A SINGING group for tots set up earlier this year has been a huge success and is recruiting new toddlers as some members prepare to join a new ‘advanced class’.
Little Singers was set up in April by Eleanor Wright - one of the conductors of the world-famous Barnsley Youth Choir.
BYC doesn’t take children until they are seven, but Little Singers caters for babies and toddlers up to the age of four, with the idea of preparing them for singing and hopefully training the BYC soloists of the future.
The children, split into three age groups, sit in a circle with their parents to sing songs written especially by Eleanor to help train the children to understand pitch and rhythm - all the songs are themed around sea creatures which live in the ‘magic box’.
But now Eleanor says some of the three and four year olds are ready to move on to the next step, so she is launching an advanced class without parents.
“I’m hoping it will encourage them to be a bit more confident,” said Eleanor, who conducts BYC’s Children’s Choir and is wife of the choir’s founder Mat Wright.
“I’ve noticed a lot of development over the months I’ve been doing Little Singers.
“The older ones are really coming out of themselves and singing along, matching pitch and understanding rhythm.
“The ones who weren’t even talking when we started are already really engaging with the music and singing, and the baby group are starting to make sounds and movements and engage with it.
“That’s what I’d really hoped to achieve.”
Eleanor would like to recruit more singers now that she’s added the advanced class.
Sessions are at Emmanuel Church, Huddersfield Road, every Friday morning.
The 18 month to three group meets 9.40 to 10.20am, the three to four advanced class meets 10.20 to 11am, and babies up to 18 months meet at 11am. The first classes of the new year are on Friday January 12.
