Lullaby

A lullaby or cradle-song, also spelled cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music, usually played or sung to children or adults. The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowledge or tradition. In addition, lullabies are often used for the developing of communication skills, indication of emotional intent, maintenance of infants' undivided attention, modulation of infants' arousal, and regulation of behavior. Perhaps one of the most important uses of lullabies is as a sleep aid for infants. As a result, the music is often simple and repetitive. Lullabies can be found in many countries, and have existed since ancient times.

Characteristics

Lullabies tend to share exaggerated melodic tendencies, including simple pitch contours, large pitch ranges, and generally higher pitch. These clarify and convey heightened emotions, usually of love or affection. When there is harmony, infants almost always prefer consonant intervals over dissonant intervals. Furthermore, if there is a sequence of dissonant intervals in a song, an infant will usually lose interest and it becomes very difficult to regain its attention. To reflect this, most lullabies contain primarily consonant intervals. Tonally, most lullabies are simple, often merely alternating tonic and dominant harmonies.

Cradlesong (album)

Cradlesong is the second solo studio album by the Matchbox Twenty lead-singer Rob Thomas, released on June 30, 2009 by Atlantic Records. The album's first single "Her Diamonds" was a success around the world, while reaching number three in Australia and topping the Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart, meanwhile other singles "Someday" and "Mockingbird" attained success on the Adult Contemporary charts.

The album received mostly positive reviews, with the single "Her Diamonds", a song written about his wife and her illness, receiving praise by many reviewers. The album takes a pop rock feel with a variety of sounds mixed by longtime producer Matt Serletic who is praised for smooth production of the album. It debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number #3 selling 122,000 copies, while reaching top-ten positions in Canada and Australia.

Background

On September 15, 2008, Thomas told Billboard.com that he's "probably about 80 percent done" with his second solo record, tentatively titled Cradle Songs at the time. Thomas characterized the album as "the usual mish-mosh of styles, but hopefully just holding true to a bunch of good songs." with the article also mentioning that the record will nonetheless feature several tracks that "take a more global, rhythmic direction after working with South American and African percussionists." Thomas explained one such experiment: