There are three things you need if you are going to work with children: enthusiasm, energy and a sense of fun. Pianist Mark Hooper, who combines a performing career with introducing children to the delights of classical music, possesses all three by the bucketful. Chatting to him over a coffee, I can see instantly why he’s such a hit with the children.

For the last few years, ‘Mr Mark’, as he’s known, has been running the Cushion Concerts at the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building in Oxford, and they’ve gone down a treat with his young audiences.

“They’re very, very popular and successful, I think mainly because of the combination of education and fun,” he says. “My policy is that if I’m enjoying it, the children will enjoy it.

“Each concert features a different orchestral instrument. We do a series for five-year-olds, and another series for the under- fives. Now we’ve had a grant to take our concerts into state primary schools, where we give them a concert. Two weeks later three schools come to the JDP, and we give them a bigger concert with more instruments.”

Mark’s teaching experience goes back to his student days in his native Australia, where he first began putting on concerts for young children. Later, while studying at the Royal College of Music in London, he found himself teaching the grandchildren of violin legend Yehudi Menuhin. An invitation to put on some musical entertainment for one of the children’s birthday parties resulted in a long-running series of children’s concerts at the home of Menuhin’s daughter.

“We ended up doing a series in her house for 14 years,” he recalls. “We did nine concerts a term, so it was a really big deal. Yehudi was involved, so it was pretty exciting.”

When he moved to Oxford, Mark continued doing children’s concerts in private homes, while also performing solo recitals at the JDP. Eventually, this led to an invitation to put on a series of children’s concerts at the JDP, and the Cushion Concerts were born.

“There’s no administration for me to do. I just waltz in here with musicians and do the concerts — it’s perfect!” he chuckles.

So, what exactly happens at a Cushion Concert?

“The first part of the concert is just me with the children. We do some musical games, and we do nursery rhymes where I change the words — like ‘Hairy Mary, the five-foot fairy, how do your toenails grow?’. Children just love things like that.

“The instrument is always outside the room somewhere. So we sing to the instrument and invite it to come in, and they hear it before they see it. Little children can’t do two things at once. If they’re looking, they’re not listening. So they hear the instrument first, we talk about the sound, then we invite the musician to play for them. Then we talk about what they’ve done, and how the instrument makes its sound.

“With the older children, we talk about vibration, and what’s vibrating on the instrument to make the sound. With the little ones, we talk more about how the instrument works. We often take the instrument apart, and they see how it works and which bits fit together, and if there’s anything unusual about the instrument.

“For example, the French horn does a wonderful impression of an elephant, so on that day I always tell them that there’s been a circus in town and there’s an elephant that’s gone missing. At that point the French horn player offstage goes . . .”

Mark breaks off to give me a passable imitation of a French horn sounding like an elephant, much to the surprise of customers around us. “The emphasis is on learning through fun,” he continues. “When people are relaxed and enjoying themselves, they learn the most easily. Children are the most attentive when they’re having fun.

“We also teach them to respect the instruments, so the general rule is they don’t touch. But sometimes the musicians are happy to make an exception.

“I get top musicians to play, usually from the Royal College of Music or professionals in Oxford, so the children are hearing music of a very high standard. They sit on the stage, with the instruments, and they all go away happy.”

Concerts this autumn cover the flute and trombone, rounded off with a special Christmas concert featuring brass instruments, and next spring the cello, trumpet and drums all make an appearance.

The concerts are also being taken to the Cornerstone in Didcot for the first time.

“What’s so valuable about these concerts is that we’re training audiences,” says Mark. “We don’t need performers — there’s too many people fighting for jobs as performers. What we need are audiences, and these children are going to be audiences.”

lThe Cushion Concerts start on October 4 at the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, Oxford. For more information, visit st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/jdp. For bookings, call 01865 305305. The concerts start at the Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot, on October 18. For more information and booking, visit cornerstone-arts.org or call 01235 515144.