Cross arts and creative practice for musicians; perspectives from the nursery floor
Event description
Online via Zoom
About the session:
Join us for an exploration of cross-arts and creative practice designed specifically for music practitioners, improvisors, educators, and play partners working in early years and primary settings. This session invites you to step into the child’s world, where make-believe, exploratory play, and creative possibilities form the foundation of spontaneous musical play across the nursery floor.
We’ll delve into how music can be a powerful starting point for navigating the intricate world of interaction, connection, and self-expression by integrating various materials and art forms. You’ll gain tools to help extend children’s musical experiences at a crucial stage in their lives, as they develop awareness of themselves as musical. A key aspect of our work is recognizing the multi-faceted role of practitioners. This session emphasizes the importance of building relationships with nursery staff through meaningful conversations and shared understanding, so that we might better appreciate the inner world of children’s music-making. Led by Kate Comberti, the session will explore a range of provocations and starting points for musical play, illustrated with real-life stories from the nursery floor. There will also be time for reflection and discussion.
What to Expect:
An introduction to multi-modal approaches in music for early years and infants
Practical tools for exploring creative play
A starting point to open up conversations around inclusion, accessibility and the challenges of working multi modally
The opportunity to reflect on your practice and meet other practitioners
Who is this for:
Anyone working in the music, creative and cultural education sectors who works with children aged 0-8 including:
Early years and primary practitioners
Music teachers, including instrumental teachers and early years educators
Instrumentalists looking to expand their portfolio work
Community musicians and artists
Workshop leaders and practitioners
Music leaders from Children’s Centres and libraries
Arts organisations and Music Education Hub staff
Session leader:
Kate Comberti (she/her)
Kate Comberti believes that music in early childhood is a multi-modal and multi-sensory experience where children learn through music as they engage and participate through their own self-initiated play.
She has over thirty years’ experience working across the music education sector on a range of projects as an improvisor, research practitioner, and mentor including cross arts projects Making and Believing for Take Art, and Arts Exchange for Creative Futures. Additionally, she has been involved in Sound Communities, a workforce development programme running in London since 2018.
Kate plays the violin as a freelance professional with various orchestras including the London Mozart Players, where she also works as an education facilitator for their early years programme.
Currently she is working as an assistant tutor on the MA in Education programme at Centre for Research in early Childhood, and a mentor and tutor on the Certificate in Music Education: Early Childhood programme at the Centre for Research in Early Childhood in Birmingham.