Joan McMillen - Oklahoma Lullaby

Oklahoma Lullaby - child crying

SIDE 1
Oklahoma Lullaby
Crickets' Song
Sunday Morning (God's Holy Angels Lead Me Home)

SIDE 2
Oklahoma Lullaby (with vocal harmony)
Byelow, My Baby
Water's Waltz

For piano and solo voice

Wide earth, wide sky. The tender blue light of early evening. Air filled with the now-gentle, now-sharp undulation of cricket-song. Big earth and big sky still surround our human world, even when we forget them, and only they are big enough to hold us when our human hearts break.

In Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, nineteen infants and young children died in the bombing of the Federal Building. What enormity of violence, of loss, of ongoing grief. Like many others, Joan was moved to make some gesture. The gesture that came naturally to her was to put her response into song.

Eve DeBona, artist and friend, had created a poem titled "Oklahoma Lullaby" in memory of these children's death. She asked Joan to set this poem to music. After the song was completed, Joan was still haunted by the desire to make a little place of peace and blessing for the grieving families through music. The piano improvisations on this tape rose from that impulse.

In her capacity as director of Helias Foundation in Palo Alto, California, De Bona organized an exhibition of art quilts created by America's leading art quilters in memory of the nineteen children. This exhibition, Sewing Comfort out of Grief: The Oklahoma City Children's Memorial Art Quilts, opened in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1996, the first anniversary of the bomb blast, and is now making a 3-year journey across the United States.The Oklahoma Lullaby tape is part of this exhibit.

©1996 - 1998 Joan McMillen
jmm@windingway.com


			SIDE 1 Oklahoma Lullaby Crickets' Song Sunday Morning (God's Holy Angels Lead Me Home) SIDE 2 Oklahoma Lullaby (with vocal harmony) Byelow, My Baby Water's Waltz		For piano and solo voice Wide earth, wide sky. The tender blue light of early evening. Air filled with the now-gentle, now-sharp undulation of cricket-song. Big earth and big sky still surround our human world, even when we forget them, and only they are big enough to hold us when our human hearts break. In Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, nineteen infants and young children died in the bombing of the Federal Building. What enormity of violence, of loss, of ongoing grief. Like many others, Joan was moved to make some gesture. The gesture that came naturally to her was to put her response into song. Eve DeBona, artist and friend, had created a poem titled "Oklahoma Lullaby" in memory of these children's death. She asked Joan to set this poem to music. After the song was completed, Joan was still haunted by the desire to make a little place of peace and blessing for the grieving families through music. The piano improvisations on this tape rose from that impulse. In her capacity as director of Helias Foundation in Palo Alto, California, De Bona organized an exhibition of art quilts created by America's leading art quilters in memory of the nineteen children. This exhibition, Sewing Comfort out of Grief: The Oklahoma City Children's Memorial Art Quilts, opened in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1996, the first anniversary of the bomb blast, and is now making a 3-year journey across the United States.The Oklahoma Lullaby tape is part of this exhibit.

					©1996 - 1998 Joan McMillen jmm@windingway.com