{"id":59327,"date":"2017-04-24T11:35:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T21:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=59327"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:18:20","slug":"lullaby-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/04\/24\/lullaby-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Lullaby Project bonds families through song"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"John
John Signor and Jamie McOuat collaborate on a lullaby. Photo by Nickolas Esopenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

At night when Jamie McOuat<\/strong> tucks her son, Kaimana, in for bed, his request is for her to \u201csing the lullaby you wrote for me, mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n

McOuat created an original song for her 2-year-old by participating in The Lullaby Project\u2014a collaborative musical effort between Leeward Community College Theatre<\/a>, the University of Hawai\u02bbi<\/span>\u2013West O\u02bbahu<\/span> Humanities<\/a>-Music Program, and Honolulu Community College\u2019s Mike Curb MELE Studios<\/a>. The Lullaby Project<\/a> is facilitated by Carnegie Hall\u2019s Weill Music Institute nationwide. Pregnant women and new mothers work with professional artists to write personal lullabies for their babies, supporting maternal health, aiding child development and strengthening the bond between parent and child. McOuat was one of 10 parent participants in the Hawai\u02bbi<\/span> program this year.<\/p>\n

McOuat sings lullabies to Kaimana every night and has always wanted to write for him\u2014her \u201cmiracle baby\u201d whom she had at 52 years of age. She was paired with John Signor<\/strong>, the music instructor at Leeward CC<\/abbr>. \u201cEvery time John would try something, like a riff or transition to the next line, I thought, \u2018Wow, you never get to actually see creativity happening.\u2019 And every time I agreed with what was just seemed to be spontaneously channeling through him, I was giggling with delight and actual amazement that he was creating on the spot. It was a complete surprise to me that he appeared equally impressed that I had arrived with the lyrics written. I had done a free write exercise for an hour before I got there and that\u2019s what I\u2019d come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parent-songwriter collaboration performance<\/h2>\n

Her original song, \u201cKaimana\u2019s Song,\u201d is one of the lullabies created from parent-songwriter collaborations that will be performed by the Leeward CC<\/abbr> Hawaiian Ensemble on April 29, at UH<\/abbr> West O\u02bbahu<\/span>. A preshow featuring a Songwriting H\u014d\u02bbike by UH<\/abbr> West O\u02bbahu<\/span> songwriting students kicks off the event at 4:30 p.m., followed by the Leeward CC<\/abbr>\u2019s Hula Ensemble at 6 p.m. and the Leeward CC<\/abbr>\u2019s West African Drumming Ensemble. The Lullaby Project songs will be performed at 7 p.m. and feature community guest artists and songwriter facilitators including Paula Fuga, Daniel Houglum, Starr Kalahiki, Ehulani Kane, Czarina Lai; and Joshua Nakazawa and Rami Gepner from the Hawai\u02bbi<\/span> Symphony Orchestra. Admission is free. The event is supported by the UH<\/abbr> West O\u02bbahu<\/span> Chancellor\u2019s office<\/a> and the UH<\/abbr> West O\u02bbahu<\/span> Music Fund.<\/p>\n

Weaving old memories with future ones<\/h2>\n

Another parent participant, Kauluwehi Kato<\/strong>, a recent UH<\/abbr> West O\u02bbahu<\/span> graduate, said that she participated in the Lullaby Project because of it\u2019s unique potential. \u201cWe spilled all of our love and memories into one song, so that we could share it with our little one. This song is truly a gift for both my baby and my entire family.\u201d Kato participated in the program while pregnant\u2014allowing the song-making process to bring together the prospect of singing an original song to her baby and the excitement of finally meeting her little one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of tears,\u201d she said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t help but reflect on my own childhood memories and how much I enjoyed it. I just want the same for my little one. This process was like weaving a lei of old memories entwined with new memories to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leeward CC<\/abbr>\u2019s Hawaiian Ensemble, under Signor\u2019s direction, is spearheading the arranging, recording and performing of the new Hawai\u02bbi<\/span>-based lullabies, with help from UH<\/abbr> West O\u02bbahu<\/span> faculty Daniel Houglum<\/strong> and Jon Magnussen<\/strong>, and faculty from Honolulu CC<\/abbr>\u2019s Mike Curb MELE Studios, John Vierra<\/strong> and Jon Ross<\/strong>. This year, The Lullaby Project involves expecting moms from Catholic Charities Mary Jane Home, student-parents from UH<\/abbr> West O\u02bbahu<\/span> and Leeward CC<\/abbr>, and parents from other community partnering organizations including Alu Like<\/a> and Family Hui Hawai\u02bbi<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible, seeing creative genius happen in real time before my eyes,\u201d said McOuat, who works for Family Hui Hawai\u02bbi<\/span>. She said the process took about 45 minutes. Then she and Signor performed for the other collaborators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funniest bit was when I got home because the song was originally called Hazel Eyes and it was in all three refrains,\u201d McOuat said. \u201cMy husband says \u2018very nice but Kaimana\u2019s eyes aren\u2019t hazel.\u2019 They were blue when he was born, had changed to hazel like mine, but now they\u2019re full on brown. Bad mommy!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014By Leila Wai Shimokawa<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parents and professionals collaborated on original lullabies, which will be performed on April 29 at UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":59334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[112,62,65,404,196,59],"class_list":["post-59327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-academy-for-creative-media","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-music-and-entertainment-learning-experience","tag-leeward-community-college-theatre","tag-uh-west-oahu","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/westoahu-lullaby-project.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59327"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229351,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59327\/revisions\/229351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}