Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Maestro Classics- TOS Review


Maestro Classics Review
Are you looking for resources to introduce your kids to gorgeous music AND great story-telling? Look no further than Maestro Classics.  Maestro Classics is a company founded by Bonnie and Stephen Simon. The Simon's have a long history of working in and around music, Bonnie as the former executive director of the Washing Chamber Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Stephen as the Music Director of the same organization. This amazingly musical couple and have made beautiful, world class music accessible to families everywhere with this series. I, for one, couldn't be more thrilled.
We reviewed both
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Six tracks on the CD
1.The Sorcerer's Apprentice
2. About the Story
3. March of the Brooms
4. About the Music
5. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
6. Prepare to Perform
7. Play along kitchen percussion. 
Total playing time is 42:24
Also included is a lovely 22 -page booklet that includes history, original story, games, puzzles, the score, information about the orchestra and more. It would be so easy to create an entire unit study out of one of these, and a year's worth of great music education with several. 

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Seven tracks on the CD 
1. The Story of Water Music
2. About Handel and the Story
3. "My Name is Handel" song
4. About the Music with Maestro
5. Prepare to perform
6. "My Name is Handel" Sing-Along. 
Total playing time of 48:45
Also included is a beautiful booklet chock full of educational ideas and activities. 

If you've read GG at all, you know that I am a huge advocate of making use of as many "helps" as you can get your hands on in order to educate your children well. I was thrilled when the opportunity came along to review Maestro ClassicsThese are the kind of "helps" that I advocate getting- beautifully rendered educational materials that are so engaging and fun it's hard to identify them as "school."  The CD cover and booklet includes beautiful art-work, making each CD worthy of gift-giving; they are truly that lovely.

In addition, the Simon's have many resources available to you, for free, via their web-site:  Educational Materials  that include unit studies, lap-books, projects, score sheet, beautiful music and more! And check out Bonnie's  blog for more great music resources as well the Kid Club 

11 CD Collection
Maestro Classics has published 11 intriguing musical stories to date, including Peter and the Wolf, the Story of Swan Lake, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, My Name is Handel, Casey at the Bat, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, The Tortoise and the Hare, Juanita the Spanish Lobster, Carnival of the Animals, Juanita la langosta espanola and the Soldier's Tale. 

Flower and Cub listened to these CD's. While Cub is a bit out of the suggested age-range, it was not a hardship for him to listen to both stories; so much so that the kids listened to both CD's in one afternoon. They found them engaging and informative. They loved the music and I caught them humming it on more than one occasion.

The CD's are available for $16.98 each, or as Mp3 downloads for $9.99. The CD's include a 22-page activity booklet and the Mp3 downloads come with a .pdf version of the booklet.

Suggested age ranges are for ages 6-12, but they are totally appropriate for inquisitive people of all ages. These are an excellent addition to your audio library, would be a fun unit or co-op study and would make beautiful and thoughtful gifts for children (or adults!) of all ages.

Find Maestro Classics   here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaestroClassics 
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MaestroClassics
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/maestroclassics/

As always, for more reviews about this stellar product check out what the Crew is saying
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