The Lullaby Project: Singer-songwriters reflect on the creative and collaborative process
Eliana Wasserman
The Lullaby Project uses the creative process of songwriting to help new and expectant parents express their hopes and dreams for the future through music. The project pairs local singer-songwriters (teaching artists), parents and parents-to-be to create personal lullabies for their children.
The Lullaby Project teaching artists also perform lullabies from recent sessions at Kids in the Rotunda once a season.
Rebecca Redmann, Lullaby Project teaching artist coordinator, had the idea to do another collaboration between these programs by having Lullaby Project teaching artists create a theme song for Kids in the Rotunda. It’s currently being mastered and will be unveiled with this year’s lullabies on Saturday, April 26.
Two of the teaching artists who worked on this song share their insights on the creative process and the impact of the Lullaby Project.
Laura Lang
As the longest-serving teaching artist in the program, Laura Lang has witnessed the evolution of the Lullaby Project.
“With over 100 lullabies written over the years, it’s been really meaningful to see the incredible range of families impacted by this project,” she says.
Working with Overture’s Director of Education and Community Engagement Alanna Medearis six years ago to implement this program at Overture Center, Lang says that the heart of the project lies in creating a safe space for families to express themselves. Lang is influenced by her background as a teacher. She asks thoughtful questions to help parents shape their ideas, making sure the lullaby they create reflects their voice and vision.
“Sometimes people have very specific ideas, and other times they don’t know where to start,” she explains. “My job is to listen carefully and ask lots of good questions to draw out new ideas.”
Recording Session at Audio for the Arts
Adam Graf
A newer addition to the team, Adam Graf is a classically trained musician and independent video game developer who brings fresh energy and perspective to the program. Having grown up attending Kids in the Rotunda predecessor Kids in the Crossroads, it’s especially meaningful for him to now contribute to Overture in this way.
Graf says that the songwriting process starts with the family’s interests and stories.
“The most important part of songwriting is getting to know the family,” he says. “What do they listen to? What’s important to them? What do they want to convey through the song?”
The Songwriting Process
Creating a lullaby is very intimate and personalized. The first part of the sessions involve the teaching artists getting to know the families. Using prompts included in a Lullaby Journal, parents and caregivers brainstorm ideas about their hopes and dreams for their child and their vision for their child’s future.
Lang and Graf both underscore the importance of being receptive to the family’s vision, allowing the song to evolve in a way that feels authentic to them. The teaching artists work with families to refine their ideas, helping to shape their thoughts into a song that tells their story.
Lang reflects, “It's such a gift to be part of a project that allows caregivers to create a song that’s uniquely theirs, one that will grow with their child and with their family.”
Kids in the Rotunda theme song
The Kids in the Rotunda theme song came to be in a single session. Following the February 22 Kids in the Rotunda performance, families joined 10 teaching artists in Overture’s Wisconsin Studio. While the artists improvised and played melodies on the instruments, Redmann prompted families to think of ideas and themes that would later form the song’s lyrics. Within two hours, the song was written, and after some refining, it was recorded, mixed and mastered in a studio to be included on the upcoming season album.
Lang reflects on this experience; “We are very lucky to have an incredibly talented, collaborative group of teaching artists. It's so fun and inspirational to work with everyone.”
Kids in the Rotunda Theme Song Workshop
Full-Circle Moments
For Graf, making music with kids and families as a new father is very meaningful: “I saw Tom Pease at Kids in the Crossroads at age 5, and that’s burned into a memory of pure joy for live music. Now I’ve brought my toddler to see Cash Box Kings this year, which is now a meaningful tradition.”
Graf continues, “The fact that I worked on the Kids in the Rotunda theme song and get to contribute to the program as a whole is really full circle.”
Listen to the Kids in the Rotunda theme song as it’s unveiled digitally and live at the Lullaby Project performance at Kids in the Rotunda on Saturday, April 26.