The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
An innovative scheme to help toddlers hit the right note has been launched in South Holland.
ToddlerBand is the brainchild of experienced multi-instrumentalist and music tutor Gary De-Vanche.
Gary has developed the ToddlerBand course as a way of offering music to children who have traditionally had to wait to start learning an instrument.
And courses have been launched in Spalding and Pinchbeck this month. Gary believes they could be some of the first in the country.
He explained: “This type of event has never been done before as while there are lots of ‘music and movement’ or ‘explore the world around them through music’ type sessions this is entirely different.
“My course teaches very young children all about notes and pitch, rhythm timing and working together yet they still learn about colours, numbers and letters.
“I also use pitched instruments such as Boomwhackers and hand bells.
“As far as I know through lots of research, this type of event has not been done in the UK before – and that’s the message I’m trying to get across.”
Lessons are available for children aged between two and five years and take place at The Umbrella in Spalding on Mondays and at the Pinchbeck Community Hub and Library on Tuesdays (both 10am-11am).
Gary, who lives in Spalding, runs his own teaching studio in Peterborough called the Creative Academy of Music, continued: “The purpose is to help children build a strong foundation for a musical future.
“There are many groups that will offer the opportunity to explore the surrounding world through music and movement but that is different to what we do.
“Through colour coded instruments, musical hand signs, repetition, call and response and rhythm games we will teach children the language of music in a friendly, toddler group style setting.
“All of our classes use a range of interactive media as well as real musical instruments. This makes our classes varied and interesting to help children have fun and remain interested.
“We conduct a range of different activities to help children really explore the musical world in depth.”
