The Lullaby Project
Music has always been a source of connection for people and inspires many forms of self expression like singing or dancing,
I know that personally, I share a deep bond with both of my parents of my love and their love of various music genres, artists, and events. Singing in the car or dancing around the house are some of the most fond memories I have of my parents and I and I'm grateful for what music gives us. This story explains a different kind of musical gift that parents are able to create for their children.
"The Lullaby Project, a project of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, pairs new and expecting parents and caregivers with professional artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies, supporting parental health, aiding childhood development, and strengthening the bond between parent and child. In New York City, the Lullaby Project reaches parents in healthcare, social service, and justice settings. Extending across the country and around the world, the Lullaby Project enables partner organizations to support families in their own communities ('Lullaby Project | Carnegie Hall,' n.d.)"
"Launched in New York City in 2011, the Lullaby Project now reaches mothers in a wide range of settings such as hospitals, homeless shelters, foster care, and correctional facilities. It has extended across the country and internationally, enabling partner organizations around the globe to identify needs and to support families in their own communities (Sindeli et al., 2022)."
"The Lullaby Project is a highly significant initiative towards understanding the needs of both participant groups and musicians. This in turn enables a feeling of accomplishment, encouraging behavioral engagement on both professional and personal levels, while nurturing a wider and more positive approach towards life perspectives and opportunities. It reflects an understanding of the community it serves through its flexible and easily adaptable model (Sindeli et al., 2022)."
To date, thousands of mothers have participated in the project, meaning that the Lullaby Project now represents a community in itself — a community built around fundamental key features and connected by a profound sense of sharing, caring, and healing through music. The Lullaby Project strives to reach mothers in need wherever they may be – whether in correctional facilities, hospitals, or on Zoom (Sindeli et al., 2022)."
Music is a universal experience that emotionally connects groups of people that ordinarily wouldn't come together. It's also largely a universal amenity provided in cars. Cars can become places where people share music with one another and feel the emotional value directly without much distraction from the outside world, either than the driver having to pay attention to the road. Cars create captive audiences that force its occupants to listen to what is being played whether they like it or not.
I think the essential nature of music in our lives, especially in our cars, could make for a great design opportunity to foster a bond between parents and children through the way music is played in the car.
References
Lullaby Project | Carnegie Hall. carnegiehall.org. (n.d.). https://www.carnegiehall.org/Education/Programs/Lullaby-Project
Sindeli, A., Ella, H., Barron Viela, I., & Jay, L. (2022, June 22). The Lullaby Project: Music bonding mothers and babies. globalleadersinstitute.org. https://www.globalleadersinstitute.org/blog-post/the-lullaby-project-bonding-mothers-and-babies-through-the-transformative-power-of-music/
