Keeping the Beat

Reviews

Resource of the Month - Keeping The Beat CDs
Early Years Educator Magazine November 2007

Keeping The Beat now have three excellent CDs to their name. Two contain nursery rhymes and songs, the other, number rhymes, all of which I recommend with enormous excitement and enthusiasm.

Everyone working in the early years knows how important it is to ensure that children build up a repertoire of rhymes and songs. Without such a repertoire their language learning and general development will suffer enormously.

However, it is not always easy to present such material in ways that will engage young children (and young parents!) and this is where the CDs are incredibly valuable. The arrangements are so upbeat and energising that they are impossible to resist. I have yet to meet a child who does not love them! They include pop, rap, reggae and bhangra style music.

In fact, there is something for everyone, and once the children have been introduced to the music they return to the CD player to hear their favourite tunes again and again.

All of the CDs will support you as you work with children, parents and carers to meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They will help to develop language, listening, counting and calculating skills and will also promote phonological awareness. Also, because many of the rhymes involve action, they will help to develop rhythm and beat competency, co-ordination and control.

They include most of the old ‘perennials’ from ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ to ‘The Wheels on the Bus’, ‘Five Little Ducks’ and new material and they are of the highest musical quality. I LOVE them!

Review by Ros Bayley, Early Years Consultant and Trainer

We think our feedback speaks for itself:

'One of the most successful resources I have ever used, I would wholeheartedly recommend this CD to anyone. The kids in my class, really love this CD, they choose to put it on themselves and will spontaneously sing and dance – it’s wonderful to watch. They have learnt all the words to the songs and the actions that go with them with almost no effort because they enjoy them so much. A brilliant twist on the acquisition of traditional rhyming and beat skills'
NIKKI SEALEY, RECEPTION TEACHER, RANGEFIELD PRIMARY SCHOOL

‘Keeping the Beat is used in many of our schools and nurseries to provide the children with fun and exciting ways to develop their early knowledge and understanding of rhythm and beat. This supports the children to ‘tune into sounds’ and refine the skills that they will need when they go on to learn to read and write
DEBBIE HUGHES, COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY CONSULTANT, SOUTH LONDON

‘I think this scheme is both a fantastic and very creative way of introducing learning through music. Shared learning in this way is also extremely enjoyable and will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the learning potential of the children involved.’
COUNCILLOR KATY DONNELLY, CABINET MEMBER FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE, LEWISHAM, LONDON (TAKEN FROM LEWISHAM ONLINE WEB PAGE 15/11/2004)

‘When I first heard the CD I thought ‘this can’t be for little children’, it sounded too grown up, but my little boy would sing along and before you knew it all the family were singing along too – even the baby! It is truly a CD that I would recommend as it has such a lovely variety of different music for all tastes and shows the diversity of the community we live in’
ADE, A DOWNHAM MUM, LEWISHAM, LONDON (TAKEN FROM SURESTART DOWNHAM UPDATE – MAY 2005)

‘I use the Keeping The Beat CD in my reception class all the time to support my early phonics teaching – it has been great for helping develop the children’s language and their sense of rhythm and rhyme…we even did a whole half term’s project based around it.’
RECEPTION TEACHER, SOUTH LONDON

‘There is only one word with which to describe Keeping The Beat, and that is.... BRILLIANT! I can't imagine anyone, old or young, that would not respond to the infectious rhythms, beats and melodies of this fantastic CD.’
ROS BAYLEY, EARLY YEARS CONSULTANT AND TRAINER, WALSALL

‘It’s great to hear a children’s CD that actually has really good music. The children I look after are crazy about it and now have a wide repertoire of nursery rhymes and songs that they didn’t come to me with. They sing them everywhere they go and it’s really helped their language development’
HELEN LEWER, CHILDMINDER, NEW ZEALAND

“My kids will not let me out in the car without this CD being on, so thank god it has some good guitar riffs! It’s helped me to learn the words to all these songs, so that when they come home from nursery and school singing them I can join in with them. I’ve even started getting my guitar out myself to play along which the kids love! I would never have thought this would really help their learning, but my youngest one’s speech has moved on loads since we started doing this, and she's started getting into books too.”
PAUL WEIGHT, WORKING FATHER OF TWO, CROYDON

“When I first became a stay at home dad, one of the things I found really hard was singing with the children. It seemed to come naturally to my wife, but I’m not musical and I felt really silly singing the daft songs they love, like ‘Miss Polly had a Dolly’. But the CD somehow made the whole experience a bit more masculine and cool, and it gave me confidence! I hear there’s a really ‘street’ version of Miss Polly coming out on the next CD too, so can’t wait for that!”
BEN COX, FULL TIME FATHER OF THREE, FARNHAM

‘This CD has been an absolute lifesaver. At first I felt a bit self conscious singing to my little one on my own, but the CD gave me the confidence to go for it and it is amazing to see how my daughter has responded’
JUSTINE SISSONS, PARENT, NORFOLK

‘My son is very lively and I hadn’t been able to get him interested in stories or nursery rhymes or anything. But the second he heard the Humpty Dumpty rap he was hooked! And songs like Bear Hunt have got him into books which I am delighted about. The CD really seems to appeal to boys – all his friends love it too - I think it’s because it’s so ‘cool’ and most nursery rhyme tapes are a bit naff.’
SALLY SPITTLE, PARENT, SOUTH NORWOOD, LONDON

Keeping The Beat CDs

Keeping The Beat’s debut CD is already being used by parents, schools, nurseries, child minders, education advisers and community workers such as SureStart employees. Listen to a sample or purchase a CD.

Customised CDs

Keeping The Beat also offer a service for creating personalised CDs. This is aimed at programmes such as SureStart and encourages parental and community involvement, through the selection of songs and artwork for the CD.