Concerteenies collaborates with musicians to create special moments for parents and their children.
Music is quite simply powerful. It can lift your spirits, take you back to a specific moment from the past and even unite strangers to sing along in a room together for hours.
One mother from Sheffield’s love for music has gone above and beyond, in the hope of ensuring that everyone gets to enjoy its magic.
Polly Ives, 42, is no stranger when it comes to the power of the music industry.
Having established a career of working with London Philharmonic Orchestra and CBeebies and a variety of orchestras and groups around the UK, Polly knows the industry as well as anyone.
So, when Polly moved to Sheffield 20 years ago, she wanted to dispel some of the myths about music being “elitist” and instead make it something that all could access.
It wasn’t until six months after she had her first child that she really found her passion for breaking down the barriers limiting access to music while also tapping into the mental health benefits that it can provide, not just for young children, but their parents too.
That’s when she launched Concerteenies, now an established charity that performs a wide variety of music that all can enjoy.
“I’ve just felt more and more strongly that people in Sheffield and South Yorkshire need far more access and opportunity to this kind of activity,” Polly told Oh My Goodness News.
Since its foundation in 2017, Concerteenies has performed to more than 48,000 young children and “their grown-ups”, Polly intent on making it known that it is not just something for children.
“I trialled it as a possible option for my group of friends with babies and then we found that actually, it’s something for the whole family,” she said.
But it was the mother of two’s work 15 years ago with London Philharmonic Orchestra that sparked the charity’s new heart-warming project that has really taken off.
Originally performing in public spaces for children and their grown-ups, Concerteenies recently ventured into Neonatal Surgical Units, much to the pleasure of parents and their new born babies, as well as hospital staff.
“I got to work with musicians who are particularly sensitive to performing to people in really challenging circumstances and we kind of gave them an opportunity to relax, a bit of distraction, something a bit different.
“There’s been little magical moments of real beautiful special connections between the babies and their grownups.
“We had one where we were with a Dad [with his baby] that was at least 8 or 9 weeks old, but hadn’t been out of the incubator at all and the first time he got to hold the baby, we were just playing in the background and it was just really emotional.
“Another lady who only spoke Arabic but had a translator [told us] it was the first time her little boy had opened his eyes when we played,” Polly, who is also a cellist, added.
Concerteenies is part of an ongoing research project with Leeds University to explore the parental well-being benefits of their Concerteenies for Babies project.
Since moving into wards at Sheffield’s Children Hospital, the positive effects on patients, families and even staff has been hard not to miss.
“We found that parents’ mental health has improved because of those opportunities to engage in normal life. I know a lot of people who really suffered from post-natal depression and really struggled in the early years, especially during Covid with how hard it is to be a parent nowadays.”
With a variety of instruments and experience in the Concerteenies team, the collaborating musicians can also create healing sounds to music that can “sound like the womb”, but Polly says seeing babies simply stop crying and relaxing, is “magical”.
The charity has recently launched a fundraising campaign Sounds Good, which will fund other projects across Yorkshire and hopefully one day, beyond.
“I’m just so aware that unless we engage families from birth, like really early, or even before birth, that people will only view a lot of live music for them if they’ve had opportunities from the very earliest opportunity,” Polly added.
You can learn more about the amazing work the charity does by visiting the Concerteenies website.
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