Love Children, Love Music: The Problem with Early Years Music

This article was first published in Sounding Board 2019 Issue 1, pp 6-7 www.soundsense.org/resources-and-publications

Early years music provision has become more popular in recent years. One reason is that we now recognise that early intervention leads to improved long-term socioeconomic outcomes. However over the last few years, nursery music has changed from what used to be “a little bit of a sing-song” to occupy and engage a group of energetic and excited pre-schoolers. Preschool music today has taken on commercial through to zeal-like undertones, as self-professed specialists claim academic, social and future economic benefits as a result of parents supporting and subscribing to a music-centric education. In an effort to find Unique Selling Points (“UPS’s”), providers have created music groups with diverse areas of focus (of which people outside the industry are generally unaware), which often become reasons for competition and division. However, speaking to individual providers, it is clear that they actually share very similar goals. So, what do early years music specialists want? After talking to a number of very different grassroots providers over the last 10 years, I have found the following:

Open-access to centralised provision

Conversations with most if not all early years music providers are littered with examples of different ways that music sessions before school age provide multiple benefits for both baby and parent/carer. For this reason, early years music providers argue that every child should have free access to music sessions, regardless of means. Practitioners have also noted that the longer the child attends, the greater the benefits to both child and adult, so while most sessions are designed for infants from 3 months old, others offer antenatal sessions to pregnant parents. Should this be considered, the obvious point of provision could be through existing music hubs, which is why a small number of forward-thinking hubs have started to create funding streams to support early years music provision, as only school-age children are funded by the state.

Centralised funding

A quick survey of early years providers’ rates shows that a wide range of disparity exists across the country, and this appears to be based on geography and/or links with other organisations, e.g. franchises, music education approaches, hubs etc. While the Musicians Union provides pay rate guidance for school age music teachers or performers according to experience and task, no standard exists for early years music providers. This seems to be partly due to the value that the public places on general nursery and preschool teachers, as most childcare providers are on minimum wage, and partly because early years music specialists are simply not a recognised profession. Rates of pay do not recognise the personal training and development that providers undertake in both foundational specialisms of music and child development, let alone special interest courses on e.g. sensory play, additional needs etc. Centralised funding could create access to and support for new mums, identify additional support for deprived areas, and provide regular work for specialists to deliver sessions without the onerous jobs of marketing and administration.

Sector-specific representation

One of the first questions from new providers is for advice on background administration such as insurance, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, and representation, as it is currently generalised. At the moment, membership with specialist music or education organisations is the only way to arrange essentials like DBS checks and Public Liability Insurance, as well as safeguarding or first aid training, Employer’s Insurance, Professional Liability Insurance, and legal advice, not to mention automatic or optional employee benefits like pensions or will-writing. In contrast, singular representation would allow for a unified group to stand together to present the perspective of this unique and growing community. This would also create opportunities for music exam boards, local councils and university music and education departments to recognise early years music as a valuable sub-sector and career development option, quashing the overriding opinion that music only matters when children are able to reliably demonstrate skill.

Formal professionalisation

With low priorities on provision availability and funding, and no specific representation, many early years music providers feel that their skills are undervalued. One way to recognise the value of early years music educators would be to confer a protected title recognising skills. Protected titles involve membership on a national vetted register based on skills or qualifications, in this case, in music and child development. Speaking to practitioners, the great concern is that up to now, this topic has always held an underlying expectation of academic focus, which has negatively influenced a number of practitioners because of potential restrictions. Funded top-up qualifications for current practitioners could be negotiated with either the Department of Education or Health Care Professions Council as options to developing this route; nationally representative committees could work to develop this specialism; sector-specific research could be financed; national sector-specific publications could be developed; and formal career paths could be put in place.

Essential teacher training

Many new providers come from either a musical or a child developmental background, and with no general requirements, many questions arise about training courses. The difficulty with this approach is that we do not know what we do not know, so it is difficult to look for courses in skills that we do not know that we need. This could be addressed through teacher training, and there are one or two post graduate courses that combine music and child development, but none at undergraduate level. By making training available at undergraduate level, this formal academic route also creates the potential of new recruits for postgraduate study, potentially developing researchers, and ultimately evidencing claims of the benefits of music involvement from the earliest ages.

Creating a nation able to access different forms of music for myriad reasons surely begins with the youngest, who also happen to be the most vulnerable, defenceless, and dependent, so surely need and deserve the most advocacy. Along with long-argued academic benefits, greater emphasis is now being placed on the arts as vehicles for mental health and well-being, increasing its significance by calls for its use in social prescription. However, general early years provision is still not yet recognised for the long-term effect that it has on adulthood, impacting pay, status and support for the sector. Any one of these changes to early years music provision would support both the general childcare sector as well as developing the musical talent “funnel”. With so much potential to impact the national quality of life in an increasingly complex and challenging world, we need to begin to support the people who simply “love children, love music”.