Each online workshop explores a different theme, such as Space, Under the Sea and Time Travelling. Families co-create music with the music leader and supporting musicians through improvisation, singing, movement, and storytelling. Families also listen to short performances by early career musicians, giving them the chance to hear live music and providing paid training opportunities for emerging musicians. A handout is emailed after the workshop with further listening and activities they can do at home. 

Props

While we use props in the in-persons sessions to accompany the theme of the workshop and stimulate music making, these were always chosen and provided by us. To aid the workshops online, we provided families with a “props/item” list. This was optional and designed to be everyday objects around the house. For example, we would ask for a “noisemaker”, this could be a pan and wooden spoon. We asked children to bring their favourite cuddly toys which often became part of the music making and made connections with other families. A parent reflected: “They asked the children if they would like to talk individually to the whale. My daughter sang a nursery rhyme to the whale…it’s something that she still remembers now.” There was an enormous joy from children sharing their toys or homemade instruments. We felt that children and families were more willing to share and contribute musically with their own things, so we have introduced a small, optional “things to bring” list to the sessions at the Hall.  

Child-led music making online

Child-led music making is the core of our early years practice, and it was a challenge as a team to try and think how we could replicate this online. However, we experimented with several ideas, including creating group compositions using a set of pictures (for example, we used pictures of the different stages of a train journey and families provided different sounds to each picture) and using the spotlight feature on Zoom to focus on a child with a musician responding musically to their physical movement. Children also created drawings during the session for our musicians to interpret. This chance to experiment has led to a fresh approach to our practice and can be introduced to our in-person workshops.  

(Workshop leader Lucy Drever has explored child-led music making online in detail for a report for Creative Futures)  

We were all surprised about how much we learnt working online. For me, the most important things I learnt were: 

Experimenting in a team – I have the immense pleasure to be surrounded by a dedicated team of early years practitioners. We all have different backgrounds, experience, and knowledge but when the lockdown hit, and we were faced with an entirely new way of working. It meant we were free to experiment with new ideas, had time to reflect and challenge ourselves in a level playing field. Our next challenge is how we continue to experiment now we have returned to familiar in-person workshops.   

Families value creative opportunities in turbulent times – The response we received from families was heart-warming. We led 23 online workshops and made music with 166 families. The willingness of families to embrace the online format and collaborate with us stood out for me. It was great to engage with new families – some who were from other parts of the UK and who had never been to Wigmore Hall. 

Being shortlisted for ‘Best Family Arts Activity’ is testament to the hard work of the early years team and that despite the immense challenges of the pandemic, families were still very much part of Wigmore Hall, even when our doors were closed.   

Wigmore Hall is a leading venue for chamber and instrumental music, early music, and song. The Learning programme gives people of all ages and backgrounds opportunities to take part in creative music making through in-person and online creative projects, concerts, workshops, and resources.