Cradle Song

For SA Voices with Keyboard Accompaniment

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"Cradle Song" is my first published composition that was written during the Fall of 2002. Singers relate to the text because it is about the relationship between a mother and a growing child. I set the words "birdie" and "baby" each time using a minor third (sol - mi). This interval is universally used in children's songs and is also one of the first intervals that children are able to sing. The mother and child in each verse also sing in their own key signatures (F-major and D-major).


Poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

What does little birdie say
In her nest at peep of day?
Let me fly, says little birdie, 
Mother, let me fly away.
Birdie, rest a little longer,
Till thy little wings are stronger.
So she rests a little longer,
Then she flies away.

What does little baby say,
In her bed at peep of day?
Baby says, like little birdie,
Let me rise and fly away.
Baby, sleep a little longer,
Till thy little limbs are stronger.
If she sleeps a little longer,
Baby too shall fly away.