The Other New Year: Three Ways to Celebrate Fall With Your Child

They say that the New Year starts on January first, but I don’t really believe it. I’ve always thought that the year starts in the fall.

Fall brings the excitement of new beginnings.  For kids---a new school year, new fall school shoes, a clean backpack. For grown-ups fall can bring a renewed appreciation of nature that is so glorious this time of year, and of course, there’s the guilty pleasure of five-pound fashion magazines that show us all the new things we should be wanting. And starting up my lullaby blog again---it feels like a new year with new things to share!

The miracle of the leaves turning colors is something to celebrate. Here are three ways to do that:

1. Take a walk with your child and sing a song about fall. Make one up as you go, or sing this one (words by Jean Warren) to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.”

The Leaves on the trees are yellow and brown,
Yellow and brown, yellow and brown.
The leaves on the trees are yellow and brown,
All through the town.

The leaves on the trees are falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
The leaves on the trees are falling down,
All through the town.

2. Collect leaves together, finding different shapes and colors, and don’t forget the ones that are half green and half red. You can create a simple book of leaves the old-fashioned way by ironing them between two sheets of wax paper to preserve them, and putting them into a three-ring binder. Label each page with the name of the leaf (if you can figure it out!)

3. Play an autumn lullaby as you put your baby down to nap. This beautiful lullaby sung by Natalie Merchant will make you both drift off to sleep.

NATALIE MERCHANT “AUTUMN LULLABY.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6xxIYzvZKQ

Here’s to the end of summer and lots of new beginnings!

Sweet Dreams,

Grown-Ups Deserve Lullabies Too—Come to the Party!

A new year, a new thought: my home page says that the lullabies on “Midnight Lullaby” are for babies, grown-ups, and everyone in between, so I decided to take that seriously and have a concert for the grown-up part of that description.

“Lady Lullaby’s Pajama Party for Grown-Ups” is happening tomorrow night, February 11, at Café Paradiso, in Fairfield, Iowa. I’ll be singing some songs from the CD, and lots of other great nighttime songs in all genres from all over the world. A sample is below: the swinging “Hit The Road To Dreamland,” from the 1942 movie “Star-Spangled Rhythm.”

Joining me are some wonderful musicians (this tiny town is full of them!): Rick Stanley playing Celtic harp, Tim Britton playing Irish flute and mandolin, Hannelore Clemenson on cello and trombone (!), guitar virtuoso Jonnie Cohen, and the world’s most blissful drummer, David Hurlin.

Attire: pajamas are encouraged, and the Honorable Mayor of Fairfield and First Lady will be on hand to judge the Most Creative Pajama Contest. The prize is the most adorable... well, never mind, I’ll save it for a surprise!

Grandpa D, the nationally acclaimed host of the solar-powered KRUU radio show “Sleeptime with Grandpa D” will be on hand to tell us a grown-up version of a bedtime story, and cookies will be served with a variety of bedtime drinks.

The fact is that we spend one third of our lives sleeping. All generations, in all cultures, have their own form of music that relaxes and calms. Research shows that music can calm the mind, and help prepare us for the deepest possible rest so we can feel better during the day. We can say this is a party with benefits!

If you’re in the area, please come join the fun.

Sweet Dreams, Jane

Listen to "Hit the Road to Dreamland":

Passing on Traditions to The Next Generation

Last week was the end of the Jewish High Holidays. I took part in them as cantorial soloist for our small community here in Iowa. As I was looking up songs for the various holidays I realized that, along with wanting to learn new songs, the ones I loved best were the ones I’d learned as a child. They reminded me of my parents, of my grandparents, of tradition.

“Bim Bom, Biri Biri Bom.” Who can resist words like that? My three year old granddaughter already knew that song when I sang it to her, and we were both delighted to sing it together. It doesn’t have any religious connotation but pure joy and thanks for the gift of life---and the gift of music to express that thanks. She’ll always know this song and know it’s a special part of her tradition.

Any minute now Christmas music will be coming at us from all corners. As annoying as it is sometimes, there is something about it that really does bring comfort and joy, and a rhythm to the year. In certain settings it is a beautiful and holy experience; in the mall it’s a part of the season that is special and different from the rest of the year.

When my South African friend, who has lived in the United States for many years, hears traditional African music, she melts. I tried to sing her an African lullaby and she patiently and proudly corrected my pronunciation---this is HER music, her country, and she knows it like she knows herself.

The author of a website called “Latest Christian News” wrote, “When a mother’s soft lullaby can make a kid fall into a quiet slumber, a superbly sung chorus can make the inner self of the kid open up in direction of spirituality.” Music opens something up inside all of us on the level of the heart and soul, and the music of our ancestors is already inside us, a part of that process.

Whatever your religious tradition and cultural background is, there is a wealth of music from that tradition that is more important to you than you probably realize. Pass it on—sing it, play it, share it with your children so that in time they can pass it on to theirs.

Sweet dreams,
Jane

Listen to "Biri Biri Bam":

Music In The Air

Music is in the air, if we stop to hear it. And in the street, and the cornfield. Listen to it, and then point it out to your children. I was just in downtown Chicago for a few days, downtown by the river, and the sounds of that great city are the symphony of modern civilization.

Sirens, of course---a fire truck, police car, and an ambulance each has its own musical pitch and rhythm. Honking, as annoying as it can be, is music. Notice the rhythm of trains on the tracks, and how they sound different far away and up close. Buses have a different rumbling sound than cars... If you can find the music in construction it becomes more tolerable—drilling, hammering, hollering.

Now back at home in Iowa, there are different pieces being played: birds, crickets, geese overhead, the wind, and being a small town, the whistle of the train night and day. In the suburbs there will be different sounds—lawnmowers, cars and motor cycles, kids playing outside. Then there’s the song of the ocean---waves, gulls, wind--like in the picture above of Cape Cod.

There is a wonderful book called “The Listening Book” by W. A. Mathieu. He describes the day when he discovered that there was more in the air than he’d ever heard before. “I remember the amazement in realizing--the more you listen, the more you hear . . . the delight in registering sounds that have always been present but that I’d never heard. The ecstasy of knowing this is a life-long experience, infinitely expandable, basically musical.”

Here is someone’s take on the musical sounds of New York City:



Enjoy the music of life that is all around, and teach your children to hear it too.

Sweet dreams,
Jane

Nora and the Minor Third

There is a really cute three year old sitting in the row in back of me on the plane. She is singing enthusiastically. Surprisingly (since I was up way too late) I’m not minding at all, in fact I’m enjoying it, and I can’t help but notice that a lot of her spontaneous song uses a very special set of notes: the minor third.

The interval of a minor third is made up of two notes that are three half-steps apart (if you’re looking at a piano). We all know and have sung those notes---they are notes of the universal “Na, na, na, na, na” taunt. And “Starlight, Starbright,” “Brahm’s Lullaby,” and millions of songs in every culture. It’s even the opening of “Hey Jude.”

Zoltan Kodaly was a composer and important music educator, and he started teaching music to young children with the notes of the minor third.

Why do we love these particular notes? Researchers have found that babies can hear sound from inside the mother’s womb, and that they actually prefer certain intervals, including the minor third. I just sang this interval to my 14 week-old grandson and I swear he sang it back to me. OK, now I’m curious.

But after searching in vain for a real scientific explanation—even Wikipedia let me down—for now, I have come to my own unscientific conclusion that these notes somehow resonate with our own human frequency. Physics tells us that everything is made of vibration and frequency, and these set of notes must be “tuned” to our own nervous systems and have a good soothing effect.

I’ll keep trying to find a better answer for why we love these notes so much, but whatever the reason, if the minor third is good enough for unborn babies, for children’s songs from all over the world, for the Beatles, and for Nora, it’s good enough for me.

Listen to these opening notes, and see what other songs you can think of that start like this:



Sweet dreams,
Jane

Review of "Midnight Lullaby" and interview from Grandbabies 101

Here is a nice new review of "Midnight Lullaby" and interview from Grandbabies 101:

"A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to young children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process," so states Wikipedia! The Oxford Dictionary also says, "a quiet, gentle song sung to send a child to sleep."

"Origin: mid 16th century from: LULL + bye-bye"

After listening to Jane Roman Pitt perform eleven masterpieces from her Midnight Lullaby album, I am now ready with pen in hand to add my very own "lullaby" dictionary entry, "see Jane."

Excited to have been asked to review this album for all of you, I tried it out on my two-year old grandson. It was all I could do to keep from drifting off before Jude. Fortunately, Jane has a way with words and song and LULLing one to sleep, and it worked, shall I say, "like a dream!" With Grammy Award winner Mac Gayden and many of Nashville's finest musicians, Ms. Pitt produced and performed two of her original songs and nine others written by such greats as Bob Dylan, Sade, Dixie Chicks, Lennon-McCartney, Josh Ritter, Wilco, Hugh Prestwood and Donovan. Needing more time spent with this CD, I borrowed it back at night for myself, and I'm loving it! (Guess I'll be buying another... and yet another for my newest granddaughter, Katie!) Jude and I are especially hooked on Ms. Pitt's original song, Welcome Home To Love. Click on video link below to enjoy it, too!



In addition to receiving a free CD for review, I was kindly sent an album to give away to one of you. So, please post a comment (and contact info) in the box at the bottom of this page to enter the "Midnight Lullaby" GIVEAWAY CONTEST! That's all it takes! You know me...Just trying to keep life simple! (Complete set of Giveaway rules can be found at the bottom of the page.)
Contest ends October 5th, 2011/11:59 p.m. (PST)

Sleep tight,
Bubbie and Jude

A Special Interview with Jane Roman Pitt:

1. As a grandmother of two, what tips can you share with us to make the most out of time spent with our grandchildren?
The first tip that comes to mind is to get rid of the parents! Although it’s wonderful for the family to be all together, the real fun of being a grandparent is getting them all to yourself. It also gives your kids a welcome break!

2. Can you explain how music benefits a baby's development?
Music is good for babies in pretty much every way: from just providing a feeling of comfort to growing the pathways in the brain. Studies have shown that socially, psychologically, and physically music is an important part of normal development. Lullabies have been a part of our human culture since we could speak, or even longer, so there must be great value to them. I have more details about specific studies that show the importance of music for children in some of my blogs at ladylullaby.com

3. Do you have any other albums in the works? Goals for future projects?
I’m having fun gathering lists of songs for future albums—lullabies from other countries, more contemporary lullabies, and even a jazz lullaby album!

4. Who or what inspired you to become a singer/songwriter/producer?
It goes back to earliest childhood, and the music that was always being sung or played around my house. Singing along seemed like the natural thing to do, and with my parents’ encouragement I just kept singing. Songwriting and producing grew to be constructive ways of expressing my urge to control things—“Hey, I could say that just as well,” and “Hmm, I hear this instrument right here . . .”

5. Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
The thrill of hearing a choir sing my songs back to me in a concert. One college concert stands out, when a student came up and thanked me for writing the piece. Wow.

6. Give us one piece of advice you would share with an aspiring singer/songwriter/producer?
Listen to everything you can, all kinds of music, then write and write without editing too much. That leads to finding your own voice---and finding your own voice is a life-long process because we’re always growing!

7. When not working on a project, what do you most enjoy doing?
Being with my kids and grandchildren, meditating, riding my bike at dawn.

8. What is your favorite quote?
I’d have to go with a couple lines from Bob Dylan---does that count as a quote?—“ May you always know the truth and see the light surrounding you.”

9. Do you have anything specific you’d like to share with your audience?
Music is a part of us, we’re literally made of musical vibrations, and when someone says “I can’t sing” it makes me feel sad. We’re all born to sing and dance and express our thoughts, emotions, joys and sorrows through the arts—it’s the way we’re wired as human beings. No right or wrong, no good or bad. If our babies know that singing is natural and important, they’ll grow up to be singers! It’s that simple.

10. Any recent or upcoming appearances that you would like to tell us about?
Now that summer is over, I’ll be doing some “Lady Lullaby Pajama Party” concerts in libraries and bookstores in the coming months. I’ll let you know when the schedule is set!

11. Did you come across anything interesting while working on this project?
This project made me aware of just how important lullabies are. Throughout every culture from ancient history to the current songwriting parents, people want to comfort and express love to their babies.

12.Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I guess the most important facts of my life are that I was married for forty years to a wonderful man, have two great children and two adorable grandchildren. I love music, and being outside, and learning almost anything.

I now live in a small town in Iowa, where I teach music at a university. We moved here a couple of years ago after my husband was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, because our daughter was living here and I have many long-time friends here. I knew it would be a good safe place to start this new chapter of my life.

13.Do you have a favorite song on your album? If so, what and why?
Choosing a favorite song would be like choosing a favorite child! I love them all for different reasons---those that were given to me by the writer to record, like the ones by Donovan and Hugh Prestwood; those that I wrote for my kids and grandkids; and the ones that musically were just plain fun to do!

14.How did you come up with your album's title?
I wanted to have the word “lullaby” in the title so it would be clear what the album was about, and Tom Wait’s song “Midnight Lullaby” is just so cool that I thought it was a good representation of what I hoped the album would convey.

15.Was there anything particularly challenging when working on your album?
I was awed by the talent of the Nashville musicians, and had the fulfillment of my late husband being with me every day in the studio. It was our last adventure together, and that makes the album even more important to me.

16. Did you write "Welcome Home To Love" and "Whisper Warm" especially for this Midnight Lullaby?
I first wrote “Whisper Warm” way back in 1973, when the son of a good friend was born. I rewrote it when my own son was born, so now I think of it as his song.
“Welcome Home to Love” was written for my granddaughter Annalise, and was the inspiration for this whole album. I wrote it by remembering the feelings of seeing my daughter for the first time and feeling like I had known her forever.

The Best Possible Music Teacher

There’s a lot of research showing that when an older sibling teaches a younger sibling something, the learning is more effective than when taught by someone else. The older child also gains from teaching and learns more than he would have without doing this.

This makes perfect sense. First, we always learn more ourselves by teaching — breaking it down into steps, going slowly and thinking deeply about the subject, finding a way to explain it so that someone else with less experience will understand it.

And from the younger child’s side, another child is the best possible teacher (for better and sometimes worse — think of peer pressure in high school) because children are of the same species. Grown-ups are necessary but are just so... big.

This is true even for a new baby. Older siblings often get the first smiles from a baby brother or sister who must be thinking, “Ah, here is someone who’s more like me, but she can walk and talk so she must be really special.” And if the older sibling can cool it on the deliberately too-hard hugs, the life-long adoration to the point of idol-worship is assured.

Encourage your older child to show off his/her musical talents to baby brother or sister. Have them share their latest preschool songs often and with enthusiasm. Get the rhythm instruments out (or the pots and wooden spoons) and have a command performance in front of the front row bouncy seat. Put on music and have a toddler dance session to show that bouncy seat occupant what the potential is for expressing love of life.

This alone can be a huge boost in developing the younger child’s love of music and movement — anything that this all-powerful older sibling does is inevitably imitated, so why not have it be music?

Sweet dreams,
Jane

This is a great example of Sibling Singing: improvising the words (the best message possible: "I love her!") and tune, communicating perfectly with the baby. Notice how the baby is trying so hard to sing along!