Letting Down: Music for New Mothers

"Letting Down" is a collection of gentle music dedicated to new mothers and the precious new lives they have brought into the world. The pieces are designed to encourage relaxation, to facilitate milk flow and to induce a sense of well-being in both mother and baby.

The idea for "Letting Down" came from my wife, Susan, who discovered shortly after giving birth to Helene that her own nursing experience invariably felt better when her mind as well as her body was at complete rest. Susan experimented with a variety of music that she thought might bring her more quickly to her desired state of quiet retreat, and she found she had the most success with a few cassettes of

Cover art: Cradle of Civilization, by Chuck Groth

synthesizer improvisations I had recorded in the mid-1980s when I first set up my electronic music studio. Although the material on these cassettes covered a wide stylistic range, the pieces that seemed to work for Susan had three elements in common: Their sounds were predominantly "soft," their harmonic content was relatively simple and static, and their rhythms held to a slow, steady pulse that seemed to match that of a restful heartbeat.

Those three elements — soft sonority, harmonic simplicity, restful rhythm — are featured in the compositions that make up "Letting Down." On all the tracks, two microphones were used to record the exquisite resonance of Betsy Feldman's flute; one of them was placed within inches of the instrument's mouth hole, the better to capture what is perhaps the most intimate of all musical sounds, that of the human breath.

BETSY FELDMAN is the flutist for the contemporary chamber ensemble Synchronia. A specialist in modern literature for unaccompanied flute, she maintains a busy schedule as recitalist, lecturer and clinician. She has served on the National Flute Association's new music advisory committee.

JAMES WIERZBICKI is a composer whose work regularly animates live theater and video productions. His scholarly interests range from the ragas of North India to burlesque opera in 18th-century England. For more than 20 years he served as music/dance critic for various Midwestern newspapers.

The electronic instruments used on "Letting Down" include the Yamaha TG-33, FB-01 and DX7, the Korg DSS-1, the Roland SC-33 and the E-mu Morpheus. Effects processors include the Alesis Microverb II and the Digitech DSP and RDS 7.6 Recording was done on the Alesis ADAT, with final mixdown to a Tascam DA-30.

The pieces on the CD are:

Letting Down (6:35)
Lullaby for Helene (6:25)
Echoes of Forevermore (5:45)
The Ancient's Serenade (4:40)
A Breath So Calm (5:50)
Tapping the Source (5:25)
Blanket of Dreams (9:02)
In My Mother's Memories (9:35)
Such a Fleeting Bliss (6:05)

The cover illustration for the CD is Cradle of Civilization, by St. Louis-based artist Chuck Groth.

In select book stores and maternity shops throughout the country, "Letting Down" sells for approximately $14. By direct mail, however, the CD costs only $11.50 (including shipping and handling). To place an order, contact Willow Music:

e-mail at jwierz@sbcglobal.net
telephone at (949) 823-0159
mail at 62 Harvey Court, Irvine, CA 92612

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