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music to soothe the soul and develop the mind… "Ahh will be your immediate response when you slip on the languid and peaceful SmartSleep…Play it and allow yourself and your child to be wholly renewed." – Mothering magazine, July–August 1998 STUDIES SHOW that classical music influences brain development and raises IQ. This collection of fifteen peaceful piano masterpieces is also designed to help you and your child relax and unwind. Regular, repetitive rhythms, coupled with beautiful, slow melodies, give this music a gently soothing quality, perfect for helping your baby calm down and go to sleep. Pianist Heidi Brende Leathwood began producing recordings to help her with her now fourteen-year-old son Carter. When he was four days old, she found that Bach's Aria in G magically put an end to his all-night crying spree. She then played selections for him from Debussy, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Brahms and Beethoven and SmartSleep with Classical was born. Soon she was receiving requests for the music from friends in the community, then from other parents, intensive care nurseries, labor and delivery rooms, surgical centers, child care programs, schools and children's book stores. You can download an mp3 of the Bach Aria which inspired the whole project here (medium-quality mp3 format, 4 MB). Suggestions
Full Track Listing & Audio Samples
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach Claude Debussy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Franz Schubert Frederic Chopin Robert Schumann Robert Schumann Edward MacDowell Edward MacDowell Frederic Chopin Frederic Chopin Ludwig van Beethoven Johannes Brahms Christopher Brennan This album begins and ends with music composed for bedtime. The first selection, the lovely Aria (which means "song"), was first written by Bach in his wife's music book, but later became the basis of a huge set of variations written, so the story goes, to soothe Count Kayserling's sleepless nights. The last is a lullaby written especially for this album by Christopher Brennan, composer and pianist of Stories. Each piece in this collection evokes a dreamy, peaceful atmosphere. All of the tempos are perfectly suited to rocking or swaying gently with your baby. If you move to the beat of the music, you will feel a slow, walking tempo (speed) in each piece. Several of the pieces are actually called Andante (Italian for "walking tempo"). In many of the selections, you will also hear repetitive patterns that sound like water rippling or someone swaying back and forth. These features, along with beautiful song-like melodies, are what make this music sound peaceful and soothing. – Heidi Brende Leathwood |
*Winner of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award Download complete sample track, Aria by Bach (medium-quality mp3 format, 4 MB) "SmartSleep with Classical…is a quiet-time title containing many familiar pieces beautifully performed on solo piano. I am impressed with Brende's choice of material and her high degree of musicianship, along with the fact that she performs all of these selections in their original versions." "The CD serves as a good introduction to the piano repertoire with these miniature gems. Pianist Heidi Brende plays with clarity and emotion, and produces a singing tone from the piano. Her goal, according to the liner notes, was to 'evoke a dreamy, peaceful atmosphere,' and she achieves this with a good deal of musicality." Featured as pick of the month in Parents’ magazine (May 2001) and Fit Pregnancy (Summer 1999), reviewed in Finland and the UK, and featured without review in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, numerous other local newspapers and local parenting magazines nationwide. Played on classical public radio stations across the country, on Public Radio International and Beethoven Satellite Network. Blue Kiss: A Lullaby was composed by pianist and composer Christopher Brennan especially for this album. You can find out more about Chris and download the sheet music for Blue Kiss here. |
