By Justin RouillonThursday 15 Aug 2024Spotty Kites with Donna DysonPodcastsReading Time: 3 minutes
The Spotty Kites Podcast is celebrating the launch of the second podcast series with an accompanying album ‘Lullabies & Bedtime Songs’, both of which focus on lullabies and quiet time.
Both the new podcasts and the album will help children as they prepare for their daytime naps, or for bedtime at the end of the day.
With stories of stars, animals like owls and koalas, and even stormy skies at night, the songs are a beautiful collection of original lullabies by Spotty Kites podcast host and chief songwriter Donna Dyson.
Donna told 96five that her desire for an album of lullabies was that it would help parents connect with their children even more.
“There is nothing more precious than nursing a child of any age. They might have a fever and they might be nine years of age, or even eleven and hitting that tween age and starting to be so independent, but if that fever hits, they will cuddle up and want to be really close to you.
“And music is the most intimate of communications that we can share. at times like that. So, I really wanted to create a body of work that wasn’t necessarily for the babies.
“These songs absolutely are fine for the children who are under two, but they’re also speaking to children who are under twelve, end even though twelve seems so grown up, when the kids need you to be close, their developmental phase will always fall into that younger mindset of wanting to be nurtured and cared for.”
Donna Dyson is the host of 96five’s new podcast series Spotty Kites (supplied).
There’s also a much deeper and more personal connection to these songs for Donna, which relates to her vision loss, and the subsequent end to her career in education.
“I loved every aspect of my career, from teaching through to education leadership and lecturing. But when I went blind, very suddenly, in my mid-forties – the outcome of that is that I don’t see children any longer.
“I don’t have the great blessing to be teaching them or creating curriculum for them in a formal way now, so I write music for children and that is another way to create a different style of curriculum in some ways.”
And what are some of Donna’s highlights from the new album and podcast series?
“I wrote the song Koala Lullaby for the Australian Koala Foundation and their Save the Koala Day. Koalas can sleep anywhere from 18 to 20 hours a day so they always need a lullaby! But the irony is that we can’t sleep when it comes to protecting our national icon.
“Like most kids, I love songs about animals, so we have stories of bunnies, owls and even the jabiru!
“And anything around the stars and moon have always been of interest to me. So, the song Sleeping in the Stars is probably one of the most special pieces that I’ve written.”
“I’m hoping that there’s a lot of love that goes out with the podcasts and album, and that it helps children stay calm, and just feel really secure through the challenges that they might face in their childhood.”
The second series of the Spotty Kites podcast is out now, with new episodes available every Monday morning. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or in your podcast app.
The album, Lullabies & Bedtime Songs is out now and available to stream on Spotify or purchased on Apple Music.
All images supplied Spotty Kites.