20 years ago I heard an interview with Mickey Hart on NPR. He had wanted to compose a piece of music for his pregnant wife and their unborn child. He based it on her heartbeat. They played it through the pregnancy and again during the birth and afterwards. From then on when their son would go ballistic, or cranky or teething or not want to go to sleep, they would put on the music. Within miniutes their son chilled and became a human once again. Their son was about 4 when tthe interview happened and the interviewer asked the son what his favoite music was. "Music to be born by" came spontaneously. And his second favorite? The Grateful Dead. I sought out the recording (it was only a casette at that time and only through the graces of WGBH) and gave it to friends of mine who were expecting their 2d child. Willow was born to it and heard it before and after. Some three years later they were at our house visiting and Willow started becoming a real terror. Without anyone noticing I went to the music system and switched the music to Music to be Born by. Within 4-5 minutes Willow had calmed down and was a wonderful golden child again. What a gift -- a sound mandala to ease the transition into this chaos! It works. I just bought it again for another couple who are expecting their first.
August 8, 2007Our second son was born to this (cassette) 17 years ago. He has been a drummer since he was 8 years old - he's amazing!
Our first son was born to Dead music too, before this came out. He's also a musician.
This is a wonderful addition to the already wonderful experience!
March 21, 2007Such a waste of money. I would reccomend you buy just about any other CD than this one. It's the same 10 notes over and over and over and over and over again for over an hour. Why bother? I like Planet Drum and Supralingua but I'm trading this one in for store credit as a used CD though I hate to inflict it on anyone else. Blech!
August 11, 2005I recommend this music for anyone who is birthing a child. Both of our children where born to this music. We played it during both pregnancies and both births. Our children love this! We used to play it to get them calm for sleep every night when they were babies. Taro's pulse warms our hearts and home. It is wholly familiar to the spirit of a child. This music will help you create a loving place in which to grow your family. I thank Taro, Micky and Mary Halloway-Hart for sharing such a wonderful piece of artwork with us all. It is deeply personal. It can allow you to relax your mind so that you can hear the life within you! Enjoy!
October 4, 2003 |  | Beautiful Concept...A Bit Repitious. |  |
Like the title my review suggests, Mickey Hart/Taro Hart's concept CD, Music To Be Born By, does good in concept but the piece is a bit redundant or repitious.
It has a nice melody against Taro's fetal heartbeat and Mickey's lite percussive rhythm, but it doesn't go anywhere as a change in tune - it is just continuous.
The CD is a nice relaxer for about 10-20 minutes. After that it gets boring.
Maybe if I was in labor I would understand the premise more clearly.
Bottom line, it needed a bit of variation on the tune - not the rhythm.
A fair job by Mickey & Co. August 21, 2002
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