Fireflies (A lullaby to my future child)
Hi there, Music Class Fam! Emily here, guest-writing this Song of the Week blog post about the lullaby “Fireflies”. Ms. Raina suggested that I step in to write about this song because... I wrote it along with my future husband and fellow TMC teacher, Zac Evans! You can hear both of us on the recording: me singing and Zac playing ALL the instruments! So clearly this song is near and dear to my heart, and the story of how it came to life on your Elephant Collection makes it even more so.
As a Music Class family, you probably know that singing lullabies with your children creates an intimate bonding time between parents and their children. Incorporating lullabies into your nightly routine is a powerful way to share music with your little one and is also a personal and sweet way to end the day. Zac and I wrote this lullaby together with that exact spirit in mind - as a song to sing to our future child.
Before I joined The Music Class team in 2016, I worked as a private pre-kindergarten teacher at Primrose. Every day after lunch, I'd tuck my kiddos in for their mid-day naps. Most fell asleep effortlessly, but there was always one little girl who couldn't get her shuteye without a few pats on the back and a soft song. When Zac and I sat down to write this tune together, I had this sweet girl and the nap time moments we shared in my heart.
We knew we wanted to write a song that captured the feeling of a family winding down after a warm summer day. We drew on a shared childhood memory of catching fireflies just after dusk with our families. From there, Zac wrote the guitar part and I weaved in the story through the vocals. Once we had the main structure of the song sketched out, then Zac began to add in all the other instruments you hear of the recording: bass, clarinet, flute, mandolin, and piano. Let me just take a second here to acknowledge my incredibly talented fiancé!! Zac can play all those instruments and many more. His instrument of expertise, saxophone, didn't even make an appearance on "Fireflies"! (Although you can hear him play sax on our other TMC tune, "I'm A Little Panda"...) Bragging corner closed. Now back to the story...
Once we were satisfied with our demo of the song, we sent it off to Mr. Rob who then had a brilliant idea to make the song even more special. He suggested that we include a verse from the child's point of view and include a child singer! This made my heart swell. It was easy for me to draw on the inspiration of my student back at Primrose, and the lyrics to the little girl's verse came tumbling out of me. I also knew immediately which Music Class student would be perfect to sing it! I have known the Wallace Family since I started teaching Music Class 4 years ago and I have watched Elisabeth Wallace grow into a fine musician through TMC, TMC Big Kids, and TMC Keyboard. We asked her to sing the girl's verse and of course, she did a remarkable job! I got to be there when she recorded her verse and my eyes welled with tears when she started singing. We were able to document our time in the studio recording "Fireflies" and I thought you might like to see it!
Zac and I hope this personal story has inspired you to incorporate lullabies into your daily lives. They can be a truly special part of your day, not to mention the good they do for your child's musical education!