I was buoyed up with enthusiasm after all my research into the benefits of singing for both infant and parents. While making connections with other people who might share my vision I was thrilled to be introduced to Sandra Kerr.
Sandra is well known as the co- writer, with John Faulkner, of the music for "Bagpuss", (voted 'best-loved BBC TV children’s programme’ in 1999). She has worked extensively on music for sharing with children as well as directing community choirs and being greatly respected as a tutor of folk arts (http://www.sandrakerr.net/).
I just could not believe my luck when Sandra was so enthusiastic about Mama’s Voices and all we hoped to achieve. Such was her support that she agreed to lead a workshop for professionals to allow us to explore and develop our ideas for taking the project forward.
The workshop took place in July 2018 at Wild & Wild in Congleton. We were joined by a wide variety of professionals including speech therapists, midwives, pregnancy yoga teachers, mindfulness experts, breastfeeding specialists, musicians, as well as members of the post-natal mental health charity Smile.
During the workshop we explored breathing and yoga techniques to relax and warm up our bodies ready to use voices. We experimented with chanting songs, singing rounds, movement songs, children's songs, lullabies all under the expert eye of Sandra. At each stage we paused to discuss as a group and shared our insights from our differing fields of expertise.
I think it is fair to say that we were all nervous to begin with but experiencing the techniques for ourselves grew our confidence and gave us a clear view of how it could help families.
The Mamas’ Voices group is the result of this collaborative workshop, and is a free, weekly meet-up open to parents of any stage.
Many thanks to Sandra Kerr for helping us to launch Mamas’ voices in such a positive way.
To finish with, here are her thoughts:
“It is always heartening to know that other people are seeing singing
as a truly important feature of babies’ lives, and in general.
I’m sure your mums ( and their off-spring) will benefit enormously
from the work you are doing”
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