Here I am sitting in my well stocked music room/ office and I am lucky enough to have everything I need to make music except for one very important element. You, my musical families!

Where are you and what are you doing all day? And seriously how do you do it? As a granny I regularly ask my children how on earth as parents they keep their energy and motivation up especially whilst we are living in lockdown? Whatever your situation being locked down with little ones is not something I should envy.

Remembering as a mum (too many years to write) planning a ‘nice day in’. Let’s bake cakes, make playdough, tidy the under-stairs cupboard together!* then half way through the morning when the playdough is in the dog, coffee is stone cold and the house looks like it has been burgled by a very ‘playful’ burglar I would reach for the buggy and dog lead and strut out to find others in the street or park to find somebody who would be willing to speak to us so that we could regain some sort of sanity. Well NO! you can’t even do that at the moment with the risk of your little one reaching for the nearest person begging them for a hug or to take them home.

I feel for each and every one of you . Of course for us as grandparents it is easy. I can press a red button if the Facetime gets too hectic or cut the call short if Grumpy ‘needs his supper’. Sigh! but the house is too tidy, there are no new finger prints on the doors or breathe marks on the windows. I know where to find my watering can and the mud and sticks art installation made by our youngest grandchild has gone into the compost heap. As grandparents we are bored and feel helpless. Then midway through this lockdown I was asked to write an short article around the question. How do we keep musical with our families during lockdown? It got me thinking. Never has music been so important in our lives as it is now. It can soothe us , excite us , distract us and keep us connected.

Let’s think about some of the songs we love the best. Our nursery songs. The Wheels on the Bus for example. A great song and could if you wish lends itself to some creative thinking and improvisation. You could sing it as you trot out for your 30 minutes of exercise. How many extra verses can you make of this including the ‘cat on the wall says Miao! miao! miao!’ or the dog in the park goes woof! woof! woof ! The rhythm alone can be tapped out on the nearest saucepan, using a wooden spoon or similar. Bring in dad with a cheese grater and stick followed by brother Jake with a brown paper bag full of pasta. In no time at all you have a home grown orchestra, some fun and laughter. Take the song Grand ol’ Duke of York. Sing it everywhere then change the words to suit as you up the stairs you go singing ‘Oh! mum and dad and John he made a kitchen band. They marched and marched to the top of the stairs and marched back down again’. Grab your hairbrush and pop on a favourite song on Spotify or similar. Sing it together with everybody.

Just this week one of my families sent me a clip of their son singing Frank Sinatra’s ‘My way.’ Cute yes, important, certainly. Add a few items of dressing up clothes and you have a unique performance. This could be a scenario to save for those moments when your little ones are big ones who don’t want to get up in the morning, would rather die than sing Wheels on the Bus and definitely don’t think you are funny marching up the stairs singing.

Life really will feel a bit better if you can create, hold and cherish opportunities for singing and dancing together. There will be better times and we will forget the hard times but nature is wonderful ( along with a smart phone ) in helping us remember these positive, precious musical moments we had with our little ones.

So be brave and kind to yourselves and fill your homes with songs, dances, bands and if you have time please send me some sounds to go in my den of peace and tranquillity.

Linda Bance is writing for her families, colleagues and Caterpillar Music.

This post was written by:

Linda Bance is a music educator in the United Kingdom specialising in music making with children in their early childhood. She is renowned nationally and internationally for her work and publications. Her career path has allowed her to lead projects within Children Centres, music services and professional orchestras and currently her work includes consulting for the BBC, and mentoring aiming to help musicians and early years practitioners recognise their strengths in the arts and develop these as part of their career path. Currently Linda is working on building up her mentoring work alongside being a Trustee for MERYC the Music Education Researchers of Young Children and running her own music business.

She can be contacted on 07753636443
musicwithmum21@btopenworld.com
www.playmusicplay.co.uk