Lullabies For Little Ones

I did an early attempt at this project in my home state of Maine, and through a series of penny drives and donation collections to "Buy a Baby a CD" at my former High School I was able to make enough money to produce 500 CD's which were distributed to hospitals throughout the state and given to new parents, regardless of income. The next phase has involved delving much deeper into the effects of music on brain development in infants. This also included finding music that particularly embodies these developmental characteristics of lullabies. From there I sought out composers from my University-alumni, current students, and professors, and asked for donations of new arrangements of traditional lullabies from a list I generated based on the previously mentioned criteria. These composers arranged traditional lullabies, but many went a step further and composed new lullabies including the elements I was searching for in the classic lullabies that have been passed from generation to generation orally. Additionally, I approached artist Ellen Gronlie, a woman whose artwork I have admired for years, and asked if she would be willing to contribute to the project. She immediately came on board, and after months of emailing back and forth and discussing the vision and intent for this album she designed and painted an exquisitely beautiful cover. In April, 2010, a group of 6 volunteers joined me for a 5 hour recording session in which we experimented, improvised, and ultimately recorded three and a half hours of music, from which we are making a final edition of the CD. This includes instrumental tracks, vocal tracks, duets, trios, and spoken tracks in which traditional nursery rhymes are read quite sensitively and beautifully by early childhood specialist, LuAnn Longenecker. The project ultimately included new arrangements and original compositions, all donated to the project, by ten composers. The next stage is raising funds in order to mass produce the CD. This is going to happen through more "Buy A Baby A CD" drives, penny collections, benefit concerts and recitals, and a number of fundraising events. Once this happens our goal is to reach thousands of underprivileged families who wouldn't otherwise have exposure to this rich part of our musical heritage.