This spring and summer the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's Community and Education team, RPO Resound, have been working with the Irene Taylor Trust to deliver The Lullaby Project, which empowers those with experience of the criminal justice system and asylum seekers to work with professional musicians and create personalised lullabies for the children and young people in their lives - creating something they can each treasure.
In May, we worked in partnership with Clean Break to facilitate workshops in which eight parents devised new lullabies, culminating in performances at London's Rich Mix and Cadogan Hall. In June, we worked with eight fathers in HMP Norwich to write songs to reach out to their children, the impact of which was featured on ITV News.
See more from these projects below.
The Lullaby Project x Clean Break and Sounding Out
“[My lullaby] is a way for me to express more love into the world, to make a contribution in my own way.”
The RPO and Irene Taylor Trust (ITT) worked with women from women’s theatre company Clean Break, and men from ITT’s Sounding Out programme, to enable eight unique, personal lullabies to be written, recorded and performed. The project began with creative workshops, in which participants worked one-to-one with RPO musicians and ITT staff to devise lyrics and melodic ideas for their lullabies. A project leader from ITT, Nick Hayes, then arranged the music for a group of RPO musicians and a professional singer to record alongside the parent. All eight lullabies were then performed live by participants at Rich Mix on Friday 23 May, which had an in-person and online audience of over 400 people, and was then followed by a performance in the foyer of Cadogan Hall on Wednesday 11 June, introduced by the RPO's Managing Director, Sarah Bardwell and Sara Lee, Artistic Director of the ITT.
Watch the performance at Rich Mix
Below are a few photos from the performances at Cadogan Hall.
The parents offered some of their thoughts on how writing lullabies has made a difference in their lives:
“I love that I had an opportunity to leave something for my children, my grandchildren, and generations I may never meet: when I’m gone this may still live on.”
"[I gained] a massive sense of achievement and pride in myself, receiving the music brought tears to my eyes.”
“[I gained] a sense of community [where] I feel valued. My joy of music is totally shared.”
"[I was able] to honour my daughter on the 4th anniversary [of her passing]. It means a lot more than I can put in words right now, but it gave me a purpose, and in that moment [of performing the song] I was able to actively be a mum.”
The Lullaby Project at HMP Norwich
“I wanted my daughter to have something beautiful.”
In June, we visited HMP Norwich and worked with eight fathers currently in prison to help them produce songs with which they could express their feelings towards their children. The workshops were captured by ITV News in their report on literacy and music programmes for inmates, which can be viewed below. Recordings will be available later this year.
The participants gave the below feedback on how the project impacted them:
“The project [enabled] cherished and forgotten moments to be expressed through music and song."
"I feel extremely emotional since partaking in this project. It has given me something to look forward to in the future.”
"[I enjoyed] working with the lyricist to create the style and message of my song, and hearing the orchestra and words come to life!”
“It was a once in a lifetime chance. It was amazing.”
“I'm very happy now knowing my daughter will be able to hear my voice and know how much she means to me.”
We are grateful to Arts Council England and the RCB Foundation for their continued support of the Lullaby Project.