The Very Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra: With 10 Musical Sounds!

by Philip Noyce

Perfect introduction to classical music that encourages listening skills and includes entry level musical vocabulary

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

28 pages, Hardcover

Published September 8, 2022

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the concept of this book! The execution left a lot to be desired. Many reviews mentioned the sound playing doesn't work as designed which is absolutely true and extremely frustrating. The sound clips themselves are also really REALLY short. I was also bummed that so many of the orchestral instruments were left out.
It was fun to learn about some differently abled musicians in the back who have achieved global acclaim! We definitely watched a lot of videos after reading of performances or performers mentioned in this book.

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an interactive book that features the main components of orchestras, including french horn, flute, violin, cello, oboe, trumpet, timpani, piano, clarinet, and voice. On each page there is a description of the instrument, fun facts about it, and a place to push to hear a classical work that features that instrument. This book would be SO COOL if it worked, but unfortunately the touchpoints to trigger the different pieces of music did not work reliably at all. It sometimes randomly played the wrong work, or you had to press and hold very hard to keep the right piece playing, and overall it was just a distraction and an annoyance from the text. Cool idea, horrible execution. It's a more expensive book because of the interactive feature, and would not be worth it to purchase as a gift. I suspect library copies won't hold up to circulation.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed learning about an Orchestra and musical instruments. Lovely illustrations! I borrowed my copy from the library. There was no batteries in my copy so I was unable to hear the sounds (would have been cool) regardless, I really enjoyed reading this book.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

beautiful illustrations, tons of information, but the sounds are not aligned and made for a strange (and loud!) read.

[Catherine Holloway · Rating 1 out of 5]

The button sensitivity is really miscalibrated, if you press it some other piece comes on, even if the trigger is on the opposite side of the page.