Artists Children

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 at 10:19 am

Sleep, Little Child: Salisbury NC Musician Publishes Childrens Book

After graduating from North Carolina School of the Arts, the pianist, composer and singer Marc Hoffman went off to California and England – with stops at many more points in between – to play music and expand his artistic skills. But he always returned to his hometown, Salisbury.

Now, with the publication of his children's book, Sleep, Little Child, Hoffman has returned to a lullaby he wrote and recorded nearly a decade ago, for reasons that are mysterious even to him.

The lullaby was one of the 12 songs released as the CD "Dream of God."

"I had always wanted to write a lullaby," Hoffman said, "and that CD was the perfect opportunity to give it a try."

Marc Hoffman has written hundreds of songs, concert works, and jazz charts, and written and arranged the music for dozens of film and theater productions, so it's not surprising that the song "Sleep, Little Child" soon found itself stored away in his musical attic. But it surfaced again, and became a family favorite, soon after his wife Anne gave birth to their daughter, August Ruth Hoffman.

"I just naturally would sing to my baby, especially in the evening. And then it hit me that I had a lullaby of my own. I loved singing it, and August [now four] has always loved the song, too," Hoffman says.

"But maybe she's biased," he adds with a laugh.

The lullaby's lyrics, unchanged, became the bedtime story. It begins:

"Sleep, little child,

it's time to close your weary eyes.

And sleep, little child,

Just knowing He's by your side."

Hoffman says that the "He" in his book is definitely a non-denominational God, and that the presence of a heavenly guardian came about naturally in the lyric writing process.

"It's not meant to be an especially ‘religious' book," he says. "But I do believe we have an innate need to feel watched over, especially when we sleep. Children are clever enough to know that Mommy and Daddy certainly aren't watching them all night."

He also believes that a lullaby is not necessarily simplistic in its content or form. One of the songs he uses with his voice students is Brahms Lullaby (Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht, Op. 49, No. 4.)

"It seems so simple when you are listening, but to sing it properly takes technique."

Charleston artist Tony Waters painted the watercolor illustrations for Sleep, Little Child in a lush yet relaxed style that perfectly reflects the book's theme of reassurance and safe-keeping. Waters is a published author in his own right ("The Moon Smiles Down"), and illustrator of several children's books; among them is the "Flick" series with author Lynn Floyd Wright.

Sleep, Little Child includes a CD, so you (and your children) can hear Marc Hoffman perform the original lullaby. Bonus tracks let you also hear both Marc and his mother, Barbara "Nana" Hoffman, read the story without musical accompaniment.

"I just thought, what's better than hearing a real grandmother reading a bedtime story?" Hoffman says.

He admits that turning his song into a children's book was his wife Anne's idea.

"After hearing the song so many times, one day it dawned on her that it would be perfect as a children's book."

The author chose to publish under the auspices of his existing music-publishing label, Virllion Music. The past year was a busy, creative time at Verillion, because the process of putting together Sleep, Little Child ran concurrent with finishing up his latest musical CD release, the eclectic jazz collection Curioso. The CD features eleven original jazz compositions and performances by Grammy nominee John Sharp on guitar and Tim Gordon on sax.

That Hoffman has chosen to stretch out his creative muscles in the direction of a children's book is no surprise when you consider the broad range of styles and specialties that his musical career has encompassed. After receiving a degree in composition from North Carolina School of the Arts, Hoffman did additional study in film scoring at the University of Southern California. He also studied at The Dartington International Summer School of Music in Devon, England. With school behind him, he quickly established himself as a composer of film, theatre, pop, and gospel music. Then, in the early 1990s, he began to focus on his passion for jazz.

As a pianist and vocalist Marc performs over 100 dates a year, often with his trio, sometimes with larger ensembles. In addition to those many gigs, he is the artistic director of the Salisbury School of Music. It is here that his love for children and his passion for music come together as he instructs his students in composition, voice, piano and jazz improvisation.

"I really enjoy teaching." With a note of pride in his voice, he adds: "I have one student now who's written a huge number of songs and she's only sixteen. They're not all keepers of course; but, still . . . she's turning out about a song a day at this point."

Hoffman says that learning how to get a book to market was no easy task – but he's ready to take it on again. He already has two of his songs in mind that would make good stories.

"Now that I've been through this entire process of learning how to publish a book, it wouldn't make sense not to take advantage of it."

Other children's books by singer-songwriters

Marc Hoffman is not the first musician to publish a children's book, and he is definitely in good company. Two titles by Grammy winners have come out just this year.

Last winter country star Tim McGraw published his second children's book, "Love Your Heart," which is not based on a song. His first title, "My Little Girl" did use the lyrics of a song by that name released on his 2006 greatest-hits CD "Tim McGraw Reflected."

For its story line, singer Judy Collins' new children's book, "Over the Rainbow," uses the lyrics from the "Wizard of Oz" song.

Perhaps the first example of the genre is the book "Jolly Mon" that Jimmy Buffet co-authored with his daughter Savannah, way back in 1988. The song was released on his "Last Mango In Paris" CD that same year. A re-issue pairing the book and a CD of the song was released in 2006. -- BM

About the Author

Bill Morris is a writer and book author who lives in North Carolina.

Various Artists- "When All God's Children Get Together"