Once a year, I present a family singing and junk instrument-making session at the Mother Goose Wildlife Garden in Camberwell, South London.
It’s become a tradition and is a great opportunity for me to get together with folk musician and fellow early years music specialist, Sarah Allen, to perform the songs which form the basis of the animated preschool series I’m currently developing with KingBee Animation.
You could say the songs were inspired by the music sessions. They certainly grew out of needing songs that reflect the setting.
The Wildlife Garden sits behind Mother Goose Nursery, where I teach music every Tuesday morning. Over the years, I’ve seen the garden develop from a basic outdoor space surrounded by wire fencing to an amazing resource for the nursery children and staff and – once a month – families and members of the local community.
I’ve seen the creation of a willow dome and wildflower lawn, a fire pit and a greenhouse made out of recycled bottles. I’ve helped make a pizza oven by treading sand, clay and water until it’s ready to make bricks. I’ve attended all sorts of events – from pond-dipping and soup-making to mulled wine-drinking and ceildih dancing – and watched the children I teach grow from toddlers and preschoolers into tweens and teens.
It’s a gem of a setting and has inspired what I hope are great songs and stories about nature and wildlife.
Like Pollen is the Bees’ Knees, about collecting nectar and pollinating flowers with Bumble and Honey; Duck Brood Samba, about waddling down to the pond with Mama Duck and her Ducklings; Wiggling Worm, about tunnelling underground and fertilising the soil with, you guessed it, Wiggling Worm – and many more!
Sarah and I presented our most recent Music in the Wildlife Garden session on Saturday 25 September. We welcomed 15 families to the Wildlife Garden and had a great time singing songs, making junk drums and claves and exploring the garden with the children and their parents.
As well as supplying drinks and homemade apple cakes, host and wildlife gardener, Di Wallace, ran a pond-dipping session, which gave Sarah and me the opportunity to perform the children’s classic, Five Little Speckled Frogs (always a hit!) as well as my song, Tadpole.
We also serenaded the chickens in the henhouse and sang to the owl babies in the buddleia (big thanks to Di for making these with the nursery children the previous week!).
I’d like to thank the Mother Goose Wildlife Garden – as well as nursery owners, Krish, Curtis and Zara – for allowing me the opportunity to develop not only my practice but also my songwriting in order to present Music in the Wildlife Garden sessions over the years. Sarah and Di are both inspirations and I have my fingers crossed that the songs and stories which have grown out of this experience will reach a wider audience via the animated preschool series I’m working on with KingBee.
Watch this space!
