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MUSIC#HALL#
BABIES#
Evaluation Report#
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‘Was such a good way of covering all the
bases of getting new mums out of the house,
introducing babies and parents from around
the area with perhaps nothing other than our
new baby in common to each other and
giving amazing cultural opportunities to
these very fortunate babies’ (parent)#
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Authors:
Pauline Black, School of Language, Literature,
Music and Visual Culture
Elizabeth Curtis, School of Education
September 2019
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Contents
Summary of Music Hall Babies Project………………………………………………………………………….
2
Background to the Project…………………………………………………………………………………………….
3
Delivery of the MHB Project………………………………………………………………………………………...
6
The Research………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
8
Ethical Considerations………………………………………………………………………………………………….
9
Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
9
Demographics……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
9
Cultural background of MHB respondents……………………………………………………………………
9
Areas where MHB families live…………………………………………………………………………………….
10
Age of MHB Parents…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
10
Widening Access / Cultural Impact……………………………………………………………………………….
11
Parents and Cultural Capital…………………………………………………………………………………………
12
Home Impact……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…
19
Creativity………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Social Impact……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…
21
Developmental Impact………………………………………………………………………………………………...
23
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
28
References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
29
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Summary of the Music Hall Babies Project
This report is an evaluation of the impact of the year-long project ‘Music Hall Babies’
(MHB) led by the Creative Learning Team at Aberdeen Performing Arts. MHB ran
from December 2017 to December 2018 covering the year leading up to the
reopening of Aberdeen’s Music Hall, which had been undergoing a major
redevelopment project. One of the key aims of the Music Hall redevelopment
project was to attract younger audiences, build audiences for the future and make
the venue more accessible and family friendly.
The MHB project was offered to all babies born in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire
in December 2017 and 50 babies and their parents engaged with the project over
the course of the year.
Through the MHB project Aberdeen Performing Arts aspired to encourage cognitive
development through the arts, to develop child/parent bonds, to give children a
positive early exposure to the arts and to widen access to cultural activity. They set
out to achieve this through a series of inclusive arts-based workshops for babies that
they hoped would contribute to the development of creative skills in later life.
Another key aim of the project was to engage with families across many
demographics, including regeneration areas, to give the babies and their parents a
very positive first experience of the arts and to widen access to cultural activity.
Aberdeen Performing Arts Creative Learning staff as well as a range of visiting artists
delivered the MHB project arts workshops.
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Background to the Project
Aberdeen Performing Arts aims to be at the cultural heart of life in the city of
Aberdeen and a creative hub for the artistic community in the North east of
Scotland. Aberdeen Performing Arts state that their ‘mission is to create a
spark…inspiring, exploring and engaging through live performances and creative
projects.’ (Aberdeen Performing Arts website, 2019)
Aberdeen Performing Arts manages three venues, His Majesty’s Theatre, the Music
Hall and the Lemon Tree and has three strategic goals as an organisation:
1. Presenting and producing a distinctive artistic programme
2. Talent development and creative learning
3. City vision creative nation (Aberdeen Performing Arts website, 2019)
In the development of the MHB project, Aberdeen Performing Arts took inspiration
from the work of Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s REP’s Children Project (Coad,
undated). This was a longitudinal (ten year) project which began life with a group of
babies born in regeneration areas in the West Midlands in October 2004. The
research concluded that the project had been ‘successful in reducing preconceived
ideas about theatre and the arts’
https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/282/article/birminghams-babes
Educational attainment and income are both significant factors associated with
attendance at performing arts activities, with studies showing that people who are in
upper managerial and professional level positions are more likely to attend events
(Borgonovi, 2007). Ellison et al (2011) argue that for some adults there are barriers
which exist resulting in the impression that performing arts are elitist (p22) and that
prior experience is an important and ‘necessary prerequisite’ (p22) for attendance as
an adult.
Aberdeen Performing Arts through the MHB project was ideally placed to counter
this perception and challenge any preconceived ideas around what might be
perceived as high culture, referring back to one of the key aims of the project - to
engage with families across many demographics, including regeneration areas, to
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give the babies and their parents a very positive first experience of the arts and to
widen access to cultural activity.
Aberdeen Performing Arts is a charity and its charitable objectives are to provide
accessible and affordable opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds and
abilities to enjoy and participate in the arts including people with protected
characteristics and people experiencing socio economic deprivation and other forms
of disadvantage. The MHB project is one such project.
‘We wanted to make it accessible so that everybody, no matter
what your ability, can come in through the front door…access
and inclusion is so important to us so that any family can take
part in any of our programmes regardless of their background, of
what language they speak and regardless of their abilities.’
(Creative Learning Manager)
‘We really wanted to work
with babies from birth…and
introduce them to the arts and
build a relationship with
families.’
(Creative Learning Manager)
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The MHB project provided an intense year-long programme of six sets of five weekly
workshops, specifically designed to engage babies and their parents in arts-based
experiences.
This project is timely as arts organisations and early childhood researchers have
shown that participation in the arts is fundamental to the learning and development
of the young child. Drury and Fletcher Watson (2017) worked with psychologists
using scientific imaging techniques to map brain structures in babies participating in
early years theatre. They explored the main five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste
and touch) as a framework for early years theatre with developmentally appropriate
content delivery which takes into consideration how babies experience the world.
This was very well reflected in the way that Aberdeen Performing Arts chose to
design the workshops for the MHB project.
Bruce (2011) states that being creative is an attitude of mind, which can and should
be developed from birth. She goes on to argue that creativity can come in three
categories – ‘specialist, world shaking and everyday’ (p111). It is the latter which
provided the core of the arts-based learning embedded in the MHB workshops. This
is further supported by current policy drivers from the Scottish Government (2013)
which suggests that creativity skills include being: ‘constructively inquisitive, open
minded, able to harness imagination, able to identify and solve problems (p5).
Creative Scotland (2013) also endorses this view and state that they ‘want Scotland
to be a country where art and creativity can flourish and play a part in the life of
everyone who lives, works or visits here; a country whose cultural excellence is
recognized at home and abroad…’ (p16). They define creativity in relation to the
capacity to generate ideas, to be open-minded in problem-solving, seeing things with
fresh eyes and using the imagination to learn from mistakes to explore new
possibilities, (ibid). Trevarthen and Malloch (2018) argue that the development of
culture requires creativity, and that rather than simply maintaining the tradition or
practice of established forms, improvisation and discovery are vital. The researchers
noted these features to be prominent in many of the Aberdeen Performing Arts
workshops.
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Chen-Hafteck and Mang (2018) demonstrated the connections between music and
language learning and they note that all human beings have the capacity for both.
Trevarthen and Malloch (2018, p26) define this as ‘communicative musicality’… in
which everybody has the potential to express themselves through music. They use
the term ‘parentese’ to define the ‘infant directed speech’ (ibid) which was perhaps
most prominent to the researchers in this project during the Lullabies workshops.
Recent research in the US, (Weihua & Western, 2019) which looked at the
relationship between socio-economic factors, family structures and neighbourhood
cohesion in relation to participation in extracurricular activities by 6 – 16 year olds
concluded that such participation does develop and strengthen cultural capital and
by extension the capacity for children who participate to access higher education
and go on to have successful careers. They also concluded that children from two
parent married families from neighbourhoods with high levels of cohesion were the
most likely to experience high levels of participation in extracurricular activities. This
was based on studying the amount of time and money available to invest in
children’s activities as well as access to the social networks necessary to share the
time involved in supporting children’s participation.
Delivery of the MHB Project
Weekly workshops took place during the year in the Lemon Tree. The Lemon Tree is
a less formal venue than either His Majesty’s Theatre or the Music Hall which
promotes alternative, new and up and coming artists, ranging from comedy and
dance to spoken word and music. Aberdeen Performing Arts took an inclusive
approach to the delivery of the MHB workshops which were always free to attend
and were followed by a time for parents and babies to socialise and have
refreshments, again provided at no cost to the participants. A Facebook group was
well used and the Creative Learning Assistant posted weekly updates.
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The workshops were developed to reflect the changing needs of the babies in their
first year of life and encompassed a range of creative art forms including music,
dance, messy play and theatre for babies, finishing with a baby ceilidh to celebrate
the re-opening of the Music Hall and the first birthday of the MHB project.
Workshops were devised and led by:
• Aberdeen Performing Arts Creative Learning Early Years specialists
• Live Music Now Performers
• Scottish Dance Theatre
• Citymoves
• Aberdeen City Council Creative Learning: Geronimo Project
• Scottish Opera: BambinO
• Starcatchers Theatre for Babies
• Irene Watt, traditional lullabies
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The Research
The researchers were asked to explore the experiences of participants in this multi-
arts project with particular reference to any social, cultural and developmental
impact.
The research explored the experiences of the participants who attended and the
organisers of the workshops for babies. In particular the researchers focused on
parent-baby relationships and the role and purpose of arts organisations in
developing creativity in babies.
The researchers chose to use a cultural and social capital framework. Cultural capital
along with social capital is a way of understanding the relationship between
individuals and societies in which they live and the degree to which they feel a sense
of belonging and being of value to their wider social communities.
The researchers used a variety of means to gather data. Data collection included
both quantitative (demographic) and qualitative data (perceptions). This included
two online questionnaires, one at the start and one at the end of the project. These
were designed to examine the attitudes and experiences of participation in the
project. Of the 50 participating families 17 responded to the first questionnaire and
21 to the second questionnaire. The analysis of these questionnaires informed the
subsequent development of semi-structured interviews. All parents were invited for
interview and 6 responded, so in depth qualitative interviews were carried out with
these parents, as well as with the Creative Learning Manager and 4 of the workshop
leaders. All parents were also invited to contribute to an online photo and video
journal to document how they used ideas from the workshops at home with their
babies. All of the photos used in this report were submitted by parents. The
researchers also noted informal observations and conversations throughout the
project. Midway through the year parents were invited to comment on their
perceptions regarding an exhibition of photographs of their babies participating in
the Geronimo workshops. The researchers informally observed workshops
throughout the year so that parents and babies became familiar with the research
team.
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Ethical Considerations
This research study was conducted in accordance with the Ethical Guidelines of the
British Educational Research Association (BERA) and the University of Aberdeen’s
Committee for Research Ethics and Governance in Arts, Social Sciences and Business
(CREGASSB) Policy and Procedure for Ethics. All relevant information was provided to
adults so that they could make an informed decision about the study and their role in
the research. In accordance with BERA guidelines, participants were given the right to
withdraw at any time. Information collected in the research remained confidential and
real names were not used.
Data Analysis
Quantitative data were presented using descriptive statistics using Survey Monkey.
Qualitative data were subjected to a process of inductive thematic analysis.
Demographics
Aberdeen City has a resident population of 222,793 as measured in the 2011 census,
and this is made up of a predominantly white (92%) ethnicity with the remaining 8%
of a diverse ethnic mix. Aberdeenshire has a resident population of 252,973 as
measured in the 2011 census, and this is made up of a predominantly white (98%)
ethnicity with the remaining 2% of a diverse ethnic mix. The demographic of our
research sample and indeed of all of the participants in the MHB project reflects this.
Demographic profiles of the MHB parents participating in the research study were
mapped in terms of gender, ethnicity, age and postcode.
Cultural background of MHB respondents
In both the entry and exit survey 100% of the participants were White British and
female.
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Areas where MHB families live
Participants were asked to share the first four digits of their postcodes. The analysis
of these showed that none of the postcodes were in regeneration areas. However
through the interviews it became apparent that despite not living in regeneration
areas a small number of participants highlighted that their socio-economic
circumstances had declined through becoming a single parent. It should be noted
that when we interviewed the Creative Learning Manager it was made clear that a
postcode analysis at the start of the project revealed two families taking part who
were from regenerations areas. These participants did not take part in the research.
In response to this low participant rate in representation of regeneration areas,
Aberdeen Performing Arts has since received funding to run a similar project in the
regeneration area of Seaton in 2019, with the view to increasing participant rates
within this demographic.
Age of MHB parents
Although not having participants from a wide ethnic or socio-economic background,
Tables 1 and 2 show that participants had a wide age range, with none in the under
20 age group.
Table 1: Entry Survey
Table 2: Exit Survey
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Widening Access / Cultural Impact
Aberdeen Performing Arts built up a close working relationship with Aberdeen City
Council’s Creative Learning Team, sharing knowledge and skills in relation to working
with young people and families across the City and in particular in the regeneration
areas of the City. In the development of a strategy for recruiting participants to MHB
from across all of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Performing Arts also worked closely with NHS
Grampian to advertise the MHB project through the network of health visitors in the
city who meet all prospective parents and in the maternity hospital.
Table 3
Where parents found out about MHB
Other*:
Poster in Marischal College
Saw a flyer when registering birth
Poster in Rosemount Community Centre
Facebook post by another mum who saw a poster
‘Well that's one thing, that I actually knew a lot of them from various classes. It's
good to build familiarities and a lot of my antenatal class signed up for it and cos we
were like, Oh did you see at the registry office they had that poster? ….we kept
mentioning it through our WhatsApp group and then everyone sort of started signing
up for it.’ (Eilidh)
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Parents and Cultural Capital
As noted earlier in the report, despite Aberdeen Performing Art’s commitment and
positive drive to advertise the MHB project in and recruit participants from
regeneration areas in Aberdeen, the majority of the people who responded to the
invitation did not come from these areas. This can be explained in some respects
with reference to the idea of cultural capital. Although the posters in the Maternity
Hospital, the Registry office and information from health visitors was available to
every prospective parent, only those who had already had direct experience of the
arts through childhood and adult experiences of dancing, participating in music,
drama or art or who recognised the opportunity to participate in workshops ‘to give
my child some form of, I don't know boost,’ (parent interview) recognised the
invitation as relevant to them. This is clearly reflected in the responses from parents
in the first questionnaire where parents were asked about their attendance of and
participation in a range of arts-based performances and activities (See Tables 4 and 5
overleaf).
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Table 4
Before MHB, what kinds of performing arts activities did you participate in at any time
(as a child or adult)?
Table 5
Before MHB what kinds of performing arts activities did you attend?
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Table 6
Are there any performing arts activities which you yourself are more likely to attend
after participating in MHB?
Table 7
Are there any performing arts activities which you are more likely to attend with
your baby as a result of attending MHB?
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Around 40% of participating parents had regularly played or sung and had had music
lessons and similarly many parents had participated in dancing lessons and slightly
fewer had participated in drama classes and productions as children. In interview,
several of the parents had continued their musical and dance activities into
adulthood and one had completed a degree in fine art.
In relation to being an audience member, participants were mixed in their
responses. Participants were least likely to attend dance-based performances and
although music and drama-based performances were more popular, more did not
attend or infrequently attended drama performances than did. This highlights
Aberdeen Performing Art’s aim that MHB would support the development of new
audiences in the future and the feedback from parents after their experience of
participating in MHB workshops that they were all much more likely to attend music,
dance and drama performances with their babies. This can be noted in Tables 6 and
7 and in the following supporting statements from parents:
‘When I was younger I was a dancer
who also went on to teach dance
before I went to Uni to become a
primary teacher. I also played in a
pipe band as well, so my whole
family was integrated….’ (Debbie)
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‘I’ve always enjoyed dancing and
singing and things and I started
dancing at a young age and then my
first instrument I played was double
bass when I was eight years old and
then I went to classical guitar around
10 years old and I started getting
interested in piano….’ (Catriona)#
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‘Opera was something I would never have thought to take my child to before,
but the BambinO performance had them all gripped.’
‘I would take my child to these types of performances at a much earlier age
because of the project’
‘I would never have taken (baby) to baby opera but am now keen to look for
more shows that are similar, and my daughter loves music’
‘I planned to attend all these types of performing arts with my child anyway,
MHB has instilled an early love and we are likely to go more often and earlier
on because of the project.’
‘Keen to do this with my daughter in the future especially with the new
facilities.’
‘I’m not sure that I would have known how much enjoyment she could get
from dancing at such a young age had it not been for Music Hall Babies!
‘….we've signed up to come to Peter and the Wolf at the Music Hall.’
‘So, I think we just hope that they've taken away like I say a
lovely experience, but also feel that Aberdeen Performing Arts
and the Music Hall is in some way theirs….. Music Hall Babies
was all about for us developing audiences, developing a new
generation of audience.’ (Creative Learning Manager)
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In the interviews it was discussed that parents had contributed towards buying one
of the seats in the Music Hall refurbishment, as a way of contributing to the legacy of
the project and as a token of appreciation. This reflects very well Aberdeen
Performing Art’s commitment to growing a sense of belonging and family as part of
audience development.
Participants were also asked about their levels of confidence in doing particular arts-
based activities such as singing, dancing, listening to music, reading and telling
stories with their babies before and after participating in the MHB project. Before
the project began parents recorded high levels of confidence for listening to music,
but more moderate levels of confidence were expressed in relation to singing and
dancing with their babies. There was a marked change in confidence in all of the
areas after participating in the workshops, the biggest differences being in singing,
dancing and playing a musical instrument. This can be seen in Tables 8 and 9
overleaf.
‘I noticed that they had this website where you buy bits of the
Music Hall….. I just asked them if people were interested in
joining in rather than me and everybody seemed to really like
that idea. So now that there's the seat there and everything
as well, we'll all be fighting over that seat.’ (Bonnie)
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Table 8
Before MHB, how confident were you at doing the following with your baby?
Table 9
Now that you have participated in MHB, how confident are you at doing the following
with your baby?
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This reflects the success of MHB in building on the existing cultural capital of parents
through their participation in workshops to change their perceptions of the
relevance and potential enjoyment that families with very young children, even
babies could have from attending live performances of a range of arts which they
might previously not have seen as meaningful or accessible.
Home Impact
In the questionnaire, when asked what parents did at
home since participating in MHB, all of the respondents
showed high levels of doing practical activities at home
which were based on their experiences across all of the
workshops. This can be seen in Table 10.
Table 10
Since MHB which of the following do you do at home with your baby?
Since MHB which of the following do you do at home with your baby?
‘My son loves all of these he’s very into music and stories - loves it when I sing to him or read him
stories especially - I’m not particularly outgoing in that respect - I struggle with reading allowed even
in private I have a stutter - so it’s given me more confidence and shown me that he loves it so much to
give me a push I to put aside my fears and do these things with him. I think I found it hard to come to
classes a few times - as sometimes my shyness doesn’t come across to most people but I really do
struggle in social situations - so more exciting activities and knowing what’s happening next gets us
out of bed and put the door as a lot of classes can be early - not every child sleeps through and it can
vary so I think this is important for the future classes as well.’
‘Although I done this during the course, I probably do it more and use it to encourage feeding etc. Also
encouagjng other family members to participate’
‘My son loves all of these he’s very into music and stories - loves it when I sing to him or read
him stories especially - I’m not particularly outgoing in that respect - I struggle with reading
aloud even in private I have a stutter - so it’s given me more confidence and shown me that he
loves it so much to give me a push I to put aside my fears and do these things with him. I think I
found it hard to come to classes a few times - as sometimes my shyness doesn’t come across to
most people but I really do struggle in social situations - so more exciting activities and knowing
what’s happening.’ (Anna)
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Creativity
The responses from parents show that participation in MHB workshops has
developed their understanding of ‘everyday creativity’ (Bruce, 2011, p111) and their
willingness and openness to spend time with their babies exploring possibilities.
Through experiencing a range of sensory activities during MHB, parents seem more
willing to support their babies to encounter the world in different ways. All of the
workshops were devised to support parents to develop an improvisatory approach
to playing with their babies and to enable parents to build on these experiences at
home. This supports the aims of the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland
(2013) highlighted on page 3 of this report.
‘He loves bubbles, so we do a lot of that. I'm trying to be braver
with the messy play by putting a big shower curtain out in the
living room or something and trying to let him… just for bath time
with some bubbles and stuff like that.’ (Abigail)
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‘So later I had like pipe cleaners and feathers and
I was just a bit concerned that she would eat
them, choke on them or hide them away
somewhere for a later date. But yes, she
absolutely loves just being nosy basically, being
curious about all these different things.’ (Debbie)
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Social Impact
Creating the conditions to support participants to get to know each other and to get
to know the Aberdeen Performing Arts Creative Learning Team was an important
feature of the approach to MHB. This was one of the practices which Aberdeen
Performing Arts had learned through working with their Aberdeen City Creative
Learning counterparts. There were many perceived positive impacts on socialisation
of babies and parents.
Aberdeen Performing Arts intentionally included time to socialise over refreshments
either before or after the workshop sessions as part of their drive to foster the
feeling of being part of the Aberdeen Performing Arts family and to offer the
opportunity for parents and their babies to get to know one another. For one of the
parents who was interviewed the socialisation also included an elder sibling getting
to know her baby brother better.
‘It was an amazing opportunity
to meet people and make
friends for me and my baby.’
(Questionnaire respondent)
Just being in a room of babies of the same age
meant developmental discussions had meaning
as most were going through the same
experiences at the same time. It felt like the
babies could interact safely too as the toys etc.
were appropriate and they were all at the same
stage. I’ve been to some classes when some
little babies are knocked over by toddlers etc.’
(Questionnaire respondent)
‘[My daughter] was there as well, [she] got so much benefit from
it….It’s been lovely to see the interaction between her and [baby]
because they went to his baby group ….and she’s got a bank of songs
that she can sing to him that she knows makes him happy.’ (Bonnie)
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The social aspect was particularly important to parents who had previously felt
isolated as a parent. This was expressed by one of the interviewees who was a single
parent and the only one of her friends to have a baby and another interviewee who
reflected that, ‘I think having like a time afterwards was really nice…I made some
good friends in Music Hall Babies which is a positive and they were really kind to me
which was really nice.’
‘she’s more social than like some of the babies
in our antenatal group that haven’t been to the
course…..for example we went to one of the
boy’s houses that was on the course and as
soon as they went in, they’re like handing over
like their favourite toys…You just don’t think of
1-year olds being able to do that.’ (Debbie)#
‘That's why we brought in things
like at the end of the session she
had tea and coffee you know that
kind of things. Things that may
seem really basic but there's a
social element to it as well.’
(Creative Learning Manager)#
‘So I’ve made a fair few friends.
There’s a group chat that I’ve set up
so there’s six of us…..I’m glad I’ve
come too, I’ve certainly made good
friendships out of it.’ (Abigail)
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Developmental Impact
Because this study did not focus on measurable outcomes and because it is hard to
differentiate between all of the different environmental and other factors which
influence how babies develop, parents were asked in the questionnaire to comment
on their perceptions of how participation in MHB impacted on their baby’s sleep,
communication, movement, temperament, curiosity, social and emotional skills and
other. Parents we also given the opportunity to offer some examples of what this
looked like. This can be seen in Table 11. This was further explored in the interviews
with parents. From the quotations below it is clear that some parents found it hard
to make clear connections between what they noticed in relation to their baby’s
development and any direct correlations between the MHB workshops.
Table 11: Development
Select all categories that MHB has had an impact on and tell us a little bit about that
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Sleep
There were lots of positive comments about the lullabies in particular:
‘I found the lullabies have become part of the bedtime routine and my older
daughter enjoys choosing a song too. They seem to help speed up the night
time routine and promote good sleeping (most nights)!’
‘The lullabies helped, eventually. If I had another baby I'd start singing to
them much earlier on.’
Communication
‘It is difficult to determine for certain (this goes for any of the questions below
as well) whether or not the project had an impact, but I do believe my child is
more expressive thanks to the interactions during the project (and with the
friends we made)’
‘My baby sits and listens intently when in a group scenario, which I feel has
come from taking part in these sessions. He has good eye contact and ‘talks’
to others with ease.’
Movement
‘This may have helped – he’s certainly come on a lot with movement in the
last few months. I think interacting with other babies and more developed
children has had a strong impact. Monkey see / monkey do so to speak.’
‘Being surrounded by her peers who were crawling seemed to motivate
(baby) to start crawling. She first crawled at the theatre when we met there
to get some cake!’
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Temperament
‘Daughter is much more tolerant of being with other children compared to
other friends of the same age.’
‘Great to see my baby have good social skills with his peers, and not get upset
when another child takes something from him or accidentally bashes him. I’m
sure this is due to his interactions at MHB’
‘I’m not sure that there has been any lasting effect on her temperament but it
was interesting to see her being quite hyperactive at some of the lullaby
workshops then more placid at later ones.’
Curiosity
‘(baby) loves to explore boxes and I am sure that her curiosity was first piqued
in this way at one of the workshops.’
‘I have a very curious and free baby who loves to explore’
‘He likes things that make a noise, are musical, that he can dance to - but I do
not know if this is through natural development, or MHB’
Social and Emotional Skills
‘I think (baby) enjoyed being in the company of other babies her age both in
the workshops and when we stayed for tea and fruit afterwards. She started
to say Hiya to others there when we spent time together and often waved to
greet other babies or their carers or say goodbye.’
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‘My baby has built relationships with other babies at class, being able to
share food/toys and have ‘baby chats.’
Some of the baby classes we’ve been to everyone keeps themselves to
themselves. Music Hall Babies was much more social.’
‘Again being around other children, having more feedback from them and
feedback from me in terms of stopping or encouraging certain behaviours
‘Great for both of us socialising.’
‘Daughter is much more willing to show what she likes/wants than other
children she is with that are the same age.’
Parents were also invited to comment on a range of photographs taken during the
Geronimo workshops using the following framework:
My baby felt …
I felt …
I noticed that …
When we went home …
The comments form this exercise highlighted the way in which the Geronimo
sessions sparked curiosity, inquisitiveness, exploratory play and for the most part
feelings of contentment.
#
27#
#
My baby felt the boxes were interesting
I felt there was a lot to explore
I noticed that the babies didn’t need expensive toys to be occupied.
When we went home we used the same principles to play!’
However, whilst almost all of the responses from parents in relation to their baby’s
development were positive, in interview it was apparent that participating in the
workshops presented moments of difficulty for both baby and parent when faced
with an experience which did not feel comfortable. This was highlighted by one
parent whose child had not enjoyed the tactile feeling of the messy play and who
stated that this had made him fearful. This also caused anxiety for the parent.
Another parent commented on the mismatch between the need in one of the
workshops for the babies to be able to sit and the fact that her baby had not yet
developed this ability.
In interview, some of the parents commented on their positive experiences of being
in a group where all of the babies were the same age, however, the experiences of
the parents above suggests that even in contexts such as MHB in which inclusion was
at the heart of all of the workshops and parents were not encouraged to compare
the development of their baby in relation to others, by the very nature of being in a
group this is difficult to avoid.
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28#
#
Conclusion
It was perceived that the MHB project made a significant impact on the lives of the
participating families. Parents noted social, cultural and developmental benefits as a
result of their engagement with the MHB project. There were perceived positive
impacts on socialisation of babies and parents. An unexpected finding was the
important role that MHB had for single parents in providing a new social and support
network. Parents placed a great value on participating in creative arts-based
workshops. The importance of the improvisatory experience in underpinning the
development of creativity was much valued. There were significant advancements in
confidence in participation in creative activities with babies and in having the
confidence to attend cultural activities with young children. As a result of the MHB
project Aberdeen Performing Arts have already begun to consider mechanisms for
widening access further, particularly with regard to regeneration areas and they
have taken on board the need to take workshops into the community.
All of these things together have helped to re-define the concept of ‘inclusion’ in
arts-based practices and may lead to sustainable arts practices.
#
29#
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