The Lullaby Project: One family’s melody of love

Part of the extensive global network of partner organizations for the Lullaby Project, a program of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, Overture Center’s Lullaby Project uses songwriting to help new and expectant parents express their hopes and dreams for the future through music. The program pairs local singer-songwriters with parents and parents-to-be to create personal lullabies for their children. The Lullaby Project reflects Overture’s commitment to making the arts accessible at every age and stage of life. It creates meaningful, creative connections that can begin even before a child is born. 

The Lullaby Project teaching artists perform lullabies from recent sessions at Kids in the Rotunda once a season, which is how Sally and Chas Karch first discovered the program and eventually got involved in October 2025.  

The Karch family’s experience 

At home, Sally and Chas love singing with their children, but when it came to writing their own song, it was an entirely new adventure. 

“We have some musical background and like to sing along to songs with our kids, but we’d never written a song before,” they said. “This was a pretty new and exciting experience for us.” 

Their lullaby, “Overflowing,” conveys the moments that bring their family joy and puts into words the love they have for their daughters and how much that love has grown.  

What the song means now 

The lullaby has become a cherished part of the Karches’ evening routine. 

“Our girls listen to it every night at bedtime, and we sing it to them other times, too,” they said. “When they’ve had sleepovers at their grandparents’ house, we made sure they had a copy of the song to play.” 

It was very memorable for them to watch their four-year-old record her singing and hear her voice included in the song, along with the giggles of their two-year-old and the coos of their baby.

Program impact 

For the Karches, the experience created a lasting family memory that can be cherished for generations. 

“This program is so important because it creates a one-of-a-kind memory for each family,” they said. “We sing other songs to our kids and tell them we love them, but having our own song written with the teaching artists is so special.” 

Sally and Chas also praised teaching artist coordinator Rebecca Redmann and teaching artist Elise Duskin for helping shape their ideas and bring them to life.  

“Taking pages of words and putting them to a melody was incredible,” they shared. 

Families across Madison can experience the magic of the Lullaby Project, too. The 2024–2025 album is available for streaming now, and the next Lullaby Project Kids in the Rotunda performance is Saturday, April 25, at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., with the 1 p.m. show livestreamed on the Kids in the Rotunda webpage.  

As an independent nonprofit organization, Overture is grateful for the donations that make this and other free and low-cost educational and engagement programs possible.