Early Years Creative Sound Program by composer Karen Power

Natural Creators

Natural Creators Program

Created and delivered by Irish composer Karen Power

Natural Creators is an exploratory Music/Sound Program that harnesses natural creativity in our youngest ears. The NC aesthetic creates a holistic learning and development environment through guided multi-sensory activities, improvisation and non-bias exploration, which are all guided through the acts of listening and responding. NC workshops place emphasis on music making without financial or training restrictions by beginning with every day, found and homemade sound sources as musical instruments. Every child is engaged in active learning through hands-on and playful experiences, which are led and paced by and with each child. The program structure is designed to be hugely flexible, so as to be applicable to any number of settings: from standalone workshops and durational projects within creches, to festivals and public events featuring child-led co-creative activities.


'Natural Creators is as much an aesthetic or approach to music making with children as it is a program. It is my hope that over time this approach will become acknowledged as a necessary alternative to the more formal music education programs and integrated into our education system. Already a number of artists and musicians have been trained in this open and considered approach. It is my aim to continue to build on this.' Karen Power

Using found sounds from the natural environment, NC workshops encourage children's natural openness and curiosity through a series of composing, improving, listening and play activities. The ethos that drives all NC activities highlights the significance of understanding and exploring with children's natural instinct, aiming to harness that natural curiosity and facilitate space for children to develop the ability to listen and respond intuitively to sound/music.


Sound is everywhere, in everything and we are all capable of making sound. Natural Creators is all about harnessing natural exploration and creativity in a safe, open, and creative environment.These workshops place emphasis on music making without financial or training restrictions by beginning with every day, found and homemade sound sources as musical instruments. Natural Creators, put very simply, stems from the fact that young children are often more interested in the box that a gift comes in than the toy itself. -  Dr. Karen Power

Natural Creators workshops are built on slowly integrating sound into children's everyday lives through a series of listening to sounds, observing sounds, repeating and extending. Each NC workshop/activity is designed in an open and improvised manner facilitating every child to engage in the process with their own unique approach to creating sound. Karen emphasizes the importance of her role to support children in a way that is mindful to how children create naturally.

As an artist and educator I see plenty of music programs attending to children's musical skills in a directed manner. I wish to use my skills as a creator to work with our youngest ears on creating music that has no right or wrong approach, but celebrates how each of us receives, processes, responds and communicates with sound differently. - Dr. Karen Power

The integration of the arts into everyday activities - in addtion to appreciating the value of creativity for its own sake - is a clear priority within EYs practices in Ireland and abroad. All of the NC principals amplify each of Aistears and the Department of Educations published core principals.


Contact us: NaturalCreators[@]karenpower.ie


Contact us: NaturalCreators[@]karenpower.ie