The Making of the Children's CDs

Some of the songs came to me during my years as a Montessori teacher in Baltimore, MD. The first school I worked in there was Ms. Blanche, a Kodaly music teacher, who taught simple songs and accompanying rhythms. The children loved the songs and I did too. Sometimes I would change the words to the songs to make them more yogic or bring in more spiritual awareness. I did the same with many other songs that I picked up along the way. Seems I’ve always had one ear to the ground for a good song.

Some of these songs bear the wisdom of my teacher, Yogi Bhajan. He had such an amazing way of spontaneously coming out with great truths in simple language that spoke to the innocence in us all. I found it completely natural to share that with children. They “get it” with no need for cerebral involvement.

So there I was for 30 years, collecting and carrying around some wonderful music, some decidedly child-oriented, and others that speak to the universal spirit in us all. Yet decades went by with this project always somewhere in the nebulous future. At some point I became aware of what was stopping me from moving forward with it. It was musical insecurity. It was also clear that for the children’s sake, I had to get over myself, as they say.

The first insecurity I faced was that I was not a professionally trained singer. And yet, from the looks on the faces of children when I sang, I knew it had to be me singing these songs. I couldn’t hire a pro to sing no matter how good she was. Some years ago it dawned on me that I was born with a voice that was created for children’s music—whether gentle and soothing, or lively and playful. An example comes to mind of one of the Radiant Child Yoga training attendees who was a therapist for the Missouri School for the Blind. Her remarkable story of how the Fly Like A Butterfly song was the impetus for one mute child to begin speaking is recounted in the Teacher’s Sharing Page on this site.

So this past summer I gathered my courage, and moved forward. The second challenge was that I had 30 plus songs, mostly without any musical notation or chord progression. I have a discriminating ear for music, but do not read, write, or play any instruments, save the autoharp which plays chords at the push of a button!

The Universal Intelligence that runs things gave me the big thumbs up, though, when I was fortunate enough to meet just the right guitar players, Mark Slattery and Gurutrang Singh. They helped me to get the basic arrangements set down. They each offered wonderfully creative suggestions that enhanced the songs, and in some cases—totally made the difference between an ordinary song and an exceptional song. Add in Rob Sukol on bass guitar (how much depth and expression it adds!) and sweet or jazzy piano with Lydia Kriso, and we ended up with music that ROCKS!

So many others added their gifts to this project. One vital addition to this project has been Alima Clarke. I have full evidence that my intuition works because while I was teaching in Australia this past May, I really tuned into Alima (whose spiritual name is Dyal Kaur). She is now a Radiant Child Yoga trainer in Australia, along with several other amazing women. Knowing her natural, deep understanding of children, her spiritual gifts and musical talent, I invited her to come to the United States in September and sing with me. She not only sang (and thanks be—our voices merge beautifully), but she showed me another side of herself that I hadn’t seen. She was Organization Personified, creating charts for which songs needed what instruments, helping me set priorities on lists, lists, and more lists of things to be done. In the three short weeks she was here, she dedicated herself body and soul to this project.

We had an almost impossible timetable—31 songs (chords, arrangements, musicians, recordings) in about 2 months time. It was her first time in the USA, and I felt badly that she saw little more than my kitchen, office, and the recording studio. But she didn’t seem to mind. It was a magical three weeks, almost bursting with creativity, and surprisingly little need for sleep.

Getting over the dread and fear of singing in a recording studio was a milestone for me (and Alima too). Mercifully it was a separate small dark room--no one scrutinizing you from behind a glass window. Krishan Prakash proved to be the perfect production/audio engineer for me to work with. I personally learned so much from his ability to make each person feel at ease, and genuinely so. His calm, easy-going manner left no room for self-criticism to take hold. If a take didn’t sound as good as it could, he would just say, “Do you want to try that again?” No judgment, just kindness and cool. And to think that I babysat him when he was growing up….awesome!!

As you can probably tell, I am very jazzed about this project, and I hope you can tell I am extremely grateful for how it turned out. I know you will love these songs and your children will too. But be warned: These songs get stuck in your brain and you will find yourself humming them continuously, until your spouse or friends tell you to stop. Oh well, if that is the worse thing you have to deal with, consider yourself fortunate!

Click here to view the Happy and Cozy CDs in the store

• Shakta Khalsa
• Thursday, November 16