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Children, some as young as four months-old, are enjoying a melodious master-class and an injection of Mozart and Beethoven with a taste of Tchaikovsky to help boost their brain power in Bahrain.
The class of infants and toddlers making up the Musical Babies enjoy sessions of classical music and nursery rhymes, alongside drumming and bubble-chasing activities, under the orchestration of one of the kingdom’s best known expat pianists.
Michelle Miles has been running the activities for 12 years and has staged more than 1,200 term-time sessions attracting scores of devotees who grow up with a passion for music. The 45-year-old mother-of-two, who lives in Saar, is a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatoire with an Honours degree and diplomas in performance and teaching.
“It has been scientifically proven that Mozart especially stimulates faster neuron growth in baby’s brains than many other forms of music,” she said. “Witnessing a baby ‘head bang’ to Mozart is a sight to behold and never ceases to put a smile on my face!
It is an unconditional reaction as no-one has influenced them on how to react to classical music. “I have a collection of drums and a box of instruments which the babies ‘play’ whilst I perform Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.
It’s important that this is live music as it has far more impact with the babies than a recording. Often the children are experiencing live classical music for the first time.” Michelle spent several years in the UK as répétiteur for The Birmingham Royal Ballet School and on the staff at the Junior Conservatoire in Birmingham.
She was a regular performer with members of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and also taught music at several prestigious preparatory schools in the UK.
She grew up in the English town of Marple, near Stockport in Greater Manchester, and moved to the kingdom with her husband, Dominic, a food importer, caterer and restaurateur, in 1998.
Both their children, Connor, 13, and Hannah, 10, were born in Awali, and the family settled in Saar. It was perhaps inevitable that family life and the world of music would combine. “It started in September 2004 when Connor was just one,” explained Michelle.
“I wanted my son to experience live classical piano music as I had read about its many benefits “We started with a single class of eight and as the word spread through the ‘mums’ network’ more and more enquiries came my way so I increased the number of classes.
Since Musical Babies started more than 1,200 sessions have taken place and many families have grown up enjoying the music.” The ‘Mozart effect’ phenomenon was first suggested by a scientific study published in 1993 in the respected journal Science.
It showed that teenagers who listened to Mozart’s 1781 Sonata for Two Pianos in D major performed better in reasoning tests than adolescents who listened to something-else or who had been in a silent room.
The finding, by a group at the University of California, led crèches across the world to start playing classical music to children and the southern US state of Georgia even gave newborns a free classical CD.
And British actress Helena Bonham Carter said that listening to Mozart and other classical music while pregnant had made her children ‘unbelievably smart’. The music most people call ‘classical’ has a more complex musical structure than rock, pop and country.
Babies can pick out that structure and even recognise classical music selections they have heard before. Researchers think the complexity of classical music is what primes the brain to solve spatial problems more quickly.
So listening to it may have different effects on the brain than listening to other types of music. A study of adults with seizures even found that compositions by Mozart, more so than other classical composer, appeared to lower seizure frequency.
It was possible that the proposed Mozart effect on the brain is related to the structure of his compositions as Mozart’s music tends to repeat the melodic line more frequently. Michelle, a classically trained concert pianist, plays ‘live’ on a full-size Yamaha digital piano.
“The classes are held in my purpose-built music room in Saar,” she said. “They are limited to a maximum of 12 parents / babies per class so the children are not overwhelmed either by sound or too great a crowd.”
Each class lasts for between 40 to 45 minutes and alongside listening and swaying to Mozart the children sing a variety of nursery rhymes and action songs allowing them to get fully involved.
The classic ‘Wheels on the Bus’ is a song with lots of movement for them to join in. “We end with some softer classical music whilst I blow bubbles for the babies and toddlers to play with and pop as a wind-down session after the class,” she added.
“We then have a social gathering where parents can interact and the babies get a biscuit-or-two to munch on. “The age range is from around four months to three years. Although the very small babies are not always able to join in with the actions they experience a huge amount of aural and visual stimulation and begin building their social skills interacting with the other children.”
The sessions bring plenty of smiles too. Little Vinnie Robson, 15-months-old, is a regular attender with his mum, Ailsa, who lives near Saar with her husband, Ian, a project manager. They have two older children, Alfie, eight, and Millie, 13.
“Vinnie loves it!” said Ailsa. “He needed to socialise and as we all love music in our house this was perfect.” Although classes are limited to a dozen at a time, as many as four classes a week have been held to meet the demand, allowing for up to 48 places being available.
‘No ‘pop music’ is played,” explained Michelle. “The main aim of the classes is to introduce the children to live classical music. The variety and tempo of the classics really appeals to them.
“Many of our former ‘babies’ have developed a great love of music and take lessons on a variety of instruments including piano, trumpet, violin and flute as well as singing and these are only the ones I am aware of as many of the early attendees have now left Bahrain.
“I’ve also had the pleasure of taking Musical Babies to other people’s houses for their children’s birthday parties which are lots of fun, although there must be a piano on site. I derive an enormous amount of pleasure from watching the babies grow and develop their confidence, social skills but, most importantly, their love of music.”
Her own children enjoy performing too and often sing round the house. Both Connor and Hannah joined their school choirs from the age of five. Connor is currently studying for Grade 3 piano and has just passed his Grade 4 LAMDA (London Academy of Music & Dramatic Arts) and will be taking GCSE Music in 2019.
Hannah has passed Grade 2 singing exams, is the lead role in this year’s St Christopher’s School production of Mary Poppins, and also plays the ukulele. And mum is in big demand. As well as performing at regular St Christopher’s Cathedral celebrations of music she is currently devising a series of pre-dinner concerts with the Domain Hotel.
Each set of Musical Babies classes start at the beginning of the British curriculum school term and they run for approximately 12 weeks, with a break for half-term. However, if there are places available children can join a class part way through the term.
There are currently three classes a week, Monday and Tuesday at 9am and again on Tuesday at 10.15am. The cost for the 12 weeks is BD70 and a trial session is available at the beginning to let newcomers experience Musical Babies.
For more details email michelle_m_miles@ hotmail.com or visit www. facebook.com/MusicalBabies-632144390274163/.
