Youth Music - BongoClub.org.uk

Harri first met musician Sarah in the babies area of a music session in North Tyneside.  He was 8 months old when he joined the sessions. At that time he had just failed his hearing test. It was nearly a year and a half later before he was fitted with gromits and able to hear properly. Harri's first moments of contact with the musician were quite astonishing - Harri decided that he was going to be involved with this exciting new sound world. His mother said:

“It surprised me hearing that he was pushing in to get involved in the music because he was so small at 8 months old. He was being assertive, demanding attention  - it was like he was saying ‘I need to be with this person doing music’, so for me he knew this at 8 months," says Harri's mother.

The musician Sarah arrived each week at the music session, carrying her basket of instruments with her. She worked with other groups prior to working with Harri’s group. The open plan nature of the setting meant that the children could see and hear what was occurring in the other groups. Each time Sarah visited, Harri became very excited. He heard the musician working with the group next to his. He would crawl over to the partition between the areas, pull himself up and smile and bob up and down waiting for her to arrive.

"His face was a picture of anticipation and excitement," one person observed.

When Sarah came into the area he could not wait to get involved and try out the instruments in the baskets. His favourites were the drums and the clatterpillar, closely followed by the guitar. He would pull himself up to stand at the big ‘gathering drum’ and used the beaters, his hands and brushes to hit the drum. He listened to the musician and tried to copy the sounds. He delighted in musical conversations with Sarah.

"He was holding both tambour and beater and was beating with Sarah," observed one of the adults. "As he was beating he was dancing, bending his knees. He was very sociable and was listening and responding to the music. His hand to eye coordination on the traingle was excellent at 14 months old."

Each time Sarah put the instruments back in the basket, he knew it was time for her to leave and he would "cry to get the music back" said the nursery officer who worked regularly with Harri. She also noted that his reaction to the music was different to the other activities and play available to him. His total involvement emotionally, physically and mentally was very noticeable through the intensity of his listening and his responsiveness.

He enjoyed Sarah playing her guitar and trying to strum the guitar himself. His parents were delighted with his interest in music and he followed this interest once he was back at home and on outdoor trips with his parents. At home he was able to try out playing on his mother’s guitar. She said she would never have thought of letting him play with the instrument before the music project and his experiences with Sarah, but it gave her confidence to let him try it. Harri now has his own guitar. "He knew what he wanted to do," she said. 

He also loved the drums. "He said ‘Sarah Drums’ and I said 'do you want to see her?' and he said ‘yeah Sarah drums’," his Mum recalls.

Harri’s speech development was delayed due to his hearing problem. Since he's had his gromits fitted he has been able to hear the cat purring and the "ssssh" sound of a fizzy drinks bottle opening. His speech is now developing rapidly. His excitement at the music activities and particularly using the instruments was clearly enabling him to ‘hear’ something that he could not in everyday sounds. With ordinary speech and everyday noises he could not get such a clear sound-picture.

Harri’s interest in music continues to delight his parents and they described a performance Harri put on whilst they were shopping. There were buskers playing outside the shops. Harri wanted to stop and listen. As the buskers played, Harri became excited and started to dance to the music, shaking his hips and dancing round. The audience stopped watching the buskers and started to watch Harri! People stopped putting money in the buskers’ tray and started watching Harri’s response to the music. "We had to take him away because the buskers were getting irritated!" laughed his Mum.

Harri is now two years and nine months old, and is still enjoying and playing music.