Book Talk Tuesday - The Story of the Orchestra

For this week, I thought to share my thoughts on a book which is a tad different from the usual picture books. :) When Dumpling first started showing interest in music, we attended the SSO Baby Proms as well as some the SSO's Concerts for Children. She started asking me some questions about the Orchestra and showed interest in some composers which were a tad beyond me so I hunted for a book to read up with her on and I found this!

It had great reviews on Amazon and I thought to give it a go. The title that I bought is a hardcover copy and comes with an audio CD. The information was well presented and organised as you can see from the contents page. The book is separated into 2 main parts where it even explores and explains the various periods and the composers which are from those periods before delving into the Orchestra instruments.

I found the information to be 'kids-friendly' as there were bite size explanation peppered all over the pages including interesting facts too. Trivia: Do you know what's Vivaldi's nickname? :)

 For each mini section (e.g. the pages on the composers / the instruments), there is a reference back to the CD which prompted us to listen to various elements. E.g. in the Vivaldi section, to listen to the tweeting of the birds, etc., in the concerto. 

To listening to the famous compositions of Tchaikovsky where the music was written for the ballet...

Under the second main part of the book which features on the Orchestra instruments, the information was once again well organised into String Section, Woodwind Section, Brass Section, etc.

In each of these section, it then delves into the history and the technical aspects of each instrument. From Violin to the lesser known Tuba...

to the chirpy Piccolo...  (Below pic: interesting facts on the differences for e.g. between a Piccolo and  a flute were also explained in the section) 

In case you are wondering how the the various sections 'organised' in the Orchestra? It is also explained clearly in the book. Definitely a resource to look into especially if your child is learning about Classical Music. Highly recommended! :)

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