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Berlin / DPA
Music lessons for babies? Nope, it’s not a school for over-achievers in which 1-year-olds sing their scales. In Louise Watts’ classes it’s mainly the parents who sing and the babies bounce along to the beat.
Music, says Watts, should just be part of life.
In Thursday’s class in the trendy Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg, 12 mothers sit in a circle, with their babies, aged between 10 months and 2 years, on their laps.
The babies, one of whom still has a dummy in his mouth, look around with big round eyes as the mothers begin to sing “Say Hello” to start the class.
Rattles, bells and colourful scarves all belong to Watts’ props, as the 40-year-old Australian intones the first notes of the songs, which include “I Know A Chicken” and “The More We Get Together.”
It doesn’t bother these German babies that the songs are all English.
On the one hand the babies are too young to understand the words and on the other hand the mothers come from all over the world anyway.
The only father who’s turned up is waiting outside.
Watts came to Berlin in 2008 for a summer school and fell in love with the German capital. Two years later she left Sydney and moved permanently to Germany.
The music and drama teacher began giving lessons for children two years ago. The classes are in English but are open to everyone.
“When the children are so small, it’s not about the language, it’s about the music and the movement,” she says. “I hope the children will love music their whole lives long.”
For the mothers the classes are less about their musical education than about having fun.
Irina comes from the Russian city of Bryansk and has been living in Prenzlauer Berg since May. She and her 14-month-old daughter have been coming to the 45-minute-long classes since September and they’re both equally enthused.
“Sophia loves dancing to the music with the other children,” says the 31-year-old.
When the music begins, Irina takes the rattle and shakes it more or less in time to the music. After a few minutes the babies begin to move too and Sophia takes a rattle and toddles off into the centre of the circle.
“Classes like these aren’t just for the children, they’re also for the adults,” says Claudia Wanner of the German Association of Music Schools.
“It’s about integrating music into everyday life and courses like this are good for that.”
Watts also does a class for very small babies aged between three and ten months. The older children can also take part in a children’s choir.
But even in the choir it’s more about games and fun than hitting the right notes all the time. If a child takes a term like “legato” home with them, that’s a bonus.
Watts exudes pride in the fact that the choir now has members who first took part in her baby classes. Their love of music has lasted at least this far.
