Royal Academy Tots
The Open Academy of the Royal Academy of Music’s mission statement is to extend the opportunity of receiving first class musical training to the community. Guess what London parents… you and your kids ARE this community! Here is an invitation from one of the top music academies in the world to you and your tots!
We went along to check it out and here is how it went: after picking up our very exciting ‘grown-up’ and important looking tickets from the box office we walked around to the Museum in the next door York building. We were greeted by a very welcoming team member who name labeled us and directed us up to the piano gallery, a beautiful space that together with the effortlessly improvised music from the Open Academy musicians seemed to be wordlessly drawing us in towards a large colourful ‘magic carpet’ covered in a vast array of percussion instruments: maracas, drums, guiros, chimes and (to my daughter’s delight) a triangle.
The apparent invitation to interact was irresistible to all of the tots, who instantly felt relaxed enough to grab a shaker and join in. The musicians, continuing their music, warmly greeted us and our children by name to make them feel welcome and encouraged. They had created a musical safe space where the kids felt comfortable to just have a go. I could not help but notice I had a huge goofy grin on my face that would not shift- I was really enjoying the session too!
The ‘free play’ gradually shifted into something different, the musicians began to pull and push the tempo and dynamics and the children aged just 3–5 years old picked up on this and followed along, increasing and decreasing volume and speed with the musicians. No words had been spoken but the lines of communication were now most certainly open. The children were really responding well to being a part of this wonderful sound that was filling the room and now they were committed members of this brand new ‘orchestra’. For me, watching this happening was my favourite part of the whole session.
The next section was a trip into space. This was explained by Tim, a recently graduated Oboist who took us across the room ‘in our rocket ship’ using a song combined with a whooshing sound that one of the children (mine!) had suggested was the sound of a space rocket! Communication through music was certainly the overwhelming theme of the lesson, as during the next section we interacted with various aliens who could not speak but could communicate through their music. Each alien demonstrated their astonishing talent: Alicia sang, her glorious Mezzo-soprano voice filling the room and stopping the kids in their tracks; Matyas demonstrated the Viola, a beautiful haunting sound that brought alive the Bach he had selected; and Tim’s Oboe was described as ‘spiky’ which did not do justice to the carefully crafted tone quality of his lively demonstration from Sinfonia Concertante by Mozart.
Apart from demonstrating their instruments, each musician led a ‘conversation’ between the aliens and the children. Alicia had us repeating back a variety of interesting and fun vocal noises, Matyas led the children to play soft and loud, fast and slow, short notes or sustained notes. Tim managed to get the children to lead and they offered him ‘questions’ to answer musically by mimicking them. The children were having so much fun taking ownership of the sound that was being made. They drew confidence and excitement from being able to direct the musicians to play however they wanted.
This idea was continued in a section where the children were invited to offer movements eg. stamping, twisting, turning and dancing and the musicians created musical tags, representing these movements. The musicians led us in a directed dance by playing the musical tags in sequence. Then the control was offered to the children who were encouraged to ‘conduct’ the musicians using their bodies. Once again the children had physical control not only over the music that was being made but also how it was played. Slow movements caused the musicians to play slowly etc. They seemed to really enjoy this newfound power!
When we ‘returned to earth’ we were invited to lie down and look at the stars, whilst the musicians united to fill the room with the sound of Offenbach’s Barcarolle. This seemed to calm them and allow them to listen without too much fidgeting.
The session ended as it had begun, on the carpet with the musicians improvising and the children playing along. This time the children were more relaxed with the players and approached them with more confidence to touch and interact with their instruments.
When it was finished none of us really wanted to leave, we just wanted to bask in the happy and relaxed atmosphere that had been created by the session. When the last instrument was packed away we thanked the musicians and somewhat reluctantly left! What an experience for these tots to have had at such a young age! Thank you so much to everyone involved.
Tickets are £3 Adults and £5 kids so for the grand total of £8 you and your tot can experience something amazing…. and it really was amazing!
These sessions are on once a month Get your tickets here!
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