Interview:

I am not a musician. Usually, I don’t even think to sing in the shower or turn on the radio in the car. Yet during pregnancy, I gravitated toward music. Songs spoke to me and to my baby; my sedentary baby kicked and wriggled inside my womb whenever a singing voice or a regular beat entered her world. Then my Blessingway – a celebration of my pregnancy, an opportunity for my friends to nurture, support, encourage, and honor me and my transition into motherhood. Vocal music had an enormous impact on our group dynamics, and on each person individually, especially me, probably because pregnant women are particularly receptive to sensory connections with other women. Singing and chanting together, this circle of diverse women instantaneously became one, unified by a primal connection. I felt our heartbeats synchronize with a joyful electricity. Sentiments were expressed through song that we otherwise tend to suppress in our culture. When the singing waned, the free flow of emotional expression continued. We were intimate, uninhibited, opened up by the magic of music. I still would not call myself a musician, but music continues to be a powerful way for me to communicate with my friends, my children, and my inner self.

“Music continues to be a powerful way for me to communicate with my friends, my children, and my inner self.”
– Shari Maser, author of “Blessingways: A Guide To Mother-Centered Baby Showers”