Lullaby for a New Century

The nontraditional Lullaby for a New Century addresses the social and ecological chaos that the modern child is now born into. The lullaby combines with the harsh echoes of reality as the child drifts to sleep, creating a gradually developing nightmare that is rife with uncertainty and pessimism. It is only when the child awakens that there is calmness, a peace.

Program Notes

The age of innocence is a thing of past for the modern child - we can longer truly protect them, with the prevalence of social and media violence and ecological chaos. As the lullaby is sung to the child, they cannot escape into the joy that is the ignorant bliss of childhood. The child is constantly reminded of the reality they are born into. The lullaby combines with the harsh echoes of reality as the child drifts to sleep, creating a gradually developing nightmare that is rife with uncertainty and pessimism. It is only when the child awakens that there is calmness, a peace - but that child still knows that the world they live in cannot coexist with the beauty of the lullaby. For they are born into the new and uncertain century we all live in.

- Jason DeCristofaro

Grade Level: 3
Copyright: 2011
Number of Players: 1
Duration: 3:45
Publisher: C. Alan Publications
Category: Solo Works

Instrumentation

Vibraphone (3-octave)