The Lullaby
From New York to Liverpool: The Healing Power of Lullabies
Celebrating Baby Week 2026
Live Music Now joins Improving Me to recognise a pioneering creative health programme, designed to promote early engagement with the NHS; whilst promoting maternal mental health, family wellbeing and building bonds between parents and babies.
This cutting-edge music programme brings together professional musicians and new mothers to create personal lullabies for their babies. It will be honoured at Liverpool Central Library on Saturday 21 November, as part of Baby Week Cheshire and Merseyside 2026.
The Live Music Now Family Music Showcase will celebrate the power of music to support maternal mental health, strengthen early relationships and bring families together, with performances inspired by the internationally recognised Lullaby Project, originally developed by Carnegie Hall New York to address maternal disparities and promote a best start.
The programme was introduced to Cheshire and Merseyside during the COVID-19 pandemic through a partnership between Improving Me – NHS Cheshire and Merseyside's Women's Health and Maternity Programme and Carnegie Hall. Anxious to build on the Carnegie Hall learning and develop an NHS pilot – Improving Me reached out to Live Music Now, a national music charity founded by Yehudi Menuhin, with a base in Liverpool.
Live Music Now stands out with its abiding dual concern for the development of the most talented young musicians as they embark on a professional career, and a commitment ‘to reach those in the community who had least opportunity to experience the joy and benefits of being involved in live performance’. Together Improving Me and Live Music Now focused on ‘taking live music into the places where people spend their lives’, to develop a UK model built on effective cross sector working, which they could ‘scale and spread’ across the NHS.
Created to support parents experiencing isolation, emotional distress and the challenges of early parenthood, the Lullaby Project offers something both simple and deeply personal: the opportunity to write a song for their own child.
Working alongside professional musicians, parents are invited to reflect on their hopes, memories and dreams for their babies. Together, they transform these thoughts into lyrics and melodies, creating original lullabies that are professionally recorded and can be treasured for years to come.
Unlike conventional music therapy or performances delivered to an audience, the Lullaby Project places parents at the centre of the creative process. Their experiences, voices and cultural identities shape each composition, enabling families to express emotions that may be difficult to put into everyday words.
Music as a bridge to better maternal mental health
The transition to parenthood can be an emotionally vulnerable period, particularly for mothers experiencing anxiety, depression, social isolation or other perinatal mental health challenges.
The Lullaby Project demonstrates how participation in the arts can complement and extend clinical and community support, offering parents opportunities for connection, self-expression and confidence-building.
Live Music Now's programme draws on a decade of research and development through Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, exploring how creative music-making can strengthen relationships between caregivers and children, support emotional wellbeing and encourage early communication and language development.
The project has since expanded across England and Wales through partnerships with NHS organisations, local authorities and community services.
In Liverpool, one of three initial Improving Me pilots focused on families from the Sudanese community in Toxteth, providing an early demonstration of the power of music to cross language and cultural boundaries and create opportunities for families to share their personal experiences of motherhood.
Celebrating ten years of Improving Me
The showcase marks a special milestone for Improving Me, which is celebrating ten years of innovation in women's health and maternity services across Cheshire and Merseyside.
Established in 2015 as an NHS vanguard and early adopter programme, Improving Me has championed new approaches to women's health that promote health creation, recognise the importance of prevention, community engagement and lived experience.
Partnerships with creative organisations such as Live Music Now reflect the programme's commitment to widening access to wellbeing support and addressing inequalities in maternal and infant health.
Catherine McClennan- Improving Me Director said, "Becoming a parent can be one of life's most joyful experiences, but it can also be a time of enormous vulnerability and isolation. The Lullaby Project clearly demonstrates how something as universal as music can create meaningful opportunities for connection, confidence and emotional expression.
During the pandemic, when so many families were separated from their usual networks of support, creative approaches like this became particularly important. We're delighted to celebrate this partnership during Baby Week and to share the beautiful music that has emerged from it.
As Improving Me marks its tenth anniversary, this programme reminds us that improving women's health means looking beyond traditional healthcare and recognising the value of creativity, culture and community."
Hear from Collette, a local mum about the Lullaby experience https://vimeo.com/766352810?fl=pl&fe=sh
A live celebration for families
On Saturday 21 November, Live Music Now musicians will bring the spirit of the Lullaby Project to Liverpool Central Library through a family music showcase celebrating the intimate relationship between music, memory and early childhood. The musicians will be joined by mums from the initial pilots.
Elfair Grug Dyer, an award-winning virtuoso concert harpist will also make a return to Baby Week, offering families an opportunity to enjoy live music together in a welcoming cultural setting.
Baby Week is also delighted to welcome performances from the Liverpool Signing Choir and Liverpool Show Choir, alongside family engagement activities and opportunities to discover and take home FREE music resources for the home and community.
Families will be able to explore Live Music Now's collection of recorded performances, early years musical activities and lullabies, extending the benefits of music-making beyond the event itself. Liverpool Library will be making these resources freely accessible to families and community groups through their library catalogue.
This year's Baby Week theme, Closing the Gap, highlights the importance of ensuring that every family, regardless of background or circumstances, can access opportunities to support their health, wellbeing and development.
The day will also include the launch of the Liverpool Milk Trail, a new cultural walking route connecting ten breastfeeding-friendly city-centre venues, developed by The Holding Time Project in partnership with Improving Me.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate how cultural spaces, creative participation and community partnerships can contribute to healthier, more connected families.
Event information
Baby Week 2026 – Family Music Showcase
● Date: Saturday 21 November 2026
● Venue: Liverpool Central Library, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EW
Baby Week programme: 10.00am–3.30pm (timings subject to change)
10.00am event opens
Meet Improving Me in Discover
10.30am Milk Trail launches
11.00am Liverpool Signing Choir
11.30am Award winning harpist virtuoso Elfair Grug Dyer
12.30pm The Lullaby
1.00pm Photo shoot
1.20 pm The Lullaby
2.00pm Photo shoot
3.00pm Liverpool Show Choir
For more information about Live Music Now's Lullaby Project:
https://www.livemusicnow.org.uk/lullaby-project/