2009). For some it is about connecting emotionally. Singing is often effective for both soothing and rousing young children and helps parent and child understand more about each other's feelings. Sometimes it also relieves parents' own stress.
Across many cultures, there are songs for play, for bouncing on the knee, for helping babies to sleep and for teaching them the names of body parts, animals, local flowers, customs, and expectations of family roles too.
As children grow, their expressive selves become increasingly sophisticated and absorb audio influences that originate from outside the home, especially from popular culture and from media influences. Yet they continue to build on their initial knowledge from home, so that their singing, dancing and play with sounds in their environment change and adapt according to who they meet and their social relationships.
When early years settings support the diverse cultural identities of the families in which this richness of linguistic and musical potential is recognised, practice can become more meaningful for children, parents and the professionals involved.
This was an aim of the Time to Play'project, whose wider intention was to develop a better understanding of racial and religious diversity in the early years and to challenge assumptions that all too often lead to unequal opportunities for some children and parents while favouring others.
PEEP was chosen as the host organisation because its principles were in tune with the aims of the project. The organisation is a charity dedicated to helping parents and carers make the most of everyday learning opportunities to support young children's development from birth and uses its Learning Together Programme and the ORIM framework (Hannon, 1995) to both value and extend what parents already know about and can do with their children.
MOTHERS' SONGS
In Oxford, PEEP practitioner Nuzhat Abbas collected mothers' memories of how they played when they were young, and the rhymes and songs they knew, through using fabric pens on a length of cotton sheeting. The group sessions followed closely after Eid, which mothers wished to celebrate through bringing food, dressing up and decorating their hands with mehndi. So, the 'song cloth' became a medium for self-expression; a mix of traditional songs, stories and rhymes, represented in a rich variety of words, pictures, languages and mehndi.
Nuzhat's work shows that from starting points in talking and drawing, songs can become easier for mothers to recall, perform and share. It also demonstrates that if we ask parents for their stories and songs and invite them to share their memories, then we can explore with them the potential of singing together to strengthen feelings of self-worth, cultural identity and support for young children's developing expressiveness.
PEEP has now released a CD of Nuzhat singing these songs, which are sung in the mothers' home languages. 'Singing Together in Urdu and Punjabi: Songs andLullabies for Babies and Young Children', with commentary in English, Urdu, Punjabi Shahmukhi and Punjabi Gurmukhi, is available via www.peep.org.uk.
There are also examples on Youtube. For 'Bulbul Ka Bacha' (Baby Bird: Urdu lullaby) visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v= EtJ4r4cetfU and for 'Saun Ja Meri Rani' (My darling girl: Punjabi Lullaby), visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdswoIy_3AU.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
Music was just one component of a wider effort to 'get to know' parents involved in Time to Play. For example, we allowed plenty of time to ask families about their geographical, cultural, linguistic and social backgrounds. World maps were helpful as adults could show where they had lived and could tell their stories about relatives in distant places.
Similarly, practitioners came to recognise the importance of learning about the origins of the families' names, their exact spelling and the significance of their sequence in relation to family as these reflect a strong sense of belonging and sense of self. We just need to remind ourselves how disappointing it is if people get our names wrong - how much more confusing for a newly arrived mother who is looking to professionals in settings for advice and information.
Activities that centred on names, such as decorating name cards with different colours, textures, henna or glitter opened up conversations about the meanings and origins of names and the reasons for choice.
Time to Play enabled practitioners to become more culturally responsive to the families with whom they were working, by providing the means to garner information about family life and respond with accessible and meaningful activities. We should all strive to find out about families' feelings about their children's play, relationships with others and their hopes for their futures. Working in this way, the practitioner becomes less of the 'expert' and more of a mediator for families, in terms of content and information. This can feel risky, as relationships with different cultures challenge our own sense of identity. Working with this self-awareness, however, can enrich partnership work through learning together with parents.
With thanks to the creative play practitioners in Time to Play: Nuzhat Abbas, Sandra Barefoot, Maggie O'Connor, Patricia Power, Sally Smith, CEO, PEEP, and all the families in South Oxford who took part in Time to Play
Dr Alison Street lectures in early childhood at Oxford Brookes University and is a member of the UK network of Music Educators and Researchers of Young Children (MERYC). See www.meryc.org.eu
MORE INFORMATION
- Street, A (2009) 'Empowering parents through "Learning Together" in Keeping the Baby in Mind, Routledge.
- Hannon, P (1995) Literacy, Home and School: Research and Practice in Teaching Literacy with Parents, Falmer Press
- Sheehan-Campbell, P (2011) 'Musical enculturation: sociocultural influences and meanings of children's experiences in and through music', A Cultural Psychology of Music Education, OUP
