When I applied to be on the Music Champion project in summer 2023, I had recently graduated from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and was just working out how to be a freelance musician. A year later, I’m still freelancing as a musician and facilitator and have the chance to reflect on my experiences…..

As soon as I read the brief I felt really inspired by the child-led and playful approaches of The Spark Arts for Children, the organisation had values that I shared, and it felt like a really amazing learning opportunity.

Before the training the whole thing felt quite daunting, I hadn’t done any long-term early years music work, I was panicking that I didn’t know how to talk to toddlers and the last baby I had interacted with was probably 15 years ago….Imposter syndrome had arrived!

However, the whole process was collaborative and supportive. Working with Ranjan, my music champion partner and an early years educator, meant we could plan, reflect and interact with the children together. This took the pressure off attempting to be a musician and an early year’s practitioner simultaneously, it meant I could show up as a musician in the space, noticing moments and ideas from the participants, observing how different sounds and instruments evoked different responses; being able to have genuine playful and musical interactions with the children.

Initially, we used singing and songs, and I was apprehensive about bringing my clarinet into the space; I was nervous about it becoming a ‘performance’, but with some encouragement from the project mentor Nicola Burke I brought my clarinet along and the sessions became much more free-flow and playful. This project has really helped me as a musician, it’s built my confidence, and helped me realise playing the clarinet with 2-year-olds is as valid, inspiring and important as a to a sold-out concert hall.

Playing a wind instrument gave me a slightly different experience as I spent a lot of time playing and making sounds with participants, and a lot less time talking (the nature of the instrument is you can’t do both, unlike some instruments such as the guitar). This really highlighted the importance of non-verbal communication, using music as a conversation, and this translated really well to then working with younger babies.

I had some beautiful interactions with the children, especially with those with additional needs and different communication styles. Being able to respond to them in a way that valued their musical contributions, discovering what sounds they liked on the clarinet, and having one to one musical conversation created unforgettable and joyful moments.

This project didn’t feel like I was ‘working’ – it really reminded me how to be playful. I felt part of the nursery during the project, another amazing factor about co-working with an Early Years practitioner, I didn’t feel like a visiting musician, I felt like one of the team and all of us were learning and developing our practice in different ways. Being a music champion has helped me to advocate for a child-centred approach, allow time to reflect within my practice, and really see the value in my own musicality, and the musicality of everyone around me.