The Family Place and The Family Place Foundation would like to thank the Black Mountains Chamber Music Trust and Moondance Foundation for generously funding the Music and Creative Activity day held in Clyro on Saturday 13th of September 2025.
We were so lucky to have the amazing experience of listening to three pieces of music from the wonderful musicians Robert Peate (Piano) and Charlotte Pawley (Vocalist). Their generous spirit and willingness to engage and experiment with the children created a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere for everyone present.
Pieces performed on the day were:
- Rachmaninoff- At my window
- Grieg- Solveigs Song
- Kurt Weil- Youkal
We listened to and discussed the pieces before the workshop, with themes and activities being suggested for the day. There was a strong consensus that the pieces were, on the whole, quite introspective, melancholic, and dreamy in feel. These moods can be challenging to connect with, especially for the families we work with where themes of loss, grief, and longing are prevalent in their living experience. Sensitive handling of such themes was paramount to ensuring a meaningful and supportive experience for all participants.
Music powerfully connects us with our emotions. Our workshop facilitates this by providing space for listening, connecting, and processing the experience. Through engaging with the musicians and creative activities, participants discover joy and energy. This can lead to transformative and empowering activities for young people and their families, offering the time and space to acknowledge difficult feelings and move through their various stages.
We aimed to introduce a sense of playfulness into the workshop, balancing the solemn feel of the music. This approach conveyed the idea that all feelings, not just the lighter ones have a place.
The workshop really got us thinking about ‘finding our voice’ and how we ‘perform’ and present ourselves in different situations. We explored that we all experience nervousness, what happens when we make mistakes, and how to allow ourselves to do so.
We had four families attend the workshop with eight children aged 5-10. This age group is slightly younger than in previous years. To keep the children engaged we made sure there was a range of activities we could draw on.
After introductions and a brief outline of the plan for the morning, we began the workshop with some warm-up exercises. Charlotte generously shared and sensitivity adapted some fun, whacky voice warm-ups for the children. We then had fun copying these exercises with sound, breathing, and movement, helping everyone to feel more present in the room and relaxed in their bodies. Voices young and old merged to fill the space, creating a vibrant soundscape. Once this collective energy had settled, all attention turned to Charlotte whose solo rendition of the piece then held everyone spellbound.
Sung in their native tongues, the pieces communicated their essence through Charlotte’s heartfelt delivery, allowing feelings to speak louder than words.
Rachmaninoff – At my window
After sharing the voice warm-ups with the group, Charlotte performed this powerful piece titled ‘At my window’ which seemed to capture the children. We then asked the children to listen again and draw while they were listening. The objective was to stimulate visual interpretation among the children, providing subtle guidance rather than explicit instructions, thereby encouraging individual imaginative engagement with the music.
We made the comparison between singing and drawing, emphasizing how vocalists use their whole bodies; from diaphragmatic breathing to posture. Similarly, drawing was presented as a holistic experience. Constituting a full-bodied endeavor, not merely a fine motor skill.
To alleviate physical tension, warm-up exercises were conducted, encompassing not only the hands but also the arms and legs. This preparatory phase sought to release stiffness and facilitate the uninhibited flow of creative expression from thought to execution.
Each child received a rectangular board, symbolically representing a ‘window’. They had complete autonomy to depict whatever images or sensations the composition evoked. If they were unsure how to start, a suggestion was offered: to ‘take their pen for a walk’ across the page. Allowing the pen to move freely and continuously, without interruption, to explore emergent forms. This technique aimed to bypass overthinking, helping intuitive artistic expression. The exercise celebrated personal artistic style, embodied engagement, and the joyous exploration of creative potential.
As the children drew and listened an introspective energy filled the room, followed by a silence as they processed their individual experiences. While vocalizing these experiences was challenging, some discussion about feelings and imagery did emerge. To re-engage the group, we introduced a ‘walk and draw’ activity using a long roll of paper and pen-attached sticks. This paired activity, performed while the music played, encouraged movement and conversation, capturing the tune’s floaty feel and revitalizing the group’s energy.
Grieg – Solveig’s Song
Two themes were explored with this piece:
- Performance gestures – including how a singer approaches the stage and their posture.
- Exploring the feelings associated with performing.
Charlotte and Rob readily explored these themes with the group, sparking conversations about apprehension in new settings. Charlotte then demonstrated her personal preparation, sharing breathing exercises, vocal techniques, and the importance of a strong, confident entrance.
To explore these feelings, we undertook a ‘before and after’ exercise. Charlotte first demonstrated her confident entrance after being introduced. Annie nearly stumbled while bowing, highlighting the physical impact of nerves like sweaty hands, cold feet, and finding your voice. Being in the spotlight during this entrance exercise proved difficult for the children, yet their bravery and creative approaches shone through.
Charlotte was a huge help with our singing, especially during the exercises. She was amazing at showing us how to get into the tricky emotions in our performances. She put a lot of effort into helping us grasp and express that feeling of not really wanting to sing – it’s a subtle but powerful emotion that really makes a vocal delivery deep and real when done right. Her clever techniques and patient guidance let us tap into that feeling, making our musical efforts much more engaging and expressive.
Viv’s introduction of dressing up and props sparked a wonderful explosion of creativity in the children. They crafted stories, developed characters, and expressed themselves through movement, with the performers responding enthusiastically. This felt like a natural, joyful extension of the song, where children’s imaginations soared in a lively exchange with the musicians and captivated the adults. The drawing sticks, for instance, were transformed into canes for tap dancing and magic, creating moments of shared laughter and spontaneous play.
The yodelling section, demonstrated by Charlotte, became a highlight. Our playful attempts to sing along surprisingly evolved into a unified accompaniment, with Charlotte’s voice soaring above the group, creating a truly fun and connected experience.
A well-earned break followed, with everyone enjoying snacks and drinks. The children, still buzzing with creativity, continued to use the materials.
Kurt Weil- Youkail
This piece really got everyone moving! We built on our performance stance and thought about rhythm and how to move to the music, whether in pairs, small groups, or even solo. Again it got everyone buzzing around the room and as they became more confident, the children really started to respond expressively to the rhythm and tone. There was a lovely sense of humor in the room, which balanced the more serious feel of the music – touching on big ideas like death, grief, loss, and how we live. The performances were all really different, but they all had this great sense of joy and playfulness.
The workshop progressed to a physical activity where the children stretched and placed stickers to mark their body’s connection to the rhythm. This became a thrilling exercise in daring and climbing, letting them physically interact with the room in an uninhibited way. Their cooperation throughout this activity was impressive.
Bubbles were introduced to represent the music’s fleeting notes. The children, deeply engaged, found a meditative quality in this activity. They lay on the floor and absorbed in the song, eyes fixed on the shimmering bubbles above them.
To close the workshop, all the families sat on the floor together in a big circle. They passed streamers to each other forming a beautiful web-like structure. It was striking that this unifying moment was accompanied by the children’s choice of Rachmaninoff, a piece we initially perceived as highly introspective.
This experience was truly moving, observing the children express themselves through creative listening; finding comfort in their individual spaces, then connecting in pairs and groups, before uniting as one. The reciprocal joy and spontaneity between the children and musicians was remarkable. This creative endeavour was profoundly moving, energising, and left everyone with much to reflect upon. While Rob and Charlotte played softly, the children tidied up and carefully removed the stickers while gathering their thoughts. Everyone departed feeling filled with vibrant creativity and renewed energy. What a memorable day for all!
With special thanks to:
