I last heard soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian perform in September 2012 at the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra’s season-opening concert. I’m not sure if it was Bayrakdarian’s impeccable taste in gowns or her mesmerizing voice, but most in the audience would not have known she was mere months away from giving birth to her second child.
Leah Kradjian was born in December. We invited her mother to tell us about some of the lullabies she sings to her children.
Every single night, my children get a mini performance from their mom. My son Ari, who is five, actually chooses the repertoire, the order, and sometimes the keys, too! He looks forward to these songs and lullabies, and only recently granted me the ultimate compliment by saying, “mommy, you have a nice voice.” It meant the world to me.
My daughter Leah is only two months old, so she just enjoys whatever I sing to her. But I’ve noticed that she’s especially soothed by the same lullabies that my son enjoys, and I think it’s due to the fact that she heard these same songs in utero, when I was singing them to my son!
Here are some of the songs and lullabies that are regularly heard in our household at bedtime.
1. "You Are My Sunshine," sung by Kathy Reid-Naiman 
I've sung this song to Ari at bedtime ever since he was a baby. The second verse almost always breaks my heart, especially when I’m working away from home and have to sing it to Ari over the phone.
It goes, "The other night dear/while I lay sleeping/I dreamt I held you in my arms/When I awoke dear/I was mistaken/so I hung my head and I cried."
Over the years, singing this song every single night became too repetitive, so for variety’s sake I made it a point to sing this song in the language of the country where we were currently stationed, so now Ari knows this song in three languages: English, German, and Spanish.
Recently, when my daughter was crying in the middle of the night, Ari woke up from his sleep and groggily came to her room and started singing "You Are My Sunshine," at 3 a.m. It was such a tender moment, seeing the older brother looking out for his younger sister.
Isabel Bayrakdarian cradles her daughter Leah. (Photo: Araz Artinian)
2. "Oror," Parsegh Ganatchian
This is an Armenian lullaby that I sing to my children, almost every single night. The second verse is translated like this: "Please go to sleep/And let me sleep too/Holy Mother of God/grant sleep to my child."
Every time I sing this to Ari and come to the end of this verse, he interrupts me to list the names of everyone he loves (be they people or even his stuffed animals). He insists that I substitute their names in place of the word “child” in the song, so that everyone he loves would receive the heavenly blessing and go to sleep, too.
3. "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," Tchaikovsky
I know that TheNutcracker is usually associated with the holidays, but this movement is so tender and innocent, and conjures up images of magical dreams and starry evenings. The use of the celesta gives it a surreal quality, which hopefully invites the little listener to relax and slip into dreamland.
4. "Wiegenlied," Strauss, sung by Soile Isokoski
One often associates Strauss with huge orchestras, loud brass sections and complicated melodies. But this recording with Soile Isokoski is so light and tender and silvery that it transports the listener from the real world to the magical world.
5. Rondo from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Mozart
No playlist, regardless of its theme, is ever complete without Mozart. I chose this particular piece (as opposed to a cute selection from Magic Flute) because, to me, listening to it conjures up images of shooting stars, dark nights illuminated by a huge moon and countless stars in the sky. Plus, as a child, Ari was able to sing the theme of the first movement before he could even speak.
6. "Bye Low My Baby," Sally & Erika
When I’m putting my children to sleep, I’m no longer an opera singer. I sing as softly as possible, I hum a lot, I transpose the piece down and I intentionally remove all vibrato from my voice in order to sing it as childlike as possible.
I like the entire Sleepytime and Lullabies section on this CD, but I chose this particular track as a showcase since it offers the soothing humming, simple melody and the innocent singing, which children immediately relate to and accept.
I was introduced to this CD when I was pregnant with my second child. I was working with CBC Music Producer David Jaeger on a recording, and it was such a discovery to find out that his wife, Sally, and daughter, Erika, were the artists on this recording, which has inspired so many parents, teachers and early education specialists.
Related:
Isabel Bayrakdarian chooses Brahms for her final mortal moments