https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiGjKBmLYbg
Little Amber is The Amber Trust’s early years music service for blind and partially sighted children. The scheme has been running since September 2017 and supports 60 families at any one time, working with visually impaired children from birth to five. Families on the scheme receive two-hour music sessions four times a year from a trained music practitioner, plus a deck of specially designed activity cards and a set of starter percussion instruments. Hundreds of Little Amber music resources are also freely available to download from our website ambertrust.org/littleamber.
The scheme so far is a great success, receiving some wonderful testimonials from parents and professionals across the UK …
“I want to once again thank you for awarding A with the Little Amber sessions. He absolutely loves the sessions and we all enjoy working through the cards with him and listening to the songs. They have had such a positive effect on him.”
(A’s mum)
“Just wanted to feedback that the little girl that I referred to Little Amber (B) had her first visit from Kathryn last week. I was there to introduce everyone and it was absolutely brilliant! Kathryn was impressed with B’s instinctive ability with rhythm and with her pitching. For me and B’s mum, it was so exciting to see her focusing on something for such a length of time, smiling throughout. She was so engaged!”
(B’s VI Worker)
So we decided to make a short film with a view to sharing some of the wonderful insights and valuable experiences that the scheme can provide. The film introduces Seth who is three years old, completely blind and absolutely loves music, his mum Zoe, sister Sadie, and Little Amber music practitioner Gary.
The film provides a touching glimpse into the extraordinary value of music-making for the whole family, but particularly for a young child who is unable to see.