Lullabies

Nothing compares with holding your precious baby close and singing a sweet lullaby as you rock and sway. Soft baby cheeks are like velvet against your skin as she nuzzles close into your neck.

Any song can be slowed down to sing to your baby in a pinch, but there are so many wonderful lullabies the world over that can lull you and your baby into a relaxed state. Maybe you already have some favorites that were sung to you as a child. But if your memory fails you, or if you'd like to add to your repertoire, you can learn some new sweet songs either from a friend or from a CD. It's worth spending a little time learning a few lullabies to share with your little one.

One of the jobs I have had recently is singing and sharing nursery rhymes and finger plays with parents and their young babies and toddlers. The name of the program is the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program.

What Is the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program?

A group of Moms and Dads come with their little ones and we go through a series of rhymes and songs which the parents learn aurally, the same way their children are learning them. We include a snack and some story telling at the end, then all the families go home and practice what they have learned during the week. The next week we repeat the same songs and rhymes, dropping the easier or more familiar ones and adding a few new ones. Sometimes a parent will suggest a favorite song and the rest of us will learn it, too.

At the end of the ten weeks, we make up a booklet of the songs and rhymes we have shared so the parents can remind themselves of the words in case they should forget, but by that time they usually have it all by heart anyway. The booklet becomes a keepsake of our time together.

What Is Music Together?

When I still lived in Vermont, I took training with the Music Together Program. This music program for families with young children is certainly my favorite musical introduction for children. The program is very well thought out. Based on research by some Princeton academics, the musical program uses recent studies on how children learn music along with traditional folk music from around the world to create a musical program that is unmatched for teaching children in a family setting to carry a tune and to move to the beat.

The best way to benefit from Music Together's offerings is to sign up for one or more of their sessions, but for families without the financial means to do so or who live in an area where Music Together is not offered, you can still enjoy some of their CD's. The lullaby CD offered on this page is excellent with its lullabies from several countries of the world.

What Is Kootenay Shine?

I moved to a place where few people would be able to afford a Music Together Program were I to set one up and where Parent Child Mother Goose was already operating for free. I created some songs with the idea to offer a musical program with local themes for families in the Kootenay area of British Columbia. I made a booklet of my songs, and I may publish them soon. 

I hope you have enjoyed these lullabies. Maybe you have revisited memories of lullabies you heard as a child or that you used to sing to your own babies. Maybe you have learned of a few you can sing to your little ones now.

Nothing can replace your own voice singing to your child. That was the voice your baby bonded to while still in the womb and so is the most beautiful voice in the world to your baby, no matter how you think you sound. Take advantage of your window of stardom and sing to your baby! No sound could be sweeter.

I hope you return to listen again. I may add a few more lullabies as I find them. I'd like to add more male voices and lower-pitched women's voices as many of these voices are rather high. They're lovely, but I don't want to discourage anyone who cannot hit some of those high notes! Just a reminder, though, that you can always sing the songs an octave lower if you feel more comfortable in a lower range.

I may post some of my original lullabies, too. We'll see.

Please leave a comment below.