What a Rumpus!

As an extension of The Lullaby Project at Carnegie Hall, I've been lucky enough to learn about a variety of folks doing innovative work in the intersection of music and early childhood. One such brilliant innovator is Zoe Palmer in London. I first learned about her work from singer/songwriter Emily Eagen, who pointed me to a wonderful BBC documentary about the work she was doing with Spitalfields Music in the East End. As a singer and librettist, Zoe began teaching lullabies to groups of mothers, which quickly led to learning lullabies from the culturally diverse population in the communities they were engaging. That led to creating lullabies together. Based on that work, Zoe and her collaborators set about inventing musical events, based on opera, that children from 0-2 years old could attend. An event where it's OK if kids come on stage and then retreat. Where singers play with kids as they sing, and that's OK, too. There's short clip of a project from three years ago -- have a look! They are called rumpus operas, which already sound pretty fun and inviting. I am hoping to take a trip this summer to learn more, but in the meantime, on with the rumpus!