Through our role in Birmingham Forward Steps, The Springfield Project has been leading the Birmingham Early Years Music Consortium, which brings together partners from across the Early Years sector with professional music organisations and freelance musicians.
The Birmingham Early Years Music Consortium partners are:
The importance of music in early childhood
Hearing develops as babies develop and grow in the womb, this is the beginning of musical development. We are musical beings before we enter the world, and we believe this natural musicality should be nurtured from birth. We believe all children should have the opportunity to engage in quality musical experiences from birth onwards and should have the opportunity to sing and create music. Music threads through all areas of learning and development, from moving to sound (physical development) to the caregiver and baby exchanging musical coos and sounds as part of their communication development. Singing and engaging in music enables children to express their ideas and feelings. We believe music should be seen as a core component of children’s learning and should be shared with young children to ensure they have broad, balanced and rounded experiences in early childhood and beyond.
Funding from Youth Music
In 2019, the Consortium was thrilled to be awarded a grant from Youth Music to deliver the Sounds of Play project which ended in March 2022. This project brought the Early Years and Music workforces together to learn from each other, to develop high quality Early Years Music practice across the city and to deliver music activities to children under 5 and their families.
In 2023, Youth Music awarded a further £150,000 to BFS to continue to develop early years music practice and provision across Birmingham. The project, funded until November 2025, continued to build on the established relationships formed between the partner organisations and continued to offer a range of CPD and music making opportunities for children, families Early Years educators and musicians across the city.
Between 2019-2025 The Sounds of Play project enabled:
- 2,678 children to participate in music making activities
- 314 group sessions for children and families to have been delivered
- 123 professional development sessions for the workforce to have taken place
- 963 staff or volunteers (Early Years educators and Musicians) to participate in professional development sessions
This project provided a wealth of learning for Early Years practitioners and music professionals alike. For those working in these areas, the full evaluation report can be downloaded from using the buttons below, along with supportive guidance materials for musicians and Early Years settings, which were created by the Sounds of Play Champions.
You can download the summaries of the evaluations of both phases of the project on the buttons below.
We are enormously proud of this project and our role in leading the Consortium. And we are very grateful to our funder, Youth Music, for enabling it to happen.
The Youth Music funding ended in November 2025. We continue to work with the consortium to explore avenues to maintain this valuable work.
For further information about Sounds of Play please contact either the Springfield project on 0121 777 2722 or [email protected] or Sounds of Play project lead Nicola Burke at [email protected]
