Steven Anderson - Kumbaya

Topic: Lullaby - Instrumental
Lullabies have become a commercial music genre propagated by niche recording companies. [1] Following World War II, these businesses provided inexpensive albums that depended on public domain material by anonymous artists. [2] Since their records were not sold through channels monitored by Billboard, companies learned what sold by what was reordered or returned by merchants and middlemen. [3]

Judging from the contents of albums containing "Kumbaya," the repertoire includes the few commonly known lullabies like "Rockabye Baby" and "All through the Night," along with some adult songs like "Amazing Grace." The rest of the records are filled with nursery songs: "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," and all the others mentioned by parents in the post for 19 January 2018.

Unusual material rarely is included because first-time parents or people buying shower gifts tend to buy what they recognize. As mentioned in the post for 19 January 2018, people remember the songs of early childhood but not the earlier lullabies.

Many would be shocked by the actual contents of traditional lullabies described in 19 January 2018. Lyrics that expressed women’s non-maternal feelings would not be considered "age-appropriate" material. [4]

Since lullabies and nursery songs are now the same, record companies distinguish them by the way they are performed. Songs for the awake are sung, while most of the lullaby recordings offered by Amazon are instrumentals. The most common are piano solos, perhaps because Brahms used a piano accompaniment for his lullaby.

One person, who only used initials, suggested he or she wanted a piano arrangement to sing with. [5] Most people do not sing without a piano after they enter primary school or join a church youth choir, and do not remember singing a capella.

Since parents no longer sing to their infants, they, not the infants, have become the primary market for lullaby promoters. One woman said: "We leave this on loop all night and it’s great. It’s soothing for me too, if I need to go in the nursery for a crying baby, it keeps me calm, rocking baby baby To sleep. I love it!" [6]

Another said of the same recording: "We hear our son’s music playing over the monitor, so I like cds that will not annoy us and keep us up at night. Some music gets repetative and does not travel well over the monitor." [7]

Unlike adults, infants might be calmed by anything that was slow and quiet. The difference between the two generations’ aesthetics becomes clear when albums violate infants’ needs to be lulled. One mother praised an album because "every song is soothing and easy to listen to in the background, with no sudden changes in volume, sharp tones, or other surprises. [8]

Another warned "there are times when songs change and the tempo seems to fast for a lullaby." However, she reported her infant, along with her five- and seven-year-old children, all "listen to it every night when they sleep." [9]

Beyond the bare minimum elements of slow tempo and soft dynamics, adults judge lullabies by their own expectations. One man complained, "the arrangements for some of the tracks partially mask the traditional tunes by superimposing the instrumentalist’s interpretation." [10]

The number of piano versions of "Kumbaya" are relatively small, compared to the number of albums containing these versions. Once niche companies have created an inventory of songs, they tend to repackage them rather than spend money finding new material. A recording by Steven Anderson was available on eleven different albums in December 2017, and appeared on another three without attribution. The company name varied with the needs of its owner, Madacy Entertainement.

His version differed from the other six because much of it was played in the higher octaves. Most of the other pianists played their accompaniments below middle C, the normal domain of the left hand. Simon Parry was the only one who kept his notes within the range of a newborn’s hearing abilities [11] between middle C and the C above it.

They all played the standard 1-3-5 melody as a series of single notes, with parallel chords reserved for the fourth line. The accompaniments were arpeggios with a few chords, but no one played true chordal harmony. A couple, including Anderson, played the melody louder than the accompaniment. [12]

To introduce variety several played interludes that relied on arpeggios, often in the lower register. They never paused so the murmuring sounds were continuous.

Notes on Performance
The cover art was inexpensive, usually a drawing of a child sleeping or a picture of a night sky. Most was similar to clip art available on the web.

Notes on Performers
Madacy Entertainment was founded in 1980 in Montréal by Amos Alter to provide high-quality low-cost classical records. He used musicians from eastern Europe who did not have union wage protections. [13] The company then expanded into other niches. Its primary United States office was in Minneapolis, Minnesota, [14] near Target’s corporate headquarters.

In 2000, Alter started a children’s line. [15] Steven Anderson, who was living in Saint Paul, Minnesota, [16] recorded a lullaby collection for Madacy in 2002. He had graduated with a music degree from Hamline in 1988 [17] and supported himself for years by teaching and tuning pianos, and playing contract events like weddings. [18] He became involved with companies supplying children’s music to Target in the late 1990s when he produced records for Baby Genius in Saint Paul [19] and mixes of music and nature sounds for a Wisconsin company. [20]

Madacy expanded in 2006, just as music downloading cut into his market. Then, during the downturn of 2008, Wal-Mart reduced its purchases, and the company was taken over by one of its investors. [21] The list of Anderson’s reissues probably is incomplete, since it reflects only what was available in December 2017. Even so, one can see that after 2008, his recording of "Kumbaya" was constantly being included in other packages.

Meantime, Anderson began exploring ways the new digital media could be exploited by an independent artist. He since has recorded his own music, and sold it through internet outlets. [22]

The never ending needs of films, cable programs, and local advertising for music has prompted others to emulate the niche record company model. Rob and Mike Silverman began Autumn Hill Records in Saint Louis to "offer literally any style imaginable, with a huge sample library of over 10,000 virtual instruments, along with our stable of first call musicians." [23] Mike was a pianist, while Rob played drums.

Tim and Ryan O’Neill created a similar company, Shamrock-n-roll in Minnesota in 1997. They argued people should use their company’s music because they had "over 5000 songs to choose from" and "we own the arrangements of these songs so we can offer fast & affordable licenses." The two were both pianists, and often played together. [24]

Simon Parry started Allstars Kids Club in 2016 [25] as a medium for distributing Christian children’s music in England. [26] He worked as the children’s pastor for the Connect Church, and played piano. [27] The church claimed it valued "the life changing work of the Holy Spirit." [28]

I could not discover anything about the other record companies or artists. The Children’s Music Group and Stradivari Music were simply too generic, while the East London Orchestral Piano Ensemble upload was too recent to generate any information.

Availability
The versions in each group sounded the same to me. The CDs all were listed by Amazon in December 2017.

Madacy
Steven Anderson. Heavenly Lullabies. Madacy Christian. 3 December 2002.

Steven Anderson. On various artists. Study Like a Hipster, Volume 1. Hipster Stories Records. 8 May 2006.

Steven Anderson. On various artists. Land Of Milk and Honey. Madacy Kids. 6 October 2006.

Steven Anderson. On various artists. Lullabies for Little Dreamers. Madacy Kids. 14 April 2009.

Countdown Singers. Lullabies and Goodnight. Suite 102. 21 February 2012.

Countdown Kids. Lullaby and Goodnight. Suite 102. 6 November 2012.

Steven C. Anderson. Heavenly Lullabies. Uploaded to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises. 13 January 2014.

Sleep Baby Sleep. Baby’s Bedtime Music. Still Water Records. 1 April 2014.

Steven C. Anderson. 30 Bible Songs. Uploaded to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises. 30 September 2014.

Steven Anderson. On various artists. Piano Cleansing, Volume 2. La Brise Musique. 6 October 2014.

Steven Anderson. On various artists. Lullabies: Baby Lullabies. Single Spoon Music. 6 August 2015.

Steven Anderson. On various artists. Berceuses. Soleil Brille Musique. 6 August 2015.

Steven Anderson. On various artists. Canciones de Cuna. Solido Producciones. 8 August 2015.

Steven Anderson. On various artists. Soothing Piano Music. Glider’s Edge Entertainment. 16 January 2016.

Steven Anderson. 50 Songs for Sunday Inspirations. Suite 102. 19 April 2016.

Steven Anderson. On various artists. Relaxing Piano Music. Sleepless Notes Records. 16 September 2016.

Steven Anderson. Avec la technologie Box. Uploaded to YouTube by test kamen. 13 September 2017.

Autumn Hill
Lullaby Renditions of Classic Children’s Songs. Time Machine Records. 28 April 2009.

Smart Baby Lullaby. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Autumn Hill Records. 12 November 2009.

Bedtime Baby. Baby Music. Autumn Hill Records. 1 December 2009.

Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies. EDU Music and Films. 4 March 2010.

Smart Baby Lullabies. 60 Nursery Rhymes. EDU Music and Films. 6 March 2010.

Classical Lullabies. Autumn Hill Records. 14 March 2010.

Smart Baby Music. Smart Babies R US. 7 July 2012.

Piano Masters. New Age Piano Music. Autumn Hill Records. 8 November 2012.

Allstars Kids Club
Lullaby Music for Baby. Uploaded to YouTube by Allstars Kids Club on 8 July 2015.

Simon Parry. Soothing Piano Lullabies, Volume 1. Allstars Kids Club. 25 July 2015. Also, uploaded to YouTube by TuneCore on 1 August 2015.

The Children’s Music Group
Lullaby World. Lullabies. The Children’s Music Group. 7 May 2015.

Lullaby World. Ultimate Nursery Rhymes Collection. The Children’s Music Group. 12 May 2015. Also, uploaded to YouTube by CDBaby on 3 June 2015.

Others
Little Magic Piano. 30 Favorite Lullabies on Piano. Stradivari Music. 5 April 2015. Also, uploaded to YouTube by Symphonic Distribution on 11 April 2017.

East London Orchestral Piano Ensemble. Classical Piano Renditions. East London Orchestral Piano Ensemble. 2 December 2017. Also, uploaded to YouTube by Amuseio AB on 1 December 2017.

End Notes
1. As soon as record manufacturing techniques and raw materials became cheap and available after World War II, a number of small companies began releasing inexpensive recordings. They dominated the market for children’s records when I was young, and today Amazon includes three separate genres: lullabies, children’s, and children’s Bible songs. Niche producers also supply karaoke and Christmas collections to club owners and merchants through Amazon.

2. The ways the less scrupulous companies exploited composers and performers were revealed when Marion Rosette sued one for non-payment. She and her husband had formed Lincoln Records in 1949 to issue children’s song she had written. She did not copyright her material at the time, but did so years later. She discovered her songs were being reproduced by Playtime Albums and Carousel Albums in 1964 without credit. She notified them she then had valid copyrights for the material they were using. When they refused to pay her royalties, she sued and won.

According to Rosette v. Rainbo Record Manufacturing Corporation, (S.D.N.Y. 1973), Jack Brown claimed he and another man had formed Rainbo Record Manufacturing to manufacture records, but dissolved their partnership in the late 1940s. One of their customers had been Sidney Taback of Lyric Records, which had begun as a partnership of Brown, Taback and a third unrelated man. That "partnership was dissolved in February 1963 but Taback continued using the name Lyric."

Brown claimed "Lyric and Rainbo were not related companies," but Rosette "established that during the years 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966 Rainbo and Lyric (or Playtime-Lyric) shared the same telephone numbers and were listed in the Los Angeles telephone directory as having the same address." She argued that "Rainbo was related to Lyric, Carousel and Playtime Records and that, in fact, Rainbo had purchased the Carousel and Playtime line of songs from Lyric."

3. Billboard changed its methods for tracking record sales years ago. Today, artists use digital tools to monitor their sales and downloads.

4. As mentioned in the post for 15 January 2018, some groups promote "research-based, developmentally appropriate early childhood music." The crashing cradle in "Rockabye Baby" probably does not qualify.

5. JD. Comments posted 30 May 2014 to Amazon website for EDU Music’s [Autumn Hill] Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies. JD wrote: "would have liked the lyrics to refresh memory and sing to the baby with the music."

6. KimG. Comments posted 27 December 2016 to Amazon website for Time Machine’s [Autumn Hill] Lullaby Renditions.

7. Mik Rhab. Comments posted 9 November 2015 to Amazon website for Lullaby Renditions.

8. Serena. Comments posted 24 February 2014 to Amazon website for Madacy’s Land Of Milk and Honey: Heavenly Lullabies.

9. melinny2007. Comments posted 13 December 2015 to Amazon website for Lullaby Renditions.

10. Bruce. Comments posted 3 April 2005 to Amazon’s website for Madacy’s Heavenly Lullabies.

11. The hearing abilities of infants was discussed in the post for 13 January 2018.

12. The other versions with loud melodies were sold by Autumn Hill and Little Magic Piano.

13. Richard Henderson. "Concept to Conglomerate in Two Decades." Billboard advertising supplement, 26 February 2000. 58.

14. Henderson. 58.
15. Advertisement for Madacy Kids. Billboard. 63.

16. Chris Roberts. "Steven C Works His Piano." Minnesota Public Radio website. 16 May 2008.

17. "Steven C. Anderson ’88." Hamline University website.

18. Roberts. "Right out of graduating from Hamline, I was worried about being a starving artist," he said. "So I learned to tune pianos, took on 22 piano students and played in three different bands."

19. "Genius Products. Children’s Songs: Vocal Series." All Music website.

20. "Past to Presence by Steven C." CD Baby website. The producer was NorthWord Press of Minocqua, Wisconsin.

21. Richard Blackwell. "Wal-Mart Cutbacks Leave Madacy Singing the Blues." The [Toronto] Globe and Mail. 10 July 2008. B10.

22. CD Baby.
23. "Autumn Hills Records." Facebook.
24. "The O’Neill Brothers: Tim and Ryan." Piano Brothers website.
25. "Allstars Kids Club Limited." Endole Suite website.
26. Allstars Kids Club website.
27. "About Simon Parry." Facebook.
28. "Connect Church Values." Church’s website.