Maestro Classics

 

"Stories in Music" from Maestro Classics was created to expand listening horizons, develop listening skills, accumulate musical memories, and to encourage adults and children to listen to music together. I have to agree that these CDs can definitely do all that.

 

We received the CD for The Tortoise and the Hare. But we didn't receive just a story. The CD was delightfully packed with 6 parts.

1)The Story - In the story, different voices depicted each character. Wonderful music from The Philharmonic Orchestra was woven throughout.

2)About the Story - This was a great segment that told about the story, the author, and whatever other information might make listening to the story more meaningful.

3)A song - On our CD the song played and sang was the Pretzel Vendor of Paris Song.

4)About the Music - This was a very interesting segment where the composer explained how he chose the music for the different parts of the story. This was almost my most favorite part of the CD and I was very impressed with his choices.

5)Now That You Know a Little More - Here the story was played again so we could listen with our new knowledge of the music choices.

6)Want to Have Some Fun? - This section played just the music from the Pretzel Vendor of Paris song. We were encouraged to sing along from the booklet that accompanied the CD.

So this was definitely a full CD we received. But about that enclosed booklet I mentioned earlier. Also included were pictures of all the orchestra instruments and a lesson on notes, fractions, and time signatures. And since our story was The Tortoise and the Hare, the booklet gave information about turtles and tortoises and rabbits and hares. It also told about the contrabassoon which was a special instrument used in the story. As if that weren't enough, the booklet had short activities such as dot-to-dot, word jumble, and a crossword puzzle. It also told us about the conductor/composer, executive producer, and the narrator.

TITLES AVAILABLE - (CDs are $16.98 each or 3 for $45)
The Tortoise and the Hare
The Story of Swan Lake
Juanita the Spanish Lobster (in English or Spanish)
Casey at the Bat (Gift set also available which includes the book)
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (Gift set also available)
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Peter and the Wolf

DID WE LIKE IT?
ABSOLUTELY! My 6 year old daughter has listened to The Tortoise and the Hare many, many times since it arrived. And now that I have been able to listen to all the parts of this almost hour long CD, I am very impressed. These are very well done. I will definitely be watching as the selection grows so I can add to her audio book collection. Although now that I know about all the other gems included, I am going to want to listen to them too.

Please read what my other Crew Mates had to say. And definitely check out Maestro Classics. These fun CDs would make great gifts.

Disclosure:This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. No further compensation was received. Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are my own.