Frequently Asked Questions

What will my child gain from Mini Minstrels?

Research has shown that regular attendance in a structured music session will help in all aspects of your child’s development.

• Music helps the child develop their language as they listen to the music of the spoken word and imitate this. A three year study of over four hundred under fives found that children were able to memorise and learn long sequences of words, phrases and sentences when they are attached to music, long before they can master the same skill in speech.
• Rhyming, which is used extensively in pre-school children’s songs, is a key pre-reading skill.
• Rhythm has recently been linked to early reading skills
• Your child will also be encouraged to learn colours and basic sequencing of numbers (counting from 1-10 and back again!).
• Sessions are largely made up of songs with actions, actively developing gross and fine motor skills in a fun environment.
• And that’s before we talk about musical knowledge! Children will gain a sense of rhythm, be exposed to different kinds of music (children's, classical and world) and learn to play different percussion instruments - a fantastic precursor to learning other instruments. We concentrate on the various different sounds that each percussion instrument can produce, in conjunction not only with an elementary introduction to rhythm and instrumental music but also with basic gross motor skills (stopping playing or holding the instrument in the air on command).
• The three year study mentioned above concluded that active participation in a progressive, expertly delivered music curriculum can greatly improve a very young child’s capacity to develop skills to give them a great head-start before they progress to full-time education.

In developing our curriculum we have worked with a trained primary school teacher and drawn from our experiences as parents of three children. The music was commissioned to a detailed brief from a successful and highly experienced team of children’s song writers and producers. The goal of Mini Minstrels is not to teach pre-school children music, but to use music as a fun way to help them develop in all areas – musical, motor (both fine and gross), verbal, numerical and, of course, social.

Come along for a free trial session and see it for yourself!

My child is only 6 months old – are they not too young for this sort of thing?

The simple answer to this is NO. As we have already answered above (“What will my child gain from Mini Minstrels?”), there are huge benefits from bringing your child to regular music sessions, and they are never too young to start – our own children started coming long before they were born! Please remember that the teacher will show you how to get your baby involved in the sessions, and do not hesitate to ask for guidance.

What if my child is ill or we are away?

Firstly, if your child is ill, please don’t bring them to the session. When you join Mini Minstrels, you purchase a block of 10 sessions, which entitles you to two absences. If you know that you will be away for an extended period (perhaps on holiday, or due to the arrival of a new baby), we will happily suspend your membership. All we ask is that you give us prior notice!

Do I need to be a native English speaker, and does my child need to understand English?

Again, the simple answer is NO. We have had many children attend Mini Minstrels who did not and do not speak English and still love coming! While it does help if you understand English, the songs we use have lots of actions. Children are great at mimicking, and the skills they learn are transferable to their native tongue.

What if I have more than one child?

You are more than welcome to bring more than one child to Mini Minstrels. It can, of course, be difficult for you to encourage both children to participate if one or both wander off, but we have a very relaxed atmosphere and we really don’t mind if children wish to explore the environment a little. As parents of three children, we understand the challenge of bringing more than one child to a class, and wherever possible the teacher will help you. We would recommend that you try concentrating on the child for whom the particular song or section is more appropriate – for example, on the younger one during the “knee-bouncing” section, and on the older for the “jumping around” section.