Music for Tiny Seeds – A Soothing Tom Francis Album for Young Listeners

Tom Francis is an incredibly gifted musician and he’s no stranger to Baha’i Blog. He participated in Baha’i Blog’s Studio Sessions by singing “Say God Sufficeth” and by performing a cover of Doug Cameron’s “Mona with the Children”. He was also instrumental (pun very much intended!) in the music from the 2022 world conferences in Queensland, music from the 5 Year Plan Festival in Brisbane, and music from the Heroes Teaching Conference.

In this interview, Tom shares with us about his album Music for Tiny Seeds:

Can you tell us a little bit about the album?

Music for Tiny Seeds consists of prayers and quotations from the Baha’i Writings set to music, the core of the album being live performances on acoustic guitar.

How did the album come about, and why was it important for you to make this album personally?

The idea for this album came about after having my son Alex. I wanted to put some Baha’i prayers and quotations to music that had a lullaby feel and could be played to him when he was restless or having trouble sleeping. I hoped by sharing these songs with others they could do the same, while also exposing their little ones to the sacred writings. At this time COVID has just hit and some recording plans I’d had needed to be postponed so I thought why not record these songs in my little bedroom studio live with just an acoustic guitar. This is also why you can hear the native Australian birds accompanying me throughout the record! I then added a few layers of vocals and piano and mixed and mastered it myself which was also a first. 

How did you select the quotes to use? Was there a certain criteria you used?

I selected the quotations in part by delving into the children’s section of my Baha’i prayer book and also reflecting on prayers that were sung to me and that we as a family sang when I was a child. My personal approach to setting quotations to music to look at both what quotations or prayers I’m drawn to or that express a certain sentiment or principle but also the how the structure of the quotation or section of a prayer can work in the form of a song.

What do you hope listeners walk away with after they’ve listened to the album?

I hope listeners are uplifted, relaxed, soothed, or asleep.

Thank you, Tom, for taking the time to share this with us and thank you for continuing to make wonderful music for audiences of all ages!

Tom’s album, Music for Tiny Seeds, can be purchased and downloaded from 9 Star Media.

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Naysan Naraqi

Naysan is passionate about using the arts and media to explore the teachings of the Baha’i Faith. Back in 2011, Naysan started up the Baha’i Blog project, channeling his experiences in both media and technology companies to help create a hub for Baha’i-inspired content online.