Musical Interlude: Lullaby for Christopher

Lullaby

I’m taking a little break from circling my wagons in order to present a piece of music.  (Music is one of my most important wagons, actually, but that’s a subject for another post.)  This is one I wrote awhile ago, but this weekend I took it out, changed some things a little, and made a recording, which I had not done before.  The piece was written as a final project for a class called “Transformative Learning,” which I took while I was pregnant with my son.  We were supposed to create something that represented a transformative experience in our lives – and what could be more transformative than a birth?

“Lullaby for Christopher” is a short piece for solo piano – no vocals – in three sections.  The first section was written during the last month of my pregnancy.  It starts with a rocking motif that is meant to represent the baby’s heartbeat in the womb.  Two other musical motifs enter, representing the mother and the father, since these are the voices he heard most often during that time.  The three motifs were written using the initials of our family members.

Before I could finish the piece, Christopher arrived – two weeks early.  The second section was written in the week after the birth, when I was home recovering – it’s meant to represent his entrance into the world.  Then the third section is essentially a repetition of the first section, but with the themes presented in reverse order, representing the baby taking comfort in the familiar sounds of his parents’ voices as he drifts off to sleep.

I could probably express it more eloquently than that, but instead, I think I’ll just play it for you.

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3 Comments

  1. Wren says:

    Oh, this is lovely. Just totally lovely. It made me smile, and as I did, I remembered my own pregnancy and the birth of my daughter, and then I smiled some more. Thank you for sharing your music — you have a truly precious gift.

  2. WarmSocks says:

    You have such a gift for music. Beautiful piece.

  3. Helen says:

    Just lovely. Thank you for sharing with us.

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