Small Sounds

Small Sounds is back at Chester Cathedral on Monday 16 November, another one of the drop-in music sessions for children aged 0 to 5 and their grown-ups. It's run by the Cathedral Music Trust, and this particular session is led by Krista. The whole thing is a drop-in, so you just turn up with your little ones and get stuck in.

It's part of a wider early years programme that runs weekly across different cathedrals, and the sessions are designed to give young children a chance to discover the joy of singing. There's a longer-term aim too: paving the way towards choristership for those who take an interest. At the same time, it's meant to help parents pick up a few skills to keep the music-making going at home, so it's as much for the adults as it is for the kids.

There's a professional side to it that doesn't always make it into the listings. The project runs in two strands: the music sessions themselves and a professional development programme for cathedral music staff, delivered with The Family Music Hub. It's about training cathedral musicians to work with the very youngest, so the sessions are part of a larger effort to bring early years music into the cathedral setting. Ambassador Alexander Armstrong, a former chorister himself, says he owes his entire career to his early cathedral music education.

It's grown quite a bit over the last few years, expanding across many different cathedrals. The Trust's 2025 Spring Appeal raised almost £25,000 to keep it going. If you've got a little one at home and you're looking for something to do on a Monday morning, it's a good one to keep in mind. The session is on 16 November at Chester Cathedral for children aged 0 to 5 and their grown-ups, led by Krista.