What's On

An introduction to the SALTmusic research project

with Sophie Fox, Magic Acorns

7:30pm - 9pm via Zoom

This session will introduce the SALTmusic research project, briefly looking at the aims of the project and the community of practice developed, we will focus on practical strategies, including the thinking behind them,  which can be used in a variety of situations to support communication needs through musical play.

During the session we will consider:

  • Communication as more than words.
  • Following  the child’s lead - tuning in, noticing, valuing and the land of YES
  • Mirroring, OWLing,  Intensive Interaction.
  • How we can meet individual communication needs through musical play.
  • Vocal play, vocal doodling, and repetition of musical motifs – Micro songs. 

This will be done through a mixture of presentation, discussions and participatory activities. There will be opportunities to ask questions and share experiences. You will receive copies of slides used as PDFs. 

This Zoom training will support 

  • Specialist practitioners who work in any art form including music, dance, theatre, visual and digital arts 
  • Generalist practitioners who work in the Early Years sector

We ask that no screenshots are taken of slides that include images or film with children in.


Sophie has been a community artist working for over 20 years. In the last decade her work has specialised in working with very young children and families. Using multiple art forms Sophie's work explores processes, relationships and wellbeing through creative and musical play. Sophie is a founding member of Magic Acorns which grew from the groundbreaking work of the music and arts teams in Great Yarmouth children's centre,  and is where Sophie was lead artist on the SALTmusic action research project. Sophie completed an MA in Early childhood education and music in 2020, she works with early years, educators, musicians and other adults that work with young children.


The event is part of a series of events linked to our new Paul Hamlyn Foundation funded Making and Believing Early Years Creativity programme.