Fiona Bruce: Music & My Children
Crimewatch’s Fiona Bruce believes in passing on her passion for music
I’ve always thought that a sense of music and rhythm and beat is innately a good thing. I think it’s because I love music and so I would love my child to love music. It can be such a source of joy and fulfilment.
Fiona Bruce
Crimewatch and News presenter, Fiona Bruce grew up in a musical household, and she is making sure her children, Sam, four years, and Mia, seven months, do too.
From their earliest days Fiona has surrounded her children with music. It began when Sam, her elder child, was still a baby, she says: “Whenever I was putting him to sleep I’d sing Rock-A-Bye Baby. I deliberately did it so this would become a thing he’d associate with sleep. Then one day when he was about three he said, ‘Oh, no more singing mummy.’ And you know my friend also told me that one of the first things her child said to her was, ’stop singing mummy’.”
One day when he was about three he said, ‘Oh, no more singing, mummy’.
Fiona Bruce
She is convinced that the way she was brought up has given her a lasting enthusiasm for music: “When I was in a student band, my Dad always used to say, ‘Why don’t you play a bit of James Last?’. And I remember very clearly, when I was 10 or 11, I used to love the beginning of Beethoven’s fifth. I thought that was fantastic. My Dad had this huge music system, it was reel-to-reel tapes in those days, and he got out the headphones so I could listen to it.
“It was about the same time that I decided I passionately wanted to play the piano. So, I got these post-it notes and stuck them all round the house before my twelfth birthday, saying ‘I’d like a piano’, ‘Oh for a piano’, ‘What would I do for a piano’, ‘I’d really, really like a piano.’ Eventually, my parents hired one, then it took off really and I’ve loved it ever since.”
Like mother, like son. Fiona says: “Sam loves the piano, sometimes he sits on my lap and he plonkety-plonks along. And Mia likes it when I sing to her, I’ve certainly noticed that. She loves it, she smiles and she laughs and she looks at me.
“When they’re pre-school age, there are a lot of groups you can take them to that will develop various aspects of their personality. I’ve always thought that a sense of music and rhythm and beat is innately a good thing. I think it’s because I love music and so I would love my child to love music. It can be such a source of joy and fulfilment.
“I took Sam to one music group. He started when he was probably two and a half, and some of it he responded to and some of it he didn’t. Some children enjoy performing in front of others and Sam doesn’t. But if you go to a little group it teaches you so much more than just about them. It teaches you about sitting and listening, paying attention, improving your concentration span, all sorts of things.
“We have the radio on in our house with a combination of Radio 4, Radio Five Live and, for a bit of music, Heart FM. But our nanny really likes Westlife, so Sam knows all about them. He can sing all the words to one of their songs. When I try to get him involved in my musical tastes, he’s not remotely interested. He says, ‘This isn’t Westlife, mummy’.”
TOP TIPS
* “Nursery rhymes are what grab their attention to begin with and if you can play an instrument, even if it is just a tambourine, it brings it to life and they can join in.”
* “We play nursery rhymes as an activity, instead of doing a drawing or reading a book. It’s such a beautiful thing to do with your child.”
* Consider a music group for pre-schoolers, it can help them develop in lots of ways