UofM partners with Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute for Lullaby Project contribution

By Casey Hilder

The Lullaby Project, a project of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, pairs pregnant women and new mothers and fathers with professional artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies, supporting maternal health, aiding childhood development, and strengthening the bond between parent and child. 

Through the Lullaby Project, families are invited to create and sing personal lullabies for their babies with the help of professional musicians. Creating, singing, and sharing lullabies promotes overall family well-being by supporting maternal health, early child development, and parent-child attachment.This project reaches families annually in healthcare settings, homeless shelters, high schools, correctional facilities, and other community centers. Extending internationally, the Lullaby Project supports partner organizations and artists as they offer these activities to families in their own communities. Traditionally, a lullaby is a soothing and repetitive song used to comfort young children and help them fall asleep. These songs are sung in cultures around the world and can be written in many different forms and styles. Lullabies are often passed down from generation to generation.

Over the past decade, Carnegie Hall has worked with evaluators at WolfBrown to explore the impact that early music engagement and the Lullaby Project have on family well-being. Based on WolfBrown’s positive early findings, Dr. Catherine Monk, Associate Professor and Director for Research of the Women’s Program at Columbia University Medical Center, evaluated the effects of the Lullaby Project on familial relationships, language development, and maternal distress. In 2017, Virginia Commonwealth University and Jacobi Medical Center conducted a sample research study on lullabies and maternal well-being, funded by the NEA. Currently, WolfBrown is evaluating a new version of the Lullaby Project in Philadelphia as part of an NEA Research Lab, supported by the William Penn Foundation. The study will examine the role of extended family engagement, music in early literacy, and parents as first music teachers.

In the 2021- 2022 Season, about 600 families will write and sing personal lullabies through partnerships with 40+ national/international partners. Families will gather online or in person when safe to do so, for extended opportunities to record their songs and/or connect with other families and community members through singing and sharing activities and performances. The program will expand to approximately 10 new national and international partners. Teaching artists and partners from around the world will participate in ongoing professional development and online webinars. Wolf Brown will continue evaluation research in Philadelphia, through an NEA Research Lab and supported by the William Penn Foundation. Reported findings will be shared June 2022. Extended opportunities for digital reach through online lullaby writing sessions, sharing of resources and lullaby recordings through Soundcloud, reaching 11k listeners annually.