A SINGING group for babies and toddlers launched two years ago has already produced talented singers who have graduated into the world-famous Barnsley Youth Choir family.
Little Singers was set up by Eleanor Wright, one of Barnsley Youth Choir’s musical directors, with the hope of nurturing the talent of the future - introducing babies as young as six weeks old to specialised musical tuition.
Now as she marks the second anniversary some of her original Little Singers have just sung in concert with Barnsley Youth Choir’s Junior Choir.
Little Singers features three age groups from tiny babies up to four-year-olds, and classes feature a selection of ‘under the sea’ themed puppets with songs, written by Eleanor, to accompany them.
“The development I have seen of these children has been remarkable” said Eleanor, who has written songs designed especially to help develop the tots’ understanding of pitch and rhythm while also having fun.
“Members of the independent class have now attended for the full two years and their pitch matching and sense of pulse is incredibly strong.
“I have witnessed these children develop from toddlers with little or no speech, to confident, articulate three-year-olds who sing beautifully in tune.
“Members of our independent class have already graduated to Junior Choir and are continuing to develop musical skills as part of the BYC family.
“Our Baby Class now accommodates siblings of those who have been attending from the beginning, so there is a chance that they may already have had the songs in their heads before they even started.”
Children as young as six weeks old have gone along to the classes, and while they won’t be singing for a while yet, Eleanor hopes that by the time they do, they will have a very strong sense of pitch and pulse.
“For the toddlers the sessions are very active, involve a lot of tickling and plenty of fun.”
The classes take place on Friday at Emmanuel Methodist Church, with the toddlers (18 months to three years) at 9.40 to 10.20am, the independent class for three and four year-olds from 10.20am to 11am and the baby class, from birth to 18 months, from 11am to 11.30. Little Singers has been closed for the Easter holidays, but returns on May 3.
See Little Singers Barnsley on Facebook for details.
