‘Mini Mozart – Babies Class’ (Bedfringe, 21 July 2024)

“‘Does exactly what it says on the tin, delivering a dose of golden sunsound as pleasing as any since Orpheus rhymed Calliope with ‘my way’.”

Children don’t learn by osmosis, it’s the worst thing about them. Put a child in a room full of fine art, leave them to their own distracted devices and they will emerge no more educated or insightful than before they went in. How annoying is that? Turns out the path to understanding is not like those moving walkways at airports, you can’t just stand still and reasonably expect to arrive somewhere. BUT a good guide through the wilderness, a smart trainer, or an expert storyteller can make all the difference in terms of maximising the distance covered by the same effort. Interactivity and active listening are mission-critical to cognitive development.

‘Mini Mozart’ is a franchised method and educational mindset as much as it is any individual show. It was created by Clare-Louise Shaw in 2005. It is the ongoing culmination of 20+ years of experience combining musicianship, presenting & parenting. A product of Uppingham School and Berklee College of Music in the USA, the holder of a music degree from Newcastle University, Clare went on to join BBC Music. You might recognise her from her onscreen work in ‘BBC Young Musician’ of the Year and ‘The Proms’ or from her time as a singer at Disneyland Paris. It was during her first maternity leave, in 2005, that Clare was “hit by the clarity stick.” Knowing how much her infant son loved it when she played the violin, clarinet, or piano and remembering the same look of enchantment on the children’s faces at Disney, Clare got her NCT group and instruments together with a piano accompanist and ‘Mini Mozart’ was born.

We enter to discover that our presenters today are Andrew on piano and Lottie on everything else. If that piper chap in Hamyln had a twin sister, Bedford’s own Lottie Bagnall might be her. She seamlessly gathers the children always shepherding, never leading. At no point do the children or their adults, seem bossed. With my school governor’s hat on, I see a smart, sensitive, sensory curriculum being mindfully delivered with a confidently light touch. This knowledge-rich content is not only substantial, it is massively entertaining for young and auld alike. Lottie’s not especially secret superpower is to make newcomers (including my girls) feel as welcome and included as the families she sees at her weekly sessions.

As immersive as a lavender bubble bath after an afternoon spent coal mining, as absorbing as a Sahara sea sponge, as gentle as the mistral is by comparison with the supersonic methane winds of Neptune – ‘Mini Mozart’ does exactly what it says on the tin, delivering a dose of golden sunsound as pleasing as any since Orpheus rhymed Calliope with ‘my way’.

In her Bedfringe notebook – the one with a cartoon of Richard Nixon carrying Louis Armstrong’s luggage through customs drawn on the inside cover – Daughter 1.0 (9yrs) wrote:

“I went to Bedford Festival Fringe this summer and went to Mini Mozart with my sisters [6yrs and 2yrs]. It was mostly aimed at babies or toddlers beetween 0 and 4 but even so I realy enjoyed it. It was all about the story of the three little pigs with violins, violas and clarenets and a piano! I realy enjoyed playing with rattles, giants scrunchies, parachutes and singing lots of song My littlest sister said she realy enjoyed it and so did I!”

Come for the touchy-feely encounters with strings and clarinet buttons. Stay despite the scary Peter and the Wolf puppet – Clare says he’s fine, but they all say that about their wolf puppets don’t they!? – leave having heard the finest versions of ‘Wheels on the Bus’, ‘I’m a Little Teapot’, and ‘Sleeping Bunnies’ you’re ever likely to hear. Get your evening tailcoats on and go see this!