Sleep Song

An opening chord like warm rays of the sun greets us as soft flute duets with piano. The grounding thrum of stringed instruments, violins, cellos, violas, and contrabass, invites the heart space to open, while vintage Celeste and synth ebb and flow throughout the piece like ocean waves, whisking away the day. A slow build in pitch lifts off into wave upon wave of soundscape while bubbling arpeggio...

Music adapted from Matthew Mercer’s Meditative Story, "The magic that ripples out when we share our passions with others." A pan-like flute sets an invitation to a world of possibility and wonders to explore. Delicate strings and open synth keys entice down a path unknown, toward verdant nooks and crannies that lay just around the corner of awareness. A soothing piano melody suggests that the day'...

Music adapted from Silvia Vasquez-Lavado’s Meditative Story, "Choosing compassion over conquest." Greeted by an ethereal choir, the soft echoing voices invoke a sloughing off of doubts and the revealing of untapped stores, a journey about to begin. The next movement yields an orchestral string section and waves of reverberating tones with a definitive piano theme, solidifying and grounding the lis...

A whimsical synth and piano line seems to recontextualize the day’s ups and downs, suggesting a more playful lens with which to frame the view. It’s a sunny, joyful melody, and a kind of nostalgic reminder that the child within is always available. We’re then met with an expansive sound wash, like the unveiling of a vista overlooking a vast shore of what might be. Shimmering synth samples and wash...

We're greeted by a deep sine wave, reminiscent of muted brass, like calls from mountaintop to mountaintop heralding the arrival of night. The introduction of a twinkling, percussive pulse grounds the body-mind. It's a quiet repetitive rhythm, the persistence of something hopeful in the midst of supporting open chords. Held by this foundation, synth vibrations, layered strings and cascading chimes...

Warm, inviting tones, and the call of a piano's voice, announce it's time for tranquility and rejuvenation. Guided by light synth breezes and Una Corda, the sound of single string piano drenches the scene in a sea of cascading petals. The sound bath then dissolves into extended drones, collecting the day's fragments into unity, reverberating chords gathering our attention into a single soft focus....

A quiet trembling begins, and something deep underground beginning to stir, while steady chords mirror the sun's encouraging rays warming the damp earth. Shakers, like the flight of winged insects and quiet rain, appear and recede. A refreshing wind of sound clears the scene, taking us to the misty exhalation of an inviting forest cave, as expansive drones encourage mental liberation and muscle me...

Music adapted from Austin Mao’s Meditative Story, "Peeling back these layers of my inner truth." We're met with a solo piano's lilting melody, strings joining in the spinning, circling tune, lifting the mind and spirit, ascending. Like visiting rehearsal rooms behind the curtain of everyday thoughts, we're guests to conversations between piano and violin, finding new ways to elevate each other's v...

Tremulous snare sounds and open notes gather the day's scattered thoughts, as a cello assures that it's time for new beauty, fresh unity of mind, and body. A new old memory of sloping panoramas, rolling fenced pastures, and worn dirt road, a place of comforting sunlight and abiding peace, where there's always enough time. Surreal porch chimes melt edges into watercolor blur, as the rising and fall...

A celestial orchestra softly tunes, becoming the quietest invitation to coast across a wintry landscape of glassy crystalized sheets and aurora polaris glow. Piano trills joyously mimic the grace of figure skaters spiraling and sailing across a frozen forest lake. Looping guitars shift the panorama into a serene and contemplative journey through evergreen forest glades, while cheerful, spritely to...

Music adapted from Rev. Monique Ortiz’s Meditative Story, "The heart comes out at night." Sonorous cello, and lilting piano provide an invitation for an evening's dream stroll, as soft saxophones lull into a rhythmic lullaby. A midnight fanfare of expectant woodwinds drift us into soaring starlit cloud sky, finally resolving into quiet touchdown ... a space ripe for seedling worlds the heart can m...

Music adapted from Meredith Arthur’s Meditative Story, "Ignoring inner me." Greeted by a gentle piano, a melody conjuring childhood curiosity and innocence soon begins. Deepened by strings and open drones - the melody shifts to one of reflection and contemplation – like the coziest window nook on a rainy day. We’re then led into a world of ambient noises – the inner machinations of gray matter – m...

When you’re too sleepy to turn the record over on the turntable, new melodies start to emerge from beyond the crackle of the vinyl. As the record spins slowly, it opens a doorway to a soft and nostalgic standup piano. Falling farther into the piano’s chords, we’re led to a cascading sheet of tones, fields of evening cricket call, a calming open drone … all in turn giving rise to muted mellow notes...

A slowly rising sonic wave is met by the call of a single piano key, awakening a chorus of gentle wind instruments. Massaging tonal pulses dance along behind a winding piano, from which the sound space resolves into new vistas – the quiet voice of a peaceful stream – a cleansing cascade of shimmering tones, bathing the space in serenity, while a solo flute sets evening wishes aloft. Original music...

Music adapted from Dr. Marla Spivak’s Meditative Story, "How the bees saved me." Above a bed of colorful strings, a sprightly piano picks its way, moving through a bright melody. Others join, moving in harmony to create a web of busy, happy sound. The melody moves through into a musical wash of strings and heartbeat drums, carrying us to a wider, yet still deeply connected, space of peace and deep...

Music adapted from Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III’s Meditative Story, "America’s jam session." An hour of music that moves from action to contemplation, from solo sounds to ensemble magic. A jazz combo comes together on the fly, each instrument – piano, harp, bass, and more – playing a singular part in a gently energizing tune that shifts from jazz-club swing to a nightclub groove. The instruments are joi...

Music adapted from Bishop Mariann Budde's Meditative Story, "Three moments of clarity across the arc of a life." This spacious hour of music is anchored by a mellow piano line that repeats and varies, twists and turns. Clouds of sound drift across the melody, pulling in and out of focus, creating a sense of movement in a direction yet to be known. A gentle rumble of low tones begins a passage that...

Music adapted from Robin Arzón's Meditative Story, "Even a superhero starts with small steps." As the music begins, a bed of synths and strings creates a quiet starting point for this composition that mixes gentle rhythm and wide-open sonic space. Shakers and subtle percussion move the music along at a soft, steady trot, propelling forward to meet a chorus of violins that lift a bright melody. Ric...

Music adapted from Joel McHale’s Meditative Story, "One beating heart." As our Sleep Song begins, a lilting melody on guitar plays against a chorus of delicately ringing celesta and chimes. The sound of a singing bowl cues in a mood of reflection, introducing a passage of swirling synth lines. The mood of the music smoothly alternates between bright and quiet, as between scenes of action and scene...

Music adapted from Omar Wasow’s Meditative Story, "Getting unstuck, reframing the question." In this quiet gathering of sounds, a soulful chorus of voices and guitar vibes play above a gentle bed of echoes. As the music progresses, a synth line rises ever so slowly into a bright open soundscape, creating a space for slow realizations and spacious thoughts. Original music from composer Ryan Hollada...

Music adapted from Majora Carter’s Meditative Story, "Do great things – and take your flowers." As our dream scene opens, a quiet piano theme evokes a feeling of childlike curiosity – looking this way and that, walking slowly, lightly, with no destination in mind. A subtle wash of synthesizer mimics the clouds drifting overhead in the blue sky. The dream scene shifts into a relaxed groove, with a...

Music adapted from Wayne Little’s Meditative Story, "A nurse's story." This sweeping composition begins with a single piano describing a plainspoken melody. As the piano strums along, synth effects join the sonic field, creating small slivers of space to reflect on the passage of time forward and backward. More musical voices begin to join in: rich bells chiming, beds of strings creating a wash of...

Music adapted from Stephen Wilkes’s Meditative Story, "What's most vital is right in front of me." A movable feast of sound, this Sleep Song mixes a gently rippling synth melody with piano pauses and bright sprays of harp and strings, perhaps evoking the motion of the African savannah as animals large and small, walking and flying, move across a landscape as old as time. As the scene changes, a ce...

Music adapted from Florence Williams’s Meditative Story, "To chase the sunset." Shimmering strings hover above a quiet piano line, evoking the wide sky and far horizons of the Oklahoma plains, and creating a spacious music that allows room to pause and breathe. Gliding harps come in, holding a conversation with voice lines as they explore and embellish a simple theme, questions and variations play...

Music adapted from Nate Berkus’s Meditative Story, "Designing your space in the world." After a short welcome from Rohan, the listener enters a musical landscape inspired by a curious young collector. Linked by a quiet piano theme, the music wanders from sound to sound, exploring potential in airy synths, organic found sounds and the many timbres of the human voice – from a soaring chorus to an in...