Our new Meadowlark Music Class album is finished!
Like all our releases, it’s pay what you want to download. Which means you’re welcome to download and share it for free. To those who decide to contribute, I am so grateful to you for supporting my work. Thank you!
About the Album
As you know if you’ve been following me for a while, a little over a year ago, I created Meadowlark Music Class, a nature inspired music class for children and caregivers. And, to go along with our in person meetings, I embarked on the wild experiment of trying to release a new album of family friendly music every three months.
Given that with my own singer songwriter music, it generally takes me about five years to release an album, this idea seemed completely insane.
SO insane that. . . Well, I knew I had to try it. 🙂
In this past year, I’ve released albums for Spring, Summer, Fall, and now… Winter!
So this album marks a full rotation of the seasonal wheel.
Alongside balancing work and motherhood, it hasn’t always been easy to meet that goal of getting a new album out each season. But I’m so glad I’ve managed to do it.
Why? We learn through doing. The more times we do something, the better we get. With every album, I strive to raise the barre. I’m always tweaking things, in search of that magical right balance between “fun for children” and “nourishing / meaningful for parents.”
It’s been quite a learning process for me. I remember my first music class at Natural Resources, last fall. From the moment I started to sing to those sweet, tiny faces, I knew that I loved doing this. But I was so new to children’s music, I have to confess that at first I really didn’t know what I was doing! (I belong to the just dive in school of learning!)
But over the months, as I’ve kept experimenting, I’ve learned so much about what engages children at this age, and about what they need in order to grow musically. My greatest teachers have been my own children, as well as the children in my classes. So to see Peregrine dancing gleefully to the songs on this album, and giggling in all the right places, I feel so happy to see that this work is starting to come to fruition.
I’m sure I’ll keep learning as I continue to grow with this process. But I really do feel like this one represents a definite new level for me, in terms of writing, arranging, and production.
As with all the other albums, this one is home grown. I recorded it in my home studio and played all the instruments except violin.
…This while waiting for little feet to stop tromping upstairs, putting the cat out to stop him from meowing through the shaker track — you can imagine. A very humorous process, compared to the eons of pristine studio time I enjoyed back when I was a home recording artist pre kids! (Fellow artist Mamas, I know you can relate! Ha!)
A lot of the songs on the album are original, some are traditional with lyrics I’ve either written or adapted, and a few are gems I’ve learned while teaching in Waldorf early childhood classrooms.
Listeners to this album will also hear… Peregrine’s first song! Peregrine is my daughter, age two. Her song “Little Kitty Meowing,” is about seven seconds long, but it’s totally a song! It is tucked before track three, Hoosen Johnny.
I think you’ll find this album sounds better (and LOUDER!). This is really thanks to everyone who contributed financially last time, since those contributions enabled me to invest in an additional audio service that helps albums sound better on different speaker systems. Thank you to all who helped make this possible!
But most of all, thanks for being with me on this journey, whether as a family in my classes, a listener from another geographical area, or simply a supportive fellow parent in community.
I am so grateful for your presence in my life.
Warm blessings to your family this winter, and I hope you enjoy the songs!
With love,
Noe Venable