Customer Reviews

Classical Cats: A Children's Introduction to the Orchestra (CD + Book)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Don't be surprised if children who listen to this imitate the main characters and behave badly. The main characters who introduce the music are obnoxious. They are an overbearing female who is always right and a misbehaving boy who she scolds. Sometimes the boy will say something cute and be praised for it by the always superior female. This would be especially awful for a younger brother and older sister. There are many good recordings of classical music directed toward a young audience like Prokofiev's well loved "Peter & the Wolf" and Britten's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra". Try the recording of these with narrators Alec Clunes and Lorin Maazel on DG Musikfest. There are numerous other recordings of Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf and Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, each with different narrators. Try also Classics for Children by Arthur Fiedler with the Boston Pops on Bmg/Rca Victor. This recording has a delightful and humorous version of Saint Saens' Carnival of the Animals and other classical music as well. And there is Tubby the Tuba, this introduces the orchestra with the adventures of a tuba. The story is almost like the Ugly Duckling, sweet and funny. There are versions by Danny Kaye and the Manhattan Transfer among others.

My two year old daughter loved this book and tape. The characters are lovabe. She now knows the names of more musical instruments than she would have otherwise. It's a fun, educational set. Defintely worth buying

I am an elementary music educator and use this book with First and Second Grade children to teach instruments of the orchestra. The CD plays wonderful examples of each instrument by its orchestral family. The "cats" are very funny characters that the children fall in love with. Using this as a teaching tool, the ability of First Graders that can tell you the names of each orchestral instrument and the family it belongs in will amaze you. An added plus is the coloring book that shows the cats playing their instruments.

Entertaining and fun... Introduces you and your children to the four basic groups of an orchestra, plays the major instruments of the groups, and ends with choice selections discussed and presented to illustrate what was previously introduced.

This CD is absolutely wonderful for car trips. My (just turned) 3 year old loves to listen to this in the car, and it's invaluable for longer stretches in the car. It really holds his attention, and he loves being able to identify so many of the instruments of the orchestra by sound. I've even learned a few things about the orchestra that I had either forgotten or just plain never knew! I definitely agree with the previous reviewer that some of the exchanges between the cats is annoying/inane for the adults in the car, but my three year old never seems to be bothered by it (of course!). (As the annoying bit is right at the beginning, after the first listen-through, we've just skipped that approximately 2 minute part of the CD.) This is definitely a hit in our car, and I'd recommend it to anyone with a toddler/preschooler looking to introduce their child to all the unique instruments and sounds of the orchestra.

If you want to introduce classical music and the orchestra to your kids, stick to the old favorite Peter and the Wolf. This album includes byplay between the "cat" characters of such toe-curling inanity you will be lunging for the Raffi tapes for relief. While the excerpts from Peer Gynt and Rodeo are nice, the majority of the music is the Nutcracker Suite, one piece that most children already have ample opportunity to hear. The characters also reinforce stereotypes -- the girl is smart, the boy is dumb, the maestro is a male with a European accent.

Best for kids 6-7 and under. Goofy "plot" with somewhat annoying characters (from an adult perspective), but my daughter loved this. It goes through all the orchestra instruments, and then has some classical music at the end. A fun way to let them hear individual instruments, and then see if they can pick them out in the music.

Wonderful instructional CD for children 2 and up! My children ask for it every time we get in the car.