Bringing baroque to babies: engaging new (and newborn) audiences
It's the hottest day of the year and there are 70 relaxed and happy mothers, dads, babies and nursery staff crammed into the shade of the main hall at Chandos East Community Links Centre. Sitting by the door and keeping watch on wandering, unsteady toddlers, I'm surveying impromptu percussion and vocal ensembles with wooden spoons, shaky eggs and bits of set all joining the soundtrack.
We're at the end of a 12 date tour, taking Monteverdi into two of London's most challenged boroughs – Barking and Dagenham, and Newham. And our audience there? Nought to two-year-olds.
Despite performing Monterverdi's masterful melodies to 750 babies and their carers in less than two weeks, our five musicians are still fully engaged. A singer and baby are investigating the percussive potential of a brush head, while another musician multi-tasks with a tiny bell in one hand and a violin in the other.
Three years ago, Spitalfields Music decided to try something new and swap the more standard fare of early years music provision (think Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Wheels on the Bus) for something a little more challenging – Purcell and Monteverdi for starters. Our aim was clear.
We wanted to take music-making of exceptional quality beyond the familiar territory of our regular performance venues in our annual winter and summer festivals. And we wanted to reach people in areas where the challenges of journey length into central London and lack of previous contact with the arts act as a potentially vicious circle to prohibit access to great art.
This idea, when first mooted, was met with almost universal surprise by sceptical music sector colleagues and festival audiences. As one put it at the time: "But wouldn't it be easier to just use an electronic keyboard to do this; surely they won't be interested?"
My answer then and now remains the same. Why shouldn't all audiences deserve the same level of performance from live music as others experience as a matter of course at the Wigmore Hall or Southbank Centre? And why shouldn't children have the same level of cultural entitlement as adults?
When it comes to audiences, however young, lack of experience should not be confused with lack of interest. Provide something different, do it well, and in our experience, audiences will respond. It's not easy and in terms of music for early years, it takes time to create quality, multi-layered work that beguiles both babies and adults, and also delivers at the highest musical and educational level.
In our case, in-depth research and work with Whitechapel's Ideas Store network and Vital Arts acted as the foundation stone for some ambitious new commissioning for young people and their families.
Our Musical Rumpus performances extend an approach to music making which now sees us engage with 30,000 local people each year. Our unique geographical position and programme – we specialise in using non-standard concert settings and stage performances in civic institutions, buildings and non-traditional venues across London E1 – has allowed us to build up an understanding of patterns of engagement in our local community. And, if it works for London E1, why shouldn't it work for E15, E16, or RM10?
Our first touring show for nought to three-year-olds, based on Purcell's Fairy Queen, visited libraries and community hubs in Barking and Dagenham, and Newham in 2012. Following enthusiastic feedback, we developed a new programme, exploring Monteverdi operas for the under-twos. Confounding our expectations, many original audience members have returned to see this latest show.
Zoinul Abidin, group manager of libraries, adults and community services at Barking and Dagenham council has enthusiastically partnered his borough with us from the start, interested in the knock-on effect performances have had on library use. "The shows have been superb and feedback hugely positive," says Abidin. "We have also seen added benefits where families are now making more use of libraries and our staff team inspired to do more for families."
If reaching new audiences is central to the work, then identifying and developing musical talent to engage the very youngest eyes and ears with music is critical. Working with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Sixteen via each company's young artists programme, we have engaged young musicians at the start of their professional careers, identifying potential (and selecting exceptional) musical communicators who have a natural ability and curiosity to share their own passions for music making.
Lack of previous experience is no obstacle: we apply a process of working with our early years specialist musicians, peer-to-peer mentoring, rehearsals and performance challenges, as well as the unusual opportunity to perform productions more than once. Not only have we created exceptional new musical pieces, we hope to have ignited a new generation of young professional musicians and started them on their professional careers.
Evidence is already showing that the people we've engaged through these two tours are not only returning to see the productions, but starting to access other services within their borough and venture beyond into central London to other family-centred arts programming.
There is a huge potential for arts organisations to develop micro-touring circuits across the country working with our colleagues in libraries, museums and beyond – and there's a great new audience out there awaiting their arrival.
Clare Lovett is head of learning and participation at Spitalfields Music – follow it on Twitter @SpitsMusic
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