Drum Baby Sleep
I've created an album of original songs written with the intention of helping babies and children get to sleep. The songs are all accompanied by drums and percussion and informed by the idea of rhythmic entrainment - the idea that the brain itself will 'slow down' and become less aroused when exposed to rhythms played at progressively slower tempos. The music acts as the vehicle to carry an aroused and stimulated consciousness into the world of sleep. The repetitive and relaxing rhythms all work to decrease arousal and provide a relaxing and comforting setting for a collection of songs full of the imagery of drifting off into a warm and cosy sleep.
Please give the album a listen for free above and if you like it please consider buying it there or at my bandcamp page.
Please listen to it on your best speakers!
I really hope you enjoy it and that it helps get your babies and children to sleep like it has mine.
Inspiration for the songs came from my experiences singing my own children to sleep since 2018 as well as working as a healthcare musician for 15 years. I've often had the privilege of singing babies to sleep in neo natal units and hospital wards and been able to observe for myself the effects of gentle repetitive rhythmic music on the physiology of babies and children by watching monitors and seeing heart rates decrease and oxygen saturation rates increase or stabilise.
In 2018 just before the birth of my first son I journeyed to Santa Fe in New Mexico where I was lucky enough to study drum healing with Jeff Strong and experience Shamanic Journeying with Denise Andes. These experiences combined with years of studying and playing drums in Cuba, where the transformative effects of rhythm are a part of daily life, led me to conjure up an album of songs one day while meditating in the breaks between drumming sessions I was running at a children's festival. Although the genesis of the songs was quick, bringing the album into existence has taken a further 7 years.
I'd like to give my heart felt thanks to all the people who have helped me make this album a reality. Thank you to my wife Becky for encouraging me to leave my comfort zone. Thank you to my teacher in Cuba Santiago Garzón Rill aka ' Chaguito' for sharing his creative approach to the traditions of his culture with me. Thank you to Jeff Strong for crystallising the aspects of drumming and rhythm that help to shift consciousness and change how we're feeling; for boiling down what rhythm can do and how it may do it. Thank you to Denise Andes for wrapping this knowledge in love and awareness. Thank you to Paul K Joyce for your enthusiasm about my songs and your help with making them flow. Thank you to Nick Jonah Davis for his tireless work and patience while mixing and mastering the album. Thank you to the Nick Cutts, Sarah Matthews and Oli Mathews, musicians from OPUS with whom I have sung so many babies and children to sleep with over the years. Thanks to Rikki Thomas Martínez and Wayne Evans for all of their creative wisdom.
The album is dedicated to my sons Alfred and Silas.
A bit of a technical note on how to tempos refer to brain states:
1) Feel Safe 4.9 beats per second
2) Close your Eyes 4.6 bps
3) Land of Dreams 4.1bps
4) Let Go 4bps
5) Humming 3.9 bps
6) Blink Blink 3.6 bps
7) Listen 3.5 bps
8) Sleep Little One Sleep 3.3 bps
The beats per second refers to the number of rhythmic events per second. It is calculated from the tempo of the song, which is usually measured in beats per minute or BPM. The Beats per minute of the song can be multiplied by the dominant subdivision of the beat to get the beats per second.
For example a song may have a tempo of 120 crotchet or quarter note beats per minute. If each crotchet beat or pulse is subdivided into two rhythmic events as the dominant rhythmic feel ( called 'quavers' or 'eighth notes'), the song would have 240 rhythmic events per minute (120bpm x 2) or 4 beats or rhythmic events per second (240 rhythmic events divided by 60 seconds) .
It's the 4 beats or cycles per second that the brain entrains to. Through exposure to consistent tempos the brain begins to fire at the same tempo. 4 Bps is a tempo or frequency related to brain waves at the lower end of the 'Theta' categorisation of brain states. The owner and user of a brain firing at this theta frequency would be very likely to be experiencing a trancelike state associated with meditation or in between wakefulness and sleep. Theta waves are signifiers of a deeply relaxed brain open to insight or intuition, problem solving without complex thought. Once brainwave frequencies dip below 4 cycles per second they are categorised as 'Delta' waves which are associated with sleep. The album is 'designed' to move the listener from a relaxed state into a sleep state.