Over the Rainbow

By Harriet Thomas

I read Julien Grenier’s article “To sing or not to sing” in February’s edition of Nursery World with interest. For those of you who did not manage to read the article, Julien explained how he found himself taking part in a singing session at a children’s centre. The songs chosen were Wheels on the Bus, Miss Polly had a Dolly and Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar and Julien suggested that these traditional songs have little resonance for children today: buses no longer have conductors, modern phones don’t have a round dial, only vintage cars have chokes! Why he wonders, are “practically no nursery rhymes about contemporary everyday life”. It’s a good question and one that got me thinking both about the range of songs available to parents and practitioners of pre-school children and about the role of song and rhymes in pre-school education.

In terms of what’s available, Julien is right. Whereas America has a wealth of recording artists focused on producing children’s music and Australia has the Wiggles, Britain is lags behind in catering for the musical tastes of it’s under fives: surprising really in a nation that is so dominant in the international pop music scene. On the other hand there is something truly wonderful about the fact that children today still love to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep. The first written version of this song appeared in a book of nursery rhymes back in 1744! That makes Baa Baa Black Sheep a very old sheep indeed. In a world where huge technological changes are occurring on an almost daily basis, it’s comforting to know that some things last.

And why do they last? Because human beings love rhymes…especially when they are combined with song. Simple words put to repetitive melodies with strong beats stick in our heads. We enjoy them, we use them to express emotions and ideas to others and in doing so we create group identity and bonding with other human beings. Nursery rhymes work in the same way to nurture and strengthen the bond between a child and its carer, helping a child feel loved, cared for and ultimately, part of a social group. When a new Mum sings “Baa Baa Black Sheep” to her baby, she doesn’t worry that her baby has never seen a sheep, or will most probably never talk about “masters” or “dames” or that some scholars claim the song is description of the medieval wool tax of 1275. Mum is probably not even thinking about the words as she sings her lullaby, since the relevant message being imparted to her baby as she sings is not contained in the words and is in fact, “I love you, I am looking after you, you are safe.” As Jim Clark, Head of the Academic Division of Pre and School Learning Northumbria. University in Newcastle, puts it, “Music helps the child develop their language as they listen to the music of the spoken word and imitate this. Emotionally and socially music is used as a glue and support for humans interacting together.” 

So let’s not worry too much about what we are singing, so long as we are singing! Let’s hope Michael Gove’s education reforms will not hit our Children’s Centres: we need our practitioners to continue to sing Wheels on the Bus with the love, patience and understanding with which they have done so up to now. Who knows, maybe he will even ringfence funds to be allocated to music training for pre-school practitioners. In the words of another well know song, “Somewhere over the rainbow!”

About the Author:

Harriet Thomas (BA) is Creative Director of Boogie Mites (www.boogiemites.co.uk). She has written over 100 songs for under fives that form the basis of Boogie Mites’ music programmes to support EYFS. She has led seminars at many conferences for pre-school practitioners and is currently completing work on the SEN Boogie Mites music programme. Harriet is also studying for a Masters degree in Composition for Film and Television at Kingston University and continues to work professionally as a singer.