Breakdown of delegates' professions

30%

38%

7%

7%

11%

7%

NurseryPrimary SchoolArts OrganisationFreelance musicianParent/carerOther

Making Music in the Early Years4 th July 2016, Sheffield City Hall

Evaluation report

Summary of Event119 delegates from a variety of settings as can be seen from the graph below:

Delegates who marked ‘other’ worked at: Music Hubs/Services, council departments, libraries, the NHS and autism support services.

Delegates were largely located in Sheffield, although we did reach a number of delegates in other areas of South Yorkshire.

Sheffield 78 69%Rotherham 15 13%Doncaster 6 5%Barnsley 3 3%Not SY 11 10%

The day’s events included: - Keynote speech with Professor Colwyn Trevarthen Why Human Life is

Musical, Especially in Early Years - Workshop led by Esther Sheridan: Making Musical Stories - Schools’ concerts Sing a Story led by Wigmore Hall’s John Webb, actor

Charlotte Mafham and musicians. Attended by 600 children and 250 adults - A presentation on Music in the Round’s Soundplay project by Kate

Thompson and Vanessa Johnson- An open forum with John Webb, Esther Sheridan and Prof. Colwyn

Trevarthen- Stalls from national and local arts organisations including: Youth Music,

NYMAZ, Sheffield Music Hub, Sheffield Music Academy and Babelsongs

Questionnaires were issued to each of the delegates in order to assess the success of the day and whether it had contributed to practitioners’ ability to make music in the early years. 65% of delegates responded and the results of these questionnaires are summarised below.

Previous engagement with Music in the Round64% of respondents had never been to a Music in the Round concert before. 72 % of respondents had never been involved in MitC events

*the majority of delegates were completely new to Music in the Round* Self-evaluationParticipants were asked to rate their capabilities surrounding EY music at the beginning and end of the day. They were asked to rate themselves with the scores: 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree. Responses showed a general increase in delegates’ ratings by the end of the day.

Question (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree)

Av. Score 9.15am

Av. Score 3.15pm

% change of score

I am confident leading musical activity with young children

3.6 4.3 22% increase

I feel inspired and enthused about leading music with young children

3.6 4.6 29% increase

I know a lot about how music supports children's development

3.1 4.6 46% increase

I have enough good-quality music resources, and know how to get more

2.8 4 43% increase

I know how to find good quality musical opportunities

2.8 4 43% increase

I am aware of ways in which I can develop my own skills and practice

2.9 4.1 41% increase

I feel well connected to others who make music in the Early Years

2.9 3.6 22% increase

I often tell other people about the benefits of music for young children

3.1 4 30% increase

I see music as a fundamentally important part of my job

3.8 4.4 15% increase

The most considerable increase was in delegates’ knowledge about how music supports children’s development.

Further comments included: Increased my knowledge on how to use music during phonics Improved my understanding, gave me ideas to improve my practices [I] have more confidence to input music in the provision [I have] more confidence in teaching music and using instruments

Keynote speech – Prof. Colywn Trevarthen

This speech discussed ‘why human life is musical, especially in early years’ and used examples of early parent/baby communication to highlight babies’ innate musicality. Practitioners found this interesting and insightful but at times struggled to see its relevant to their practice. Others found it incredibly inspiring and made comments such as:

- Interesting and relating to my role with 0-3 years

- Found it really interesting to have scientific proof that you can never start learning music too soon

- Very interesting and highly informative- Best part of the conference! More talks like this

please!!

Practical workshop – Esther Sheridan

In this workshop Esther explored how stories are a great starting point for creative music making. Practitioners discussed and workshopped how to develop ideas for the Early Years setting using song, movement and instruments.

This was a hugely successful session which practitioners felt was extremely relevant and inspiring. Parts of the workshop could easily translate into the classroom and the session really seemed to inspire practitioners.

Sing a Story – John Webb, Charlotte Mafham + musicians

In this childrens’ concert (in which over 600 local school children participated) John Webb, Charlotte Mafham and musicians from the Wigmore Hall presented Sing a Story, a musical train ride that explored a range of stories both well-loved and new. Delegates also watched this performance as it contained many ideas that could be taken in isolation and used in a classroom setting. Delegates commented: “Although we are not able to have live musical

instruments played every pre-school

session there are lovely aspects which we would be able to adapt and use”

“Amazing, I thoroughly enjoyed this session, extremely motivating. Excellent stuff.”

Overall delegates rated the day highly with 90% rating it either 4 or 5 out of 5. The below word cloud illustrates what delegates got out of the day with ‘ideas’ being the most common response:

Delegates were asked what their next steps would be. Responses include:

- Access the resource bank on SYEYM’s website - Use more music in stories- Share information with colleagues - Keep in touch with people met at the conference - Start my own business- Adapt songs for phonics work- Be more confident- Sign up to SYEYM- Put it into practice- Be brave and lead small groups- Incorporate music into maths and literacy- Encourage children, staff and parents to step out of their comfort zone- Buy scarves / instruments

We also asked what training delegates would like to access. Answers included:

- How to plan week on week sessions- Ways of using a wider range of instruments e.g. from other cultures, China,

Poland

- More practical ideas to use in the classroom- Using music to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing children- More of the same- Practical help dealing with groups of children – how to lead them without

getting too distracted by the ones who don’t conform- Singing and Makaton

Overall the day was a success and met the aims of SYEYM of: - improving the sharing of good practice and repertoire for Early Years music-

making with practitioners across South Yorkshire- improving Early Years practitioners' confidence in using music to support

learning in the EYFS- improving practitioners' knowledge, skills and ability to use music to support

learning in the EYFS