Lullaby

In this episode of the I Can’t Sleep Podcast, I read to you about the history of lullabies. Fall asleep learning about one of the very things that help people (mostly babies) fall asleep. Happy listening!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Bostor.

A lullaby or cradle song is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for or sung to children.

The purposes of lullabies vary.

In some societies,

They are used to pass down cultural knowledge or tradition.

In addition,

Lullabies are often used for the developing of communication skills,

Indication of emotional intent,

Maintenance of infants' undivided attention,

Modulation of infants' arousal,

And regulation of behavior.

Perhaps one of the most important uses of lullabies is as a sleep aid for infants.

As a result,

The music is often simple and repetitive.

Lullabies can be found in many countries and have existed since ancient times.

Etymology The term lullaby derives from the Middle English lullan to lull and by in the sense of near.

It was first recorded circa 1560.

A folk etymology derives the lullaby from Lilith Abai,

Hebrew for Lilith Begone.

In the Jewish tradition,

Lilith was a demon who was believed to steal children's souls at the night.

To guard against Lilith,

Jewish mothers would hang four amulets on nursery walls with the inscription,

Lilith Abai,

Lilith Begone.

Lullabies Lullabies tend to share exaggerated melodic tendencies,

Including simple pitch contours,

Large pitch ranges,

And generally higher pitch.

These clarify and convey heightened emotions,

Usually of love or affection.

When there is harmony,

Infants almost always prefer consonant intervals over dissonant intervals.

Furthermore,

If there is a sequence of dissonant intervals in a song,

An infant will usually lose interest and it becomes very difficult to regain its attention.

To reflect this,

Most lullabies contain primarily consonant intervals.

Tonally,

Most lullabies are simple,

Often merely alternating tonic and dominant harmonies.

In addition to pitch tendencies,

Lullabies share several structural similarities.

The most frequent tendencies are intermittent repetitions and long pauses between sections.

This dilutes the rate of material and appeals to infants' lower capacity for processing music.

Rhythmically,

There are shared patterns.

Lullabies are usually in triple meter or 6-8 time,

Giving them a characteristic swinging or rocking motion.

This mimics the movement a baby experiences in the womb as a mother moves.

In addition,

Infants' preference for rhythm shares a strong connection with what they hear when they are bounced,

And even their own body movements.

The tempos of lullabies tend to be generally slow and the utterances are short.

Again,

This aids in the infant's processing of the song.

Lullabies almost never have instrumental accompaniments.

Infants have shown a strong preference for unaccompanied lullabies over accompanied lullabies.

Again,

This appeals to infants' more limited ability to process information.

Lullabies are often used for their soothing nature,

Even for non-infants.

One study found lullabies to be the most successful type of music or sound for relieving stress and improving the overall psychological health of pregnant women.

These characteristics tend to be consistent across cultures.

It was found that adults of various cultural backgrounds could recognize and identify lullabies without knowing the cultural context of the song.

Infants have shown a strong preference for songs with these qualities.

Cultural Prevalence Lullabies are often used to pass down or strengthen the cultural roles and practices.

In an observation of the setting of lullabies in Albanian culture,

Lullabies tend to be paired with the rocking of the child in a cradle.

This is reflected in the swinging rhythmicity of the music.

In addition to serving as a cultural symbol of the infant's familial status,

The cradle's presence during the singing of lullabies helps the infant associate lullabies with falling asleep and waking up.

Therapeutic Value Studies conducted by Dr.

Jeffrey Perlman,

Chief of newborn medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital's Comansky Center for Children's Health,

Find that gentle music therapy not only slows down the heart rate of prematurely delivered infants,

But also helps them feed and sleep better.

This helps them gain weight and speeds their recovery.

A study published in May 2013 in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics under the aegis of the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City found that the type of music matters.

Therapeutically designed live music and lullabies sung in person can influence cardiac and respiratory function.

Another study published in February 2011 in Arts and Psychotherapy by Jane M.

Stanley of the National Institute for Infant and Child Medical Music Therapy at Florida State University suggests that babies who receive this kind of therapy leave the hospital sooner.

Additional research by Jane M.

Stanley has demonstrated that the physiological responses of prematurely delivered infants undergoing intensive care can be regulated by listening to gentle lullabies through headphones.

In addition to slowing heart and respiration rates,

Lullabies have been associated with increased oxygen saturation levels and the possible prevention of potentially life-threatening episodes of apnea and bradycardia.

Medical music can also provide stimulation for premature infants to behave in ways that boost their development and keep them alive.

Lullabies can serve as a low-risk source of stimulation and reinforcement for increasing nipple sucking feeding rates,

Providing infants with the nutrition they require for growth and development.

Lullabies are thus associated with encouraging the rapid development of the neurological system and with a shorter length of hospitalization.

More recent research has shown that lullabies sung live can have beneficial effects on physiological functioning and development in premature infants.

The live element of a slow,

Repetitive,

And trained rhythm can regulate sucking behavior.

Infants have a natural tendency to entrain to the sounds that surround them.

Deep perception begins during fetal development in the womb,

And infants are born with an innate musical preference.

The element of live breathing sounds can regulate infant heart rate,

Quiet alert states,

And sleep.

Live lullabies can also enhance parent-child bonding,

Thus decreasing parental stress associated with the intensive care.

In short,

Live lullabies sung by music therapists induce relaxation,

Rest,

Comfort,

And optimal growth and development.

Many lullabies,

Regardless of the meaning of their words,

Possess a peaceful,

Hypnotic quality.

Others are mournful or dark,

Like a lament.

The Gaelic lullaby,

Ba Ba Mo Lina Big,

Was written in 1848 during the potato famine,

Which caused much hardship in the Scottish Highlands.

The song mentions soft potatoes,

The mother's situation,

And her fears for her child.

In the 1920s,

Poet Federico Garcia Lorca studied Spanish lullabies and noted the poetic character and depth of sadness of many of them.

Lorca's theory was that a large part of the function of a lullaby is to help a mother vocalize her worries and concerns.

In short,

They also serve as therapy for the mother.

Combined with lament,

Lullabies can have restorative resounding properties for hospice and patients and their families.

Lullabies typically soothe people through the awake-sleep transition,

And similarly can soothe people through the life-death transition.

Music therapists have called these tunes lullamens,

That which sustain the spirit,

Support physiological structure,

And enable resilience during the times of vulnerability to the effects of adversity.

Lullamens are music contextualized expressions of attachment and detachment,

Sadness,

Tears,

And happiness,

Laughter,

Privilege and loss,

Nurturance and grief,

Deterioration,

Stasis,

And moving forward.

Many Christmas carols are designed as lullabies for the infant Jesus,

The most famous of them being Silent Night.

Hushed little baby has been observed cross-culturally and is known to have a natural capacity for soothing and energizing infants,

As well as nurturing caregiving bonds.

Mother-infant interaction.

Infants exhibit a natural preference for infant-directed over non-infant-directed lullabies,

And their own mother's voice over that of another female.

Much research has been generated on the role of lullabies in nurturing caregiving bonds between mother and child.

Mothers who sing lullabies to their infants engage in a bonding activity that actually alters the underlying neural structure of the infant brain,

Such that the infant becomes tuned into music and its association with parental affiliation.

In one Taiwanese study of kangaroo care,

A technique practiced on newborn infants in which a mother holds her child tightly against her chest,

It was demonstrated that infant-mother dyads who listened to their choice of lullaby were associated with more quiet sleep states and less occurrence of crying by the infant,

And were also associated with significantly lower material anxiety than those dyads who did not listen to lullabies.

The therapeutic effect of lullabies can thus have a strong impact on calming anxieties and nurturing bonds,

Which is especially important with premature and fragile infants.

In classical music.

Lullabies written by established classical composers are often given the form name,

Berkuse,

Which is French for lullaby or cradle song.

The most famous lullaby is the one by Johannes Brahms,

Vegan Lied,

1868.

While there has been no confirmation,

There are many strong arguments that Brahms suffered from a sleep disorder known as sleep apnea.

It is speculated,

Based on lullabies' utility as a sleep aid,

That this was part of his inspiration for composing Vegan Lied.

Chopin's Berkuse is a composition for solo piano.

Other famous examples of the genre include Maurice Ravel's Berkuse sur le nom de Cabri au forêt for violin and piano.

The Berkuse et le Jacques by Ferruccio Bezzoni,

The Berkuse from the opera Jacqueline by Benjamin Goddard,

The Berkuse by Igor Stravinsky,

Which is featured in the Firebird Ballet,

And lullaby for string quartet by George Gershwin.

The English composer Nicholas Ma's orchestral Nocturne,

The World in the Evening,

Is subtitled Lullaby for Large Orchestra.

German composers Paul Greiner's last movement of his suite from The Realm of Pan is entitled Pan Sings the World a Lullaby.

American composers Michael Glenn Williams' Berkuse for solo piano uses an ostinato similar to Chopin's,

But in a 21st century harmonic context.

By Geography Americas Brazil Dorme de Nimes' Sleep Little Baby is sung all over the country and includes a reference to Kuka,

A folk character very feared by children.

Asia India In Hindi and in many Indian languages,

The lullaby is called lori.

Mostly lullabies are sung in folk languages.

Lullabies have been also an integral part of Indian cinema.

Many lullabies were written and composed in the 50s.

In the Malayalam language,

There is a rich collection of traditional lullabies known as Taratu Patu.

One of the most famous is Aminathinkle Gadavu,

Written and composed by the poet lyricist Iravi Varman Thampi,

Who is widely known as Iraiman Thampi.

This lullaby was written for the queen of Travancore to sing to her son,

Young prince Swati Tirunal,

Who later became the king and famous musician.

In the Odaya language,

A lullaby is called a nanabhaya gita.

A book in the same name by Nanda Kishore Bal,

That was published in two volumes in 1934,

Is a major compilation of the nolullabies in the language.

In Telugu language,

A lullaby is called a jola or jolapata.

A famous Telugu lullaby is Jo Achutam Nanda Jojo Mukunda.

In the Tamil language,

A lullaby is called a talatu.

Tal means tongue.

A melodious sound is created by frequent movement of the tongue in the beginning of the song.

In the Marathi language,

A lullaby is called a angay kit.

Soothing words and music helps baby calm down and help them sleep.

Philippines In the Philippines,

The song is known as the Oyaee.

The province of Batangas has a very specialized form of lullaby,

Known as the huluna.

So only composed of simple words,

It is notable for being very difficult to sing due to the lengthy melismas.

Like many traditional songs from Spain,

It is full of fioriture,

Yet unlike many of the western type songs,

It has no time signature.

Indonesia Nina Bobo is from Indonesia.

Japan The Edo lullaby,

Itsuki lullaby,

Chugoku region lullaby,

Shimabara lullaby,

And Takeda lullaby are from Japan.

Bangladesh In Bangladesh,

The lullaby is termed Gumbharanigan,

Song to make sleep.

Examples of Bangla lullabies are Gumbharani Mashi Pishi and Bajpaganar Matar Upar.

Europe British Many medieval English verses associated with the birth of Jesus take the form of a lullaby,

Including Lule,

My liking,

My desire,

Sin,

My sweeting,

And may be versions of contemporary lullabies.

However,

Most of those used today date from the 17th century onwards and some of the best known English language lullabies originate from the US.

Notable English language lullabies include Bye Baby Bunting,

Scottish Lullaby,

Suoghan,

Welsh Lullaby,

And Hush Little Baby.

There are many lullabies in Scottish song tradition,

With well-known examples in Scottish Gaelic,

Scots,

And English.

They include songs which express emotions other than affection for the child,

Notably Greogl Creede,

Which commemorates the beheading of Gregor Roy MacGregor by his father-in-law,

Campbell of Glenlian and brother-in-law in 1570,

And He She Ba,

Which may refer to a gang assault.

A number of traditional lullabies also express social issues,

And this has been continued in modern lullaby writing in Scotland,

Notably Jim McLean's Smile in Your Sleep,

Also known as Hush,

Hush,

Time to Be Sleeping,

Matt McGinn's Miner's Lullaby,

Also known as Gorydun,

And Corinne Palward's Ballyri Walu.

Christina Stewart's Kissed a Dream's project provides a resource of over 30 Scottish lullabies,

Ranging from Doric Scots of the Northeast to Northern Isles dialect of Shetland,

Scottish Gaelic,

And English language examples.

German Der Mond ist aufgegangen.

The moon has risen.

Guten Abend.

Guden Nacht.

Good evening.

Good night.

Weißt du,

Wie viel?

We know how many stars there are.

We know how many stars there are.

And schlaff,

Kindlein,

Schlaff.

Sleep,

Dear child,

Sleep,

Became widely known in the 18th and 19th century and still are.

Irish The Kildare poems mid-14th century,

Among the earliest English language literature in Ireland include the lullaby Lullay,

Lullay,

Little Child.

I Found My Bonnie Babe a Nest was published in 1901 by Charles Villiers Stanford.

It is believed to be much older.

To Ralu Ralu Rai,

That's an Irish lullaby,

Is a famous fictional Irish lullaby written in 1913 by the Irish-American composer James Royce Shannon.

Wished We Baron,

Be Quiet,

Small Child,

Is an Ulster-Scots lullaby.

Seod Thin Seod,

Hush-Shibai Hush,

Also spelled Seod Hinn Seod,

Sho Hinn Sho,

Is a noted Irish language lullaby.

In 1999,

Padraigin Niulachain produced an album of Irish lullabies in English and Irish,

Being titled An Irish Lullaby.

Reviews

Sooooooooooo boooooooooooring

Lovely 🥰 thank you 🙏

This was interesting. And yes, had I been in bed it would have lulled me to sleep. 🎶🌛💤

I found this so interesting. I learned so much about the lullaby that I sang to my son and now my grand babies. Your voice is wonderful. I love that you do this. Don’t stop. Thank you ~