After the upheaval of lockdown in March and subsequent cancellation of all face-to-face music teaching, April saw Bangers & Smash moving online with a series of sessions for children of key workers still attending nursery, childcare settings providing support for families unable to attend and groups of families and friends.
Huge thanks to F’s Mum for sending this photo of one of Kitty’s first online music sessions!
Free taster sessions
Kitty set the ball rolling with four free taster sessions for families from regular Bangers & Smash nurseries, Goslings, Smart Kids and Young & Smart aka Crystal Nurseries.
Sessions were well attended although it took Kitty a couple of goes to figure out that video conferencing platform, Zoom, works best when other participants are muted!
Bangers & Smash shop
From this, a core group of 10-15 Crystal Nurseries’ families is now meeting every Wednesday from 11.30am-12 midday on Zoom with sessions available at £3.00 per family per session in the Bangers & Smash shop (click Private – single sessions or Private – bundles in the shop menu [+ on mobiles] and choose sessions marked Crystal Nurseries).
Kitty is also running:
an Open session every Thursday from 11.30am-12 midday on Zoom with sessions available at £3.00 per family per session in the Bangers & Smash shop (click Open – single sessions or Open – bundles in the shop menu [+ on mobiles] and choose sessions marked Open)
a bespoke Private session for a group of friends every Monday from 10.30-11am on Zoom with sessions available at £3.00 per family per session in the Bangers & Smash shop (click Private – single sessions or Private – bundles in the shop menu [+ on mobiles] and choose sessions marked The Elephants)
In addition, Kitty has been asked to provide weekly online music sessions for regular Bangers & Smash nurseries, Under the Willow and Mother Goose, as follows:
Under the Willow – Wednesdays, 10-11am
Mother Goose – Thursdays, 10-11am
These sessions are split in two (under-twos followed by preschoolers) and have been very well attended with anything from 12 to 32 families in each half!
Easter, Spring & Baby Animals
All of April’s sessions except Under the Willow’s followed the theme of Easter, Spring & Baby Animals.
Children, nursery staff and families enjoyed:
singing:
The Easter Bunny and The Easter Parade
My Little Kitten
Five Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day and Six Little Ducks That I Once Knew
Bangers & Smash original, Tadpole
Five Little Speckled Frogs
making the sounds of farm animals
looking at/listening to a pecking chickens toy
playing shakers to Chick, Chick, Chicken and Hey Little Hen
tapping claves to Horsey, Horsey and Old Macdonald Had A Farm
looking at a picture book and singing Cows In The Kitchen
listening to the story of Farmer Brown and dancing to There Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens
Kitty has made a video of some of the songs so that parents and staff can enjoy them again with the children. There’s also information on this month’s sessions so check it out below!
Africa Project at Under the Willow
Meanwhile, at Under the Willow, families were able to practise the songs from the nursery’s Africa Project Celebration, which was due to take place on 25 March but was sadly cancelled due to Covid-19.
Kitty recapped songs and activities from the project throughout April, including:
singing:
Seven Continents
Haya Ma, a South African hello song
Nzama, Nzama, a Malawian song about cooking beans in a pot
three songs about animals, Monkey, Monkey, Up The Tree, Here’s A Great Big Lion and Alice The Camel
Bangers & Smash original, Funky Pharoah
listening, playing and dancing to:
Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba (South Africa)
Walking With The San by Charlie Simpson & San Bushmen (Namibia)
a traditional Kalahari nomad chant (Botswana)
Ssematimba Ne Kikwabanga by Albert Ssempeke (Uganda)
traditional Sufi music (Egypt)
Fanga Alafia by Iya and the Kuumba Kids (Nigeria)
acting out the story of Handa’s Surprise (Kenya)
Image © Eileen Brown / Walker Books
Under the Willow’s Africa Project Celebration will now take place on 6 May after which families will join in with Kitty’s regular monthly themes.
Online music sessions with Bangers & Smash
If you’d like to join one of our online music sessions, please visit the Bangers & Smash shop to book your place.
If you’re a parent, carer, childcare provider or arts setting and would like to discuss setting up one or more bespoke online music sessions, please get in touch here.
And finally, big thanks to Watermans Arts Centre for making last week’s Open online music session one of their April Family Picks!