Instruments of the Orchestra

Teachers who try to instill a sense of music appreciation in their students can rejoice: here is living proof that a performance of Peter and the Wolf inspired a girl to learn the bassoon! While these two tapes (Vol. 1: Strings and Percussion; Vol. 2: Woodwinds and Brass) present a fairly straightforward view of the four "families" of orchestral instruments ("This is a cello; this is what a cello sounds like"), the tapes feature teenagers from the Green Bay Symphony Youth Orchestra playing and discussing how they became interested in music. That student-centered approach is much more likely to hold the attention of intermediate-grade students than would a bunch of fusty old adults. Each tape consists of two independent segments, and the pair of tapes comes with an elaborate teacher's guide and an audiocassette of the work featured in the video, "Slava" by Joel Blahnik. However, there are some quibbles with the production. The same opening sequence is used for each of the families of instruments, so if a class watches all four segments, they'll hear the host announce four times "Well, I hear the audience entering the hall now, so settle back and enjoy the performance," while the same footage of people entering the theatre is shown. (You start watching for the granny who reaches for her program from the usher after the second go round.) Another point: the same final bars of "Slava" are used to end each segment, and alas, there's a prominent flying flat from somewhere in the trumpet section, which comes across loud and clear all four times. With the above caveats duly noted, the tapes are recommended for 5th-8th grades. After all, someone needs to inspire the bassoon players of tomorrow! Aud: I, J. (R. Reagan)