I Love Music: England--Kate and Her Orchestra

As near as I can tell, here's what happens: 10-year-old Kate, an English schoolgirl (voiced-over by "Kate," who, in distinct contrast to her screen persona, sounds neither British nor pre-pubescent) who composes music and plays clarinet, is preparing for a local concert. We see her in a lesson at the home of her music teacher, Mr. Timms, followed by a home practice session with co-young-people's-orchestra-players Laura and Carolyn, and finally in rehearsal for the big concert. After a somewhat abrupt ending, I plucked the 2-page study guide out to try to figure out what the producers thought they were doing. The "Learning Objectives" included: 1) comparing and contrasting the student's culture, family, and activities to Kate's culture, family, and activities (Kate's mother appears once to announce bedtime, but that's the total extent of "family" we see), 2) locate England on a map or globe (that would have to be a "pre-viewing" activity since no such geography lesson appears on the video), and 3) define elements of an orchestra (personally, I don't think that the unstructured mention of various instruments without reference to their general family--brass, woodwinds, etc.--qualifies). The I Love Music series includes 29 other titles, but if they are as brief and unfocused as this one, I'd opt for a good general introduction instead, such as Disney's World of Music Discovery (VL-5/98). Aud: E, P. (R. Pitman)