Customer Reviews

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Book & CD)

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

 

 

Money well spent! Good quality music on the enclosed CD, nice explanations and illustrations in the book. This book will introduce you / your children to the instruments and history of orchestra music in an entertaining fashion.
The book was recommended in Susan Bauer's Well-Trained Mind (Classical Homeschool Education). A nice read-and-listen activity for the whole family even if you are not into homeschooling. Try it on a car trip ...

This piece of music by Britten has always been, for me at least,the finest teaching tool in the world of classical music. Even for teaching oneself about the instruments of the orchestra (and especially using the CD alongside) it is just unbeatable. A superb and very easy piece of music to listen to, it is also ingenious, easy to follow and quite memorable to boot. The main theme is great and all the little solos show off the seperate instruments beautifully. You simply cannot get better than this anywhere.

I purchased this with the thought that it would add another dimension to my lesson plans introducing classical music and orchestration to young children in primary grades. It did not meet my objective. The narration is a bit high-brow and dull for kids. I hoped that the CD would have tracks to go with each section of the book but that was not the case. I have been able to pull some tidbits of information from the book to include in lesson plans but overall it hasn't been useful. I would highly recommend "The Story of the Orchestra" by Robert Levine.

I do give the book 3 stars for those who may have a young music student (maybe between 8-10 yrs. old) who is self motivated and might enjoy this book as an individual endeavor.

I know this product is meant for older children, but my four-year-old loves this book and especially the recording. He can't get enough of the description of the elements of the orchestra and the fugues by Benjamin Britten. He asks to play this over and over in the car. I recommend introducing this to young children - they just might like it, and possibly learn something in the process.

I LOVE the content in this book and CD. Unfortunately, this version with Ben Kingsley is almost impossible to listen to. His voice is very soft and low--difficult to understand unless you have the sound turned up very loud. Then the music comes in and blasts your eardrums out. When I listen to this with my kids I have to be near a volume control for constant adjusting. Very disappointing.

Bought this for our daughter who just turned 4 and who loves classical music. We thought she would enjoy this. I have to say that the only positive was the pictures in the book where we can show her the various orchestra instruments. The audio is really targeted to older children yet still has good pieces. The text in the book is also geared towards older children(not even appropriate for us to read it word for word to her). It will be great for our daughter when she's a little bit older. So if you're hoping that this will work out for your pre 5-6-7 year old child, keep these elements in mind since we clearly were hoping for the best.