Customer Reviews

Baby Bach VHS

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(29)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

We started with Baby Mozart, which absolutely mesmerized our 6-month old son, and promptly bought Baby Bach, Baby Einstein and Baby Shakespeare. I'd say Baby Einstein holds his interest a little less than the others (it's more talk than music), but he really seems to enjoy them all. Some people seem not to like Baby Bach as much as the others, but our son is no less enthusiastic about it than the others -- in our opinion, it's just as well made and the toys are just as interesting (plus, we like Bach!) I don't believe in parking my child in front of the TV, but it is so helpful to be able to put him in his high chair, start this video, then be able to go prepare his dinner, throw a load of laundry in, take a shower -- whatever -- and know that he'll be perfectly content for the next half hour, with the added bonus that it's stimulating, educational and acquaints him with some great music at an early age. I commend the woman who came up with the idea for, and created, these videos and wish I'd thought of it myself.

Our 6 month old (very fussy) son absolutely adores Baby Mozart, and we were so relieved to have found something that calmed him down 100% of the time that we bought Baby Bach and Baby Einstein.

I heartily agree with those who say that Baby Bach is a big step down from Baby Mozart--the "timing" (balance of images/music intervals) isn't as good, the toys aren't as interesting to watch and the toys are not as well matched to the music. Furthermore, the "jazzed up" arrangements of the Bach music didn't strike me as very appealing to babies, and (like other reviewers) my baby and I get totally bored by the images of the creators' kids telling jokes, jumping around, and generally hamming it up for the camera. It seemed to me as if they ran out of ideas, so they decided to just film their kids for a while and edit those segments in.

Though I'm a big Bach fan myself, I think the tiniest tykes might not find his music as engaging as Mozart's (at least not the selections they chose), and that may be another problem with this video.

That said, we are afraid that someday soon our little one will get tired of Baby Mozart, so Baby Bach will do for variety. I'm not sorry we bought it, but I hope that the video's producers will wait until they have enough new and good ideas before producing another video, rather than slapping together a production like Baby Bach.

Despite other negative reviews, we bought this tape because our 14 mo. old LOVES Baby Einstein and Baby Mozart. We're sorry we bought it. Baby Bach has a similar format to the first 2 videos in the series but you would think that someone entirely different created the video. It is slow paced, the toys are less vibrant and the music selections are less than energetic. This would be more appropriate for very young babies to view before bedtime. However, my daughter, who will stare at most anything on the television, completely ignored this video. It would seem that the creators sacrificed quality to get another video out quickly. But never fear...Baby Shakespeare is excellent! If you have to make a choice...skip this one. Otherwise, I'm sure it would help for the sake of having some variety.

This is the first video in the series, that my daughter, then 10 months old recieved. She loved it from the beginning, and will still watch it 4 months later. Since then we have purchased more of these videos (Mozart, Shakepeare, Van Gogh and the 2 Baby Dolittles) and she has varied responses to them. Baby Bach uses toys, real children and other objects while playing "baby friendly" music. This formula works, my daughter is entertained by most of this video, especially the chicken and the robot segment, and with the exception of the lava lamp segment which will initially capture her attention but soon lose it. The video segments work around the introduction of the ascending scale sounded out throughout with still images of instuments. I have no problem with Julie Aigner-Clark using her own children in this video, but I think that may be on of the reasons this video comes across as so amateurish. Perhaps the use of live action children could have smoothed out the transitions between video clips and still images but instead, the overall feel is somewhat choppy. The use of Bach's music is good, but there really isn't much of it overall in this video because of all the sound effects that score the toy segments. Overall, I would have to say that baby Mozart was a better effort than Baby Bach. As with that video, I think the age range (1-36 months) is too broad. There are loud noises that can readily frighten young babies while the extremely repetitive and static nature of much of this video may bore older toddlers. There is no excuse, however, for the last bit of this video which is a selection of out-takes. Of what purpose, educational or entertainment are blooper clips of her daughters? You get to see the younger one flaying around on the floor, taking off sun glasses, and the older one mouthing "Mommy please stop laughing" and mugging for the camera. I'm sure, as their mother, she found this very cute. As a viewer, I found it extremely self-indulgent. Because of this, I turn the TV off so neither I or my daughter need be subject to the the antics of little Sierra and Aspen. If you want a change of pace from Baby Mozart, this video will do, but if you want to buy either one or the other, I would recommend Mozart.

We purchased Baby Mozart for our daughter when she was about 6 months old and she loved it. We bought Baby Bach a few weeks later and, while she enjoyed it a little, Baby Bach is not as good. There are a lot more static shots with little or no movement and some scenes are repetitious. The producer also put their daughter (and other kids - maybe friends/neighbors) in the video and these scenes just don't fit in. It's obvious that they were just stuck in because they thought that it would be "cute" - it really wasn't. The music on this video is not as lively as the Mozart tape either.

In my experience these tape (Baby Mozart and Baby Bach) are great for the 6 - 12 month age range. They really hold the child's attention. When our daughter turned one she began to lose interest in these tapes.

After we realized our son liked the Baby Mozart DVD, we decided to purchase more in the series. Being huge classical music fans we decided Baby Bach was the next logical choice. We are rather disappointed with Baby Bach, though. For one, our son (who is almost 1) doesn't seem at all interested in it (and it's not that he doesn't like Bach; he has the Pipe toy and loves to play with it - I've also written a review of that in the Toys area). Secondly, and this is probably just my personal bias, but there's just waaaay too much of the Clark children talking and dancing - it really interrupted the flow. Regarding the flow in general, the whole Theatre presentation seemed just thrown together: clumsy, illogical transitions and lots of extraneous sounds. I would recommend folks skip this one - if you get it as a gift, see if your child likes it, but don't spend the money yourself.

I agree with the other reviewers, Baby Mozart is the best of the series. The problem with Baby Bach, Baby Santa's Music Box (the two others I have seen so far) is that there are scenes with children in them. My daughter is not at all interested in the people scenes for some reason. She loves all the movement and all the toys, and in the Bach series, there simply aren't as many moving toy scenes. (Same goes for Baby Santa which is definitely the WORST of Baby Einstein.)

I think the thing that bothers me the most about Baby Bach is that Julie Clark puts her children in it, and frankly, I find it to be the MOST annoying part of the show, thank goodness it's only for a few minutes. Trying too hard to be cutesy, believe me, it's not at all cute.

In buying the Baby Einsten tapes / DVDs (in general) I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised at my daughters reaction. She is captivated by the (moving) scenery, it's amazing to see a five month old so interested, I almost want to videotape her watching it, yes it's that cute. And I think you will be thrilled, too, when you see your child interact.

Should you buy this one? Sure, it's one of the better Baby Einstein tapes, but it's not the best. I think the original Baby Mozart is by far the best. They should stick to the original format.

Having enjoyed Baby Mozart, we bought this (and Baby Van Gogh) for our baby--but this one was disappointing. The most disturbing thing to me is the role that Julie Clark's two daughters play in this video. They tell silly jokes, smile at the camera, hug each other--it's a little weird, frankly, and has nothing whatsoever to do with Bach.
The coordination between the music and the moving toys on the screen is also not as good in this video as in Baby Mozart. The toys don't do as much, and the camera doesn't move in very interesting ways. (On at least five different occasions, the camera just sits on a toy instrument, while someone plays a major scale--on a completely different instrument--in the background. That's not very imaginative.) Finally, I don't like the performances of the music on the synthesizer. I think Bach can be performed on real musical instruments in ways that even very young children can enjoy.

Baby Bach is a cancer on the Baby Einstein series. Young baby? Get the original - Baby Einstein Language Nursery. Three months? Get Baby Beethoven. Six month - Baby Van Gogh. Got this? Return it. It's a shame to think some people are going to see this as their first Baby Einstein experience. The best parts of the series are the varied toys moving across the screen and the playful puppets. In this video it's just pictures of the toys. They don't move. You could play Bach on your stereo and flip through a magazine and have a better experience - at least the magazine only cost $3. The puppeteer in this series is apparently a moron. They don't do anything! I have a sneaking suspicion they had exactly one hour to video tape this - how else can you explain in huge difference in this video from the others? The series are great - get the ones above. Do not buy this one - it's a serious disappointment. I am trying creative things to do with this DVD. Like balance the coffee table with the box it came in.

Baby Bach - the third installation in the Baby Einstein Company's series is almost as good as the original, Baby Mozart. My 7-month-old watches this almost as intently as she does #1 - Baby Mozart... which is still much better than other companies' video "board-book" or video "mobile" products.

All in all, Ms. Aigner-Clark's innovation is quite remarkable - stimulating music and visuals to distract and aid in child development. I give all of my friends the Baby Einstein Library (which includes the videos Baby Mozart, Baby Bach and Baby Einstein) for shower and baby gifts - and I receive raving 'thank yous.'

These videos can be life-savers when Mom or Dad need a couple of minutes of quiet to themselves or to devote to other children. I am still surprised by shrieks of delight from my daughter at some of the visuals. My four-star rating has only yo do with my own lesser's opinion of this video's visuals and one particularly annoying laugh-track AS COMPARED TO Baby Mozart (which I rate at five-stars). My daughter would probably give them both five++.