Confession time: When I said that the arrival of my granddaughter had inspired my love of lullabies it wasn’t exactly the truth. Please don’t tell my kids. The fact is that, although I was definitely inspired by Annalise’s arrival to record “Midnight Lullaby,” my interest in lullabies was sparked a few years before that.
It was Gari Ann Stein who did it.
For years my friend Gari had been teaching music in her basement in Ann Arbor to very young children but I didn’t really understand or appreciate what she was doing. I would see instruments, costumes, and all sorts of fun stuff, but only when she asked me to sing some lullabies at the end of her CD series, “Sing With Me,” did I listen to what she was teaching, and recognize how important music classes can be for very young children.
From her years of teaching, Gari says, “I have seen the joy that music brings to young children, how it enhances their sense of self, positively affects their behavior and strengthens their comfort in a social setting.”
Her award-winning new book “The More We Get Together” brings her program into the home in a simple and fun way that encourages interaction between parents and children, and nurtures relationships in the way that only singing and playing together can do. It’s a wonderful resource for any parent that can be used every day.
Check out Gari’s work at: http://www.little-folks-music.com
So I thank Gari for her work, and for the gift she gave me when she handed me a cassette tape (yes, I guess it was more than a few years ago!) of lullabies to learn. They were familiar, comforting, easy and natural, and I fell in love with the genre forever.
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