Australia: Musical Traditions Inspiring the "Australian HUG Lullaby"

As you may know, Jim and I are striving to combine HUG Your Baby ideas and resources with the musical traditions we encounter as we travel. CLICK HERE to see and hear the newly completed "Australian HUG Lullaby." After seeing this, you may wonder about the musical ideas behind this song.

Jim was impressed with the "Vandemonium Lags" (photo) project we learned about when we visited Hobart, Tasmania. This musical collaboration sought to preserve and develop the musical themes and traditions that convicts sentenced to deportation used to sustain their lives "down under." 

Australian music is a blend of cultural influences, like the modern country itself. Indigenous sounds of the didgeridoo, bull roarer, and traditional percussion were incorporated into our lullaby, to draw together both the European and aboriginal experiences, joining them in the shared pursuits of family life and the spirit of the wild. All the animal sounds in the "Australian HUG Lullaby" were made by real Aussie animals, and the sounds you hear before each verse were made by the animal that verse is about.

Thanks to Tony Bowman, and the other excellent North Carolina-based instrumentalists who played their parts beautifully for this song: Brian Dennis (guitars and mandolin), Jonathan Henderson (acoustic bass and percussion), Chris Johnson (didgeridoo), and Gabriel Pelli (violin). 

Our friend and musical collaborator, Tony Bowman, did a great job (Don't you agree?) in arranging and producing music that captures the spirit of both the nature and the cultures of the amazing Australian continent. CLICK HERE to see what he has to say about producing the "Australian HUG Lullaby".

Jane Duffy, the Australian vocalist on this lullaby, is both a gifted singer and a dedicated lactation professional. CLICK HERE to read more about Jane and the HUG Your Baby ideas behind this lullaby.

Australia: Celebrate the Release of the "Australian HUG Lullaby"!

CLICK HERE to watch and hear the newly completed "Australian HUG Lullaby"! Jane Duffy, a speech-language pathologist who works with young families in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia, brings her talent for singing, and her passion for being a mum and supporting new mothers, to this song.

Jim and I are striving to combine the musical traditions of the countries we visit with HUG Your Baby ideas and resources in creating HUGs Around the World: International Lullabies to Calm Babies and Empower Parents.

The "Australian HUG Lullaby" focuses attention on the fact that mother nature is our friend and can be counted on! In the song we wrote, a mother is out "in the bush" with her young baby, who is frightened by the wild sights and sounds in "the outback." But Mum reassures her baby: "Fear not son, 'no worries' now, animals will show the way!"

HUG Your Baby, too, reminds "mums" that mother nature can be counted on throughout the birthing, breastfeeding, and early parenting times. Remember how the prolactin level shoots up when the placenta is expelled, triggering a surge in milk production. Rejoice in the surge of oxytocin, "the love hormone," when a naked baby is placed on mother's chest. Consider the magic of the Stepping Reflex to facilitate a just-born "bub's" crawl from mother's abdomen to breast. And don't forget the power of a newborn's grasp reflex to connect with a new father, or the rooting reflex to get to the breast for nourishment and comfort.

Childbirth educators, perinatal educators and lactation consultants can use this lullaby to initiate conversation about the interconnectedness of the biology, sociology and psychology of the birthing and breastfeeding processes. 

CLICK HERE to see the blog about the musical traditions that influenced this lullaby.

Australia: HUGs Lullaby Celebrates Aussie Animals and The HUG

This blog is by Jan's husband, Jim.

The Australian lullaby that Jan and I just created features the continent’s unique animals. Early in our stay in Tasmania, a visit to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary was both touching and educational for us. That facility cares for injured animals, and we toured it with an exceptionally well informed naturalist. 

He went into remarkable detail about the habits and abilities of Australian marsupials—even explaining how a mother kangaroo (or “Jill”) can express, from different teats inside her pouch, different kinds of milk to meet the varying nutritional needs of the different-aged “Joeys” she may be carrying. How cool is that! 

At Bonorong we saw wombats and Tassie devils, and also got up close and personal with maybe 100 kangaroos, in a very large enclosure, after a sea of school-aged children left on their bus. “Kangaroo Care” never seemed so real to Jan!

Jan’s idea for the lyrics of this lullaby is to link Australian animal behavior to some of the sleep problems that she helped Australian nurses and parents solve. CLICK HERE to read a parent's story.

Musically, I tried to bring together several traditions that are fundamental strands in Australian popular music. First is the Aboriginal tradition. Didgeridoos, bull roarers (elliptical discs that are twirled to make unearthly sounds), along with clapsticks and stones for percussion, are the dominant elements of Aboriginal instrumental music. All are featured in this Lullaby.

A second major musical strand in Australia is the Anglo-Scottish ballad tradition—the same one that settlers brought to Appalachia. In Australia the “convict heritage” is in the spotlight these days (after years of being disclaimed). Vandemonium Lags is a stage show and
recording of convict-inspired music, much of which is written in the ballad tradition. 

I created a melody for this lullaby that draws on the ballad tradition—although part of it also echoes the American blues idiom, which is the

third major strand in Australian pop music.

It is fun for Jan and me to work together on creating these lullabies. The work helps preserve
our memories of particular things we especially appreciate about the cultures we visit. Working together on songs also helps us pass the time—sort of like gin rummy, but with more cards to play! Jan is doing something new for her, and I’m enjoying teaching her a musical thing or two. Hopefully, the HUGs Around the World lullaby project can present HUG Your Baby ideas in a unique format that others might find entertaining, accessible, and informative.

CLICK MUSIC SHEETS BELOW  TO SEE  IN LARGER FORMAT

Japanese-Inspired HUG Lullaby Celebrates the Beauty of a Natural Birth

CLICK HERE to see and hear the newly completed Japanese-Inspired Lullaby that celebrates the power and family-enriching experience of natural childbirth.

Child Development Background of this Lullaby (by Jan)
This lullaby tells the story of a birth I witnessed at the Bokko Birth Center, Kagawa, Japan. Under the "watchful eyes" of an experienced midwife, and with the calm and confident presence of a husband and the curious and helpful presence of a sister, a new baby enters the world and the circle of "love we all will share." The song references the midwife using The HUG Strategy, "See, then Share" a baby's capabilities, to reassure a new father that all is well. The thirty-second Japanese introduction to this lullaby was inspired by a Birth Center grandmother who sang this very lullaby while sharing her newborn with us. (CLICK HERE to witness this sweet encounter.) 

Musical Background of this Lullaby (by Jim)
The lullaby that the Birth Center grandmother sang is one of the most popular in Japan. The melody is by Austrian composer Franz Schubert. I wanted to use both western classical instruments (piano and string quartet) and a traditional Japanese instrument (koto) to arrange this song. Hopefully that combination communicates the universal language that both babies and music share. As the instruments enter in support of the melody, this lullaby aims to convey the ways that both families and professionals cherish a newborn's presence. 

Thanks to Tony Bowman for producing this song with such attention to detail and for creating and rendering the piano and koto parts so sensitively; to Ronda Bowman for her beautiful vocal; to Tomomi Thorbjornson of North Carolina State University for advice about the koto and Japanese pronunciation; and to Leah Gibson (cello) and Laura Thomas (violin and viola) for their excellent performance of the parts I wrote for them to play.

For more information about other HUG Lullabies, see HUGs Around the World: International Lullabies to Calm Babies and Empower Parents, a project that combines HUG Your Baby content with the musical traditions of countries visited during the 2013-2014 International HUG Your Baby Teaching Tour. 

CLICK HERE for more information about HUG Your Baby.

Japan: Takamatsu Grandmother inspires the writing of this lullaby.

As we travel and share HUG Your Baby country to country, my husband, Jim, is writing lullabies inspired by the people and the culture we meet. Here, a grandmother at Bokko Birth Center (Takamatsu) inspired the writing of the Japanese lullaby.  Jim explains this process and offers this lullaby.

"Visitors to Japan encounter one of humanity’s most complex and fully articulated cultures. Japanese traditions in language and literature, arts and crafts, cuisine and architecture, social mores and performance art have been defined and shaped through centuries of continuous practice, and all continue to have growing edges as long and keen as a Samurai sword’s. Japanese social and cultural sophistication may put off some visitors, but for most of us, that is precisely why we’re here!

It should come as no surprise, then, that lullabies—komoriuta—form a longstanding musical genre in Japan. The brilliant (and physically challenged) New Orleans journalist-turned-Japanase-folklorist, Lafcadio Hearn, collected a lullaby (from Izumo province, in the early twentieth century, about a baby sleeping) that parallels the lyrics to the song we wrote below. READ HERE for more details.

CLICK HERE to visit a site that presents a sort of “top five” of traditional cradle songs.

CLICK HERE to visit another Japanese lullaby site, with an embedded YouTube video. Note the reference to Lafcadio Hearn.

Finally CLICK HERE for yet another Japanese lullaby site, this one put up with the help of a Japanese father.

The lullaby that Jan and I wrote to commemorate our stay in Japan is a living part of the komoriutatradition. Here’s the very moving back story:

At Bokko Birth Center in Takamatsu, I witnessed Jan having a very tender moment with a grandmother and her baby. The grandmother, Taeko Watanabe (an English teacher), was learning from Jan some games to play with her daughter’s month-old baby. In the course of their conversation it was revealed that Ms. Watanabe’s husband had died a month before the baby was born.

Naturally, she was still grieving this loss, even as she was overjoyed about the birth of her granddaughter. Jan helped Ms. Watanabe learn about a baby’s increased crying at two weeks of age—a normal development that the grandmother had interpreted as the baby’s crying for her lost grandfather. 

Jan suggested to Ms. Watanabe, a Christian, that in America some people think that when babies look away from their caregivers (another normal newborn behavior) they are "watching angels."

This observation deeply touched the Japanese grandmother, and she had a little cry and hug with Jan. Right after that moment, Ms. Watanabe spontaneously launched into singing a lullaby—not having heard, yet, that lullabies are a special interest of mine. CLICK HERE to watch her sing to her grandbaby. Notice where her voice catches with emotion.

I could not NOT base my Japanese lullaby on this touching experience. The melody Ms. Watanabe sang sounded familiar, and with a little Internet research I discovered that it was written by Franz Schubert. Our nursing professor friend, Kimie Tanimoto, confirmed that this song is, indeed, one of the most common Japanese lullabies. Ms. Watanabe later sent me the Japanese lyrics (in romaji characters), and she gave permission to use her recording.

My arrangement of this song (scroll down to see it) starts with Ms. Watanabe’s version of the Schubert lullaby (in Japanese, of course). She took some liberties with the melody, and chose her own key; both changes I preserved. Then, after a father-friendly key change, three verses in English follow, which Jan and I wrote.

Professor Kimie Tanimoto practices
face-to-face play in the "Ready Zone."

The Japanese babies we met, and whom Jan got to work with, had remarkable powers to calm themselves and to focus on objects or faces. Dr. Brazelton had observed the same phenomenon when he worked in Japan in the 1980s. The lullaby lyrics we wrote reflect the capabilities of a baby—so reassuring to a loving parent, or a grieving grandmother—and also tell the story of birth in a Japanese setting (based on a birth that Jan attended).  I hope you enjoy this attempt to distill part of our experience of Japan into a simple song."

Korean-Inspired HUG Lullaby Helps Fathers Calm a Fussy Baby

Click HERE to see and hear this Korean-inspired HUG Lullaby! 

This lullaby, written in the spirit of a Korean folk song, emphasizes the role of fathers in calming a fussy baby. 



This is the latest offering in the HUGs Around the World: International Lullabies to Calm Babies and Empower Parents, a project that combines HUG Your Baby content with the musical traditions of countries visited during the 2013-4 International HUG Your Baby Teaching Tour.  

Child Development Background of this HUG Lullaby Jan Tedder, BSN, FNP, IBCLC, reminds us that babies cry--sometimes a little, and sometimes a lot! This lullaby shares effective HUG Your Baby techniques that fathers (and mothers) can use to calm their baby: cuddling skin-to-skin, holding the baby’s hands to her chest, swaying the baby gently up and down, and speaking in a calm and gentle voice. Because it is written from the baby’s perspective, new parents can see and hear the frustration a baby sometimes experiences and how grateful that baby feels when "daddy knows just what to do!" 

Adult learning theorists remind us that education is enhanced when material is offered through multiple senses. Since music and images offer a direct connection to "emotional learning," Jan uses photos of fathers around the world and video from the La Belle Mere postpartum care center in Seoul, Korea, to create this music video. Childbirth educators, nurses, midwives, doulas, and lactation and infant massage specialists can boost parent confidence and empower new parents by incorporating this lullaby into prenatal and early parenting classes.

Musical Background of this HUG Lullaby  
Jim Henderson, PhD (Jan's husband and director of “Dad’s Got The HUG”), adapted the melody and chords for this lullaby from a traditional Korean song. Because gongs are one of the signature sounds of Korean music, Jim was delighted to use authentic Korean gongs for this production. Flutes of all shapes and sizes are also a staple of Korean music. CLICK HERE for a glimpse into the creation of this HUG lullaby. Jim's good friend and musical colleague, Tony Bowman, produced the music, sang the vocal, and played the other instrumental parts in this tender, baby-friendly lullaby. Korean gongs were loaned to Jim by our percussionist friend, Beverly Botsford.

CLICK HERE to see other HUGs Around the World Lullabies.
CLICK HERE to read more about bringing HUG Your Baby to Korea.
CLICK HERE to learn more about HUG Your Baby's work and trainings.

Home: Hawaiian-Inspired Lullaby

On our travels this year, Jim and I have been writing lullabies. Jim studies the music of the cultures we visit, and I study their birthing and parenting practices. Then we write a song that joins these ideas with HUG Your Baby concepts. Our plan is to write a series of lullabies that celebrate babies and families around the world, that express and teach HUG Your Baby insights and strategies, and that make a record of our travels. Our working title is HUGs Around the World.

The first song in this collection, “HUG Hawaiian Lullaby,” is now finished! You can listen, and watch, at THIS LINK.

With permission, I used photos of my patients, and also purchased stock photos, to make the slide show that accompanies the song.

The creative efforts of the talented Tony Bowman were instrumental in bringing this Hawaiian-style song to life. Jim wrote the music, and Jim and I wrote the lyrics, but Tony recorded, arranged, and produced the song in Chatham County, North Carolina. Tony and Ronda Bowman are the vocalists. Brian Dennis of Carrboro, NC, played guitars and ukulele. Our son, Jonathan Henderson of Durham, NC, added the upright bass part. Credit Tony with all other instrumental performances—as well as engineering, mixing, and mastering the track.

Next up is the Australian lullaby. Songs based on Japanese and Korean melodies have already been written by Jim and me. In earlier stages of development are: a Malaysian “kroncong” song and a lullaby featuring gamelan instruments and highlighting Balinese ritual practices that surround childbirth and child development.

Jim and I are grateful to Tony for all his hard work, and we look forward to making other HUG lullabies available as soon as they are recorded. We hope you enjoy the fruits of this labor of love!