Tenth Birthday Reflections

In celebration of Hush Little Baby’s tenth birthday, I’ve taken the time to reflect on the last decade of music making with young children. I started Hush Little Baby a couple of months after my first child was born, and he came with me as a babe in arms (then a toddler) to all of my classes for the first few years. My very first classes were held at St Aidan’s school in Corinda, where I had previously worked as a music teacher.
 
As months progressed the classes grew and eventually I was teaching ten classes across three days and two venues (still with my little helper by my side – and eventually, a newborn second child). Some incredibly special families came for years, with multiple children, and it was my privilege to get to know them over the years. Lifelong friendships were forged in those classes.

Eighteen months into the birth of the business, Hush Little Baby expanded into early education and care services. Nyree, Steph and Rachel from Chatterbox Early Learning and Child Care got in touch enquiring about music programs for their services. I had noticed that “extracurricular” classes were largely offered only to the children whose parents were willing to pay for them, meaning that many children missed out, but right from the outset Chatterbox were very clear that they wanted a whole-service program – music for every child in every room.

 

This aligned beautifully with my own fundamental belief that music should belong to everyone, and so at the beginning of 2014 we commenced our music program at all of their services. I will always be grateful for the shared vision for a quality music program accessible to all children that the Chatterbox team came to me with 8.5 years ago, and our partnership with Chatterbox continues to this day.

 

As time has gone on, many more early education and care services have joined us on this wonderful journey – every single one of them committed to our inclusive, child-centred approach and to the idea that music should belong to every child. We have so much respect and admiration for the incredible educators and managers at all of the services we visit. So a BIG thank you to the amazing services listed here, who we are proud to partner with to bring quality music programs to young children.

As Hush Little Baby has continued to expand into more and more early education and care services, our team has grown and grown. Our management and administrative support team are second to none, and we have the most wonderful team of exceptional singers who have a genuine love for working with children. Our teachers are at the very heart of what we do, and the relationships that they form with the adults and children who enjoy their classes are genuine and long lasting.

A number of our teachers have seen children go from being in the Nursery, all the way through to their Kindergarten graduations. We often hear of children going home and playing “music classes” – gathering toys and instruments, singing our greeting and acknowledgement of country song and running their own music class for their families. That underpinning foundational belief that music should belong to everyone is absolutely embodied in these special moments! These days we are proud to be making music with over 5000 children every single week, and I look forward to many more years of ensuring that music belongs to everyone.