Case · Music + grant research

A Mother’s Heart with Shanna Forrestall

I was working with Shanna Forrestall on material for her children’s stories when she was looking for ways to fund her work. I composed the music for her illustrated story A Mother’s Heart and put together a Grant Finder around the project she wanted to fund.

Listen to the cue See the Grant Finder

Portrait of Shanna Forrestall.
Shanna Forrestall · Photo: Emily Coates

01 Original cue · Instrumental

A Mother’s Heart

Waveform of the recording, drawn from the WAV file.
Music
Aaron Apter — composer, producer, performer
Story & narration
Shanna Forrestall

02 · The cue

Leaving a child time to turn the page

I built the arrangement in MIDI in Apple Logic Pro so I could change the BPM or move a chord change without rebuilding the session. With Flex Time, I could also adjust the timing inside an audio phrase when a line needed more room.

Shanna could hear that the next line came in too soon. She wanted a child to have time to turn the page and look at the picture.

I asked her whether the pulse or the rate of chord changes was the issue. Then I sent her a pass 10 BPM slower and asked her to mark where she needed space.

Logic timeline with blue narration clips above the MIDI instruments.
The Logic Pro session I sent Shanna. Her narration is in blue, with the chords above and the instruments below. This pass is at 102 BPM.

03 · Collaborator

Shanna Forrestall

Shanna Forrestall is an actor, writer, narrator and producer, and the founder of 4FC Productions. She produces film and music and teaches workshops and youth fashion programs. She wrote Why the Girl Became a Cat, illustrated by Matthew DeGuia.

Through My Calm World, she and composer Jeff Gold make narrated bedtime stories, guided meditations and music. They also hire and mentor young artists who illustrate, animate and edit the work.

Shanna Forrestall holding a copy of Why the Girl Became a Cat.
Why the Girl Became a Cat. Book art: Matthew DeGuia. Photo via 4FC Productions.

04 · Grant Finder

From her project briefs to a list of leads

Shanna sent eight project briefs. She wanted to look by project and also see what else was out there, from residencies to paid commissions. I adapted my Funding Workbench to put her briefs and existing leads side by side. You can try that workflow here with sample leads.

Funding Workbench

Sample leads