Friday, December 18, 2009

The Tortoise and the Hare

I always loved “The Tortoise and the Hare” as a child, but had never heard it set to music. Maestro Classics has done just that. They have taken many classical stories and put them with music performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Simon. I was privileged to receive a sample of “The Tortoise and the Hare” to review.

First, on the CD is the story itself. I popped it into the CD player. I was curious, and my kids love music. I had no idea the results would be so entertaining. My seven year old was fascinated by the story. He started wandering around the couch in a circle. As the story progressed, it got much more interesting. As the hare was racing, little one would race around the couch. As the tortoise was racing, he would tiptoe v e r y s l o w l y and dramatically. He definitely enjoyed the story.

It doesn’t end there. The CD also contains lessons about the story and about the music. There is also a fun sing-along song. In my opinion, this is a fabulous way to develop a love of both classic literature and classical music within your child. The case also contains a little booklet. The booklet has a ton of information in it. It shows the instruments of the orchestra, notes and time signatures, information about the animals in the story, dot-to-dot activity, music for the sing-along, and more.

The CD is very affordable at $16.98, or 3 for $45. I am looking forward to ordering Peter and the Wolf. That is one of my all time favorite musical stories, and I can’t wait to share that with my boys. To see other reviews, click here.

1 comment:

Maestro Classics said...

Hi there!

This is a belated thanks for the wonderful review of our Tortoise and the Hare CD. I just wanted to let you know that since you reviewed our CD we've made a Facebook page so that our fans can participate in monthly giveaways (we have a big one coming up for the full 8 CD set!) and get coupons. We'd love to invite you and your readers to join our page or check out our new free homeschool music curriculum guides and thanks again for the lovely review!

Ruth
Maestro Classics