I was super-duper excited to have a chance to review The Story of Swan Lake from Maestro Classics with my oldest daughter (8).  Like many homeschooling moms I struggle to get music appreciation done, and since Swan Lake is pretty cannonical fare – particularly when it comes to ballets (and how many little girls can resist a ballerina?) I was excited to get started!

The Story of Swan Lake includes the main themes from the ballet along with narration that simply retells the story by Stephen Simon, conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (all the music is performed by them as well – really top notch stuff!)  There are also bonus tracks including a shred guitar rendition of the main Swan Lake song, a sing-along song that serves as a mnemonic to help children remember the main plot of the ballet set to the main theme, and an ‘empty’ sing-along song so your child can do their own performance (and oh boy, did mine ever!)

The CD also comes with a very well-designed booklet filled with a pictogram type overview of the plot of Swan Lake, a connect the dots, word puzzles, lyrics to the sing-along, biographies of the contributors and a lot more.  I’m not sure where ours is – my daughter made off with it and enthusiastically filled in every spot she could find to do an activity (it is consumable by the way).

The whole experience was incredible…except for one thing.  This CD uses the revised ending of Swan Lake..you know…the one where the prince and the swan maiden both die in the end?  Umm..recommended for ages 6-12, but if you have a sensitive little girl you MIGHT want to save this one for LATER.  Interestingly, Tchaikovsky’s original ending was a happy one where the lovers survived and conquered the evil magician.  Just saying.

With that being said, I am DEFINITELY interested in buying some of their downloads with less traumatic endings because they make music appreciation so easy.  Despite being disturbed by the ballet’s end she still had to memorize the sing-along to perform for her grandparents when they came to visit – so cute .

All of Maestro Classic’s music appreciation titles are available on CD for $16.98 or as MP3 downloads for $9.98 – you can find them all here and listen to free samples online too!  They even have free cross-curricular lesson plans you can use to take the earning even further!

If you’d like to read more reviews of The Story of Swan Lake from real homeschooling moms, visit the TOS Crew post here and dig in!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this CD for the purposes of this review.  All thoughts are genuine, and my own.

The teaching resources are really incredible and I can’t recommend this kit highly enough.  My children have greatly enjoyed the Canadian coloring pages (printable and electronic), the “Canada in My Pocket” cartoon that helps children learn a bit more about Canadian money through Mitchell’s beloved song of the same title, the interactive Canada puzzle, and more.  We have learned the national anthem using Mitchell’s recording of it, and been able to use the folk songs associated with different places in Canada as a supplement to our studies of the Canadian provinces this year.

There are also some French songs included in the collection and a recording of the French national anthem (and a bi-lingual one as well).  Lyrics to the national anthem can be printed off in either English or French.  When we studied Quebec we were sure to take advantage of the French audio resources Mitchell has provided, and he has a great French accent!

If our family was more musically inclined we could also benefit from the music charts for all 40 of the songs in the Canada is for Kids music collection that are also included in the Teachers Guide CD.  If you can’t play music but just want to sing along there is a lyric sheet that is easy to print off (6 pages for all the songs).   The only down side is you do need to have the CD in your computer in order to access the resources, there doesn’t seem to be a way to install them to your own machine.

If you haven’t enjoyed Mitchell’s Canadiana music before, you are missing out.  His voice is clear, rich, and smooth, so the lyrics are easy to understand for children and adults alike.  He is a very expressive vocalist who brings much enthusiasm to his recordings and many a day has found my children hopping around in the living room to some of his more upbeat tunes.

It has been a real blessing to have this easy to use collection available to us so that we can instill an appreciation of traditional Canadian music in our children – something that would have been hard for us on our own because of our own limited exposure to Canadian folk songs.

Thanks Michael Mitchell for all you have done to keep Canadian folk music alive!

We received the first edition CD version of the teaching kit to review, but it has been repackaged as a USB product with fewer songs (25 of the most popular), you can buy it from Michael Mitchell’s website here.  He also has a new teaching kit you can download for $4.00 that just contains his Canadian national anthem resources.  Good deal!  Whether you decide to buy the teaching kit or the CDs themselves (also available as physical copies or downloads) from this website, you won’t be disappointed.

Disclosure: I received a copy of  the Canada Is For Kids Teaching Kit by Michael Mitchell for review.  All opinions are honest and my own.

“Love Letter” is another great song because it teaches children that the Bible is a love letter to God’s people.  “Cast Your Burden” is a bit unusual, but it always gets us singing. There is also a song that deals with confessing sin and receiving forgiveness, “If We Confess Our Sins”.  The last three songs, particularly “Change My Heart O God” are soothing and full of devotion, and I always end up crying at the end of the CD.  Yes, I’ll admit it – children’s worship music makes me cry, at least this CD does.

The songs are mostly performed with an adult lead singer and a chorus of children.  Some of the songs are around two-minutes long, but most of them are three-minutes in length.  None of them is longer than four-minutes, so these are short, sweet, and good for limited attention spans.  The entire CD runs a little over half an hour, and there are twelve songs in total.

This may very well be my favorite children’s worship CD in our family’s collection.  It is so sweet and makes the love between God and His people a bit more tangible for little ones.

I received a physical copy of this CD for review purposes.

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT AMAZON.COM (DOWNLOAD ONLY) OR CHRISTIANBOOK.COM (CD)!

This post contains affiliate links.

Drawn from a variety of musical styles, some of the songs sound jazzy, some are marching songs, others have more of a calypso rhythm, others are lullaby style – this is quite a diverse collection of children’s music. Some of the songs feature children and an adult, others are only children, some are rounds etc. Some of this collection’s songs are upbeat while others are relaxed and contemplative. Some are even goofy!

Just this afternoon my little ones were marching around the living room exclaiming that they could do “All things!” through Christ along with the song “I Can Do All Things”. It is exciting to see this kind of discipleship by music taking place even as they sing and dance. This is a sweet album to have on hand for dancing in the living room time.

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT CHRISTIANBOOK.COM OR AMAZON.COM!

We have a winner!  Congratulations to Erin C.!  Erin won with her entry for putting the Quiverfullfamily.com button her blog!  I’ve emailed you Erin, please respond within 72 hours with your mailing address so I can get this great worship CD heading your way!

Some CDs take a while to come to love.  I Will Praise You isn’t one of those.  Since its arrival in our home last night our family has been singing along, dancing, and praising our Creator.  This is our first Rebecca St. James CD (the first she has recorded after our conversion actually, so it’s understandable why it is our first encounter with her music), and we haven’t been disappointed.

This is truly an open-and-go worship CD.  There’s no time needed to get acclimated to the music, it is upbeat, has memorable lyrics, and is filled with emotion.  Whenever I put it on I instantly have a living room full of praising and dancing little girls.  The opening track is going to be a huge hit – “I Will Praise You” is not only infectious, but its sole purpose is to offer worship to God.

Musically diverse, there are definitely pop, dance, techno influences felt in the music.  One of my favorite tracks “Shine Your Glory Down” actually reminds me a bit of Depeche Mode’s work in the early ‘90s.  And I like it.  A lot.  It is really, very hard to stop yourself from dancing to these songs – particularly the first three – hands held high in the air as your heart is lifted in worship.

Beyond the instantly likeable worship tunes there are also more introspective, lyrical pieces such as “You Still Amaze Me” (with some faint symphonic elements – love them).   Even these slower paced songs are still very strong – the music is powerful, and the lyrics are highly visual and emotive.  Even songs I thought I wouldn’t enjoy based on their openings, such as “Almighty God”, won me over with their achingly beautiful chorus and harmonies.

An element that brings an additional layer of depth to richness to most of the songs is a choral singing with deliciously intertwined melodies as groups of singers raise their voices in song to the Lord towards the end of each of the songs.  This rich, full song adds an element to the worship that is impossible to achieve with a single singer.

After seeing St. James on screen and reading her written work it has been a delight to get to know her in the medium she is best known for.  These are the kinds of songs that become fast friends within the first or second listening.  I’ll be coming back to these often.

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT CHRISTIANBOOK.COM OR AMAZON.COM!

CONTEST DETAILS:

I have 1 copy of the I Will Praise You CD to give away to one blessed winner in the US or Canada!   To enter, let me know if you are familiar with Rebecca St. James’ work!

For additional entries:

1. Subscribe to this blog for updates – see the left hand sidebar. Leave an additional comment letting me know you’ve subscribed (or if you already subscribe).

2. Write a post on your blog promoting and linking to this contest. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

3. Add the Quiverfull Family button (see the code box in the right hand sidebar under BUTTON UP!) to your blog’s sidebar, or let me know if you already have the button displayed. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

4. Digg, Stumble, Tweet, Facebook or otherwise share this post on a social networking site. Leave an additional comment indicating how you shared this post.

5. Follow me on Twitter or let me know if you are an existing follower.

Each additional step taken counts for 1 additional entry. A total of 6 entries are available if you complete all of these steps. Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

The contest will close at 12 a.m. MST on Monday, May 2nd, 2011. One (1) winner will be randomly drawn for this CD on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 and notified by email. Please fill your email address in the comment form when you are completing your comment so that I can contact you. The winners must respond with a mailing address within 72 hours of my email, or a new winner will be chosen. This contest is open to those living in the US and Canada!

Five Little Bunnies

My two-year old loves listening to the story track on the CD so much that she normally wants me to play it over and over while she flips the pages of her book.  She rarely gets to the music because she likes the read-along story so much!  The page turning prompts aren’t always as clear as they could be, but she manages to do pretty well just learning when to turn the page through repetition.  Of course, that doesn’t let me off the hook!  I’ve read this book to my little ones many times since it arrived as well.

It’s the time of year when everyone has bunnies on the brain, but you can rest assured that the fun, bunny-ness of this book doesn’t include any colorful eggs or mentions of Easter (which we don’t do in the bunny/eggs form…at all.)

So, do you want to know which fun children’s songs come on the CD?

Here’s a list:

“I Can Wiggle”
“She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain”
“If You’re Happy and You Know It”
“Head, Shoulders, Knees, And Toes”
“Apples and Bananas”
“Sing-a-Ling”
“Can You Swing Your Arms?”
“Look at the Monkeys”
“Let Everyone Clap Hands Like Me”
“The Green Grass Grew All Around”
“S-M-I-L-E”
“Oats, Peas, Beans And Barley Grow”
“Do Your Ears Hang Low?”
“Down in the Valley”
“Down by the Station”
“I Had a Cat”
“Traveling is a Dream”
“The Old Gray Mare”
“It’s Silly Time”

Many of these bonus songs represent the ‘golden hits’ of traditional children’s music.  If you don’t already own these songs you and your children will have a lot of fun acting these songs out!  The 32-minute CD also includes the lyrics in an included pdf file.

Five Little Bunnies retails for $9.99, but if you buy it at the Twin Sisters website you can get a 30% discount before March 31^st when you use the code FIVEBUNNY.

You can also BUY IT ON AMAZON.COM.

You can find Twin Sisters at their website, on twitter, and on facebook.

Enjoy your Spring!  I hope ours gets here soon!  You can read more reviews of this title over at Mama Buzz!

Real Life is our first Brewster album, though he’s been on the Christian music scene for some time.  Clearly a seasoned musician and worship leader, Brewster provides solid musicianship with clear Christian themes that it’s nearly impossible not to ‘get into’ as a believer.  My first take on this disc is that Brewster’s musical style is fairly straight forward, it is definitely electric-guitar heavy which always brings to mind ‘80s rock, but that’s not a bad thing in my mind.

The CD opens with some up-beat, get-inspired tracks that are always helpful to pop on when I have a project around the house I need to work on.  Some of my favorites from the disc are the more melodic, thoughtful pieces: “Made For You”, “Whom Shall I Fear” (includes Kari Jobe), and “More Than Amazing” which is arguably the “don’t miss” track of the album.  “Shout for Joy” is an enthusiastic celebration of redemption through the love of God – very upbeat, and another not to be missed track.

My husband is SO picky when it comes to music, so I was so thankful when he said, “I like this guy, he writes nice songs.”  That is high praise coming from him, so this CD will be in regular rotation as an album that everyone in our family can enjoy together!

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT CHRISTIANBOOK.COM OR AMAZON.COM!

Gold Heart is a traditional bluegrass trio of sisters who have been playing together from a young age. With all three young women displaying bang on timing with their string instruments, and blending their sweet mid-range voices in three-point harmonies, their latest offering My Sisters and Me is a lovely tribute to the bonds of sisterhood, family, and faith.

Annalise Gold plays the mandolin, Jocelyn Gold the guitar, and Shelby Gold the fiddle, while all three switch off in the role of lead vocalist, and various harmony parts ranging through the baritone and tenor ranges. Not only do the siblings display excellent musicianship, and warm, heartfelt singing, but Jocelyn Gold is also a talented songwriter. Most of the songs on the disc flow from her pen – three-quarters to be precise. All of her offerings are solid, but some absolutely shine.

“Never Be Through With Lovin’ You” is a full-bodied love song of unending commitment that comes alive when Analise’ vocals are paired in harmony with Brandon Rickman’s baritone. “Heavenly Home” is the groups’ single acapella offering on the disc, and rings out with sweet, unsullied harmony in supplication to Jesus for guidance through this life. Not only does My Sisters and Me reflect a deep love and appreciation of family ties, but these same familial ties are evidenced in the family management of the group and by father Trent Gold’s performance on the bass in “Miles.”

The remaining quarter consists of covers of songs that contribute to develop the theme of hope for brighter days and sisterly love. Norah Struthers’ “Sister” is a perfect fit for the album, plucking the heartstrings of any woman with a sister, and providing vision for mothers of daughters.

“Chasing Lightning Bugs” by Ashby Frank is an ode to family dependability and of sweet memories of carefree childhood contrasted with the struggles of adult life. The song does sound somewhat more experienced than you’d expect from the youthful trio, with talk of “twenty years ago,” but they perform it well.

From the time Gold Heart’s toe-tapping tunes and all-female vocal harmony first reached my ears, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist My Sisters and Me. I love hearing new artists entering into traditional musical genres with fresh material that springs from their life in Christ.

As a mother of three young girls, I must admit that I’m also sentimentally drawn to the composition of the group members and the albums theme. Sentimentality aside, there’s no arguing the high-energy, vibrant musical performances and earthy vocals the trio has compiled. I certainly recommend that fans of female, faith-based bluegrass indulge in the infectious rhythms of My Sisters and Me.

Track Listing:

1. Grin & Bear It
2. Sing a Little Louder
3. Amidst Life’s Storm
4. Chasing Lightning Bugs
5. Miles
6. Never Be Through With Lovin’ You
7. Things
8. Heavenly Home
9. Shining Down on Me
10. Sister
11. You Know How
12. Ride of Your Life

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT AMAZON.COM!

When Worship and Adore: A Christmas Offering arrived in the mail, I groaned internally. Sadly many Christian compilations of holiday music are little better than secular paeans to the god of consumerism, and I was afraid to see what I might find included in this collection. After scanning down the list of tracks I noted straight-away that this collection of eleven offerings of praise are free of Santa songs, free of Christmas trees, and free of – well, everything except worshiping the Son of God. Being so far reassured, I dug in.

Unlike most holiday-focused albums, Worship and Adore represents not the work of a single artist or group, but is a collaborative effort from the praise and worship musicians represented by Integrity Music. The opening track “Offering (Christmas Version)” pulls together the entire ensemble in a Christmas version of Paul baloche’s well-known “Offering”. Kari Jobe, Glenn Packiam, Christy Johnson, Lincoln Brewseter, Kathryn Scott, Vicky Beeching, Joel Auge, Don Poythress, Paul Baloche, and Jared Anderson combine their talents on the first track, before they each contribute a track where they are prominently featured.

Offering up a collection that mixes reworked traditional songs with fresh, new reflections upon the incarnation, the feel of the album is heavily weighted towards introspective, thoughtful songs of worship. Lincoln Brewster’s “Glory to God” is one of the few exceptions, an upbeat number that captures the exultation of the heavenly host upon Jesus’ birth.

Kari Jobe sings “Adore Him” a re-working of the traditional “Come Let Us Adore Him” that is a subdued, bittersweet, and haunting song that will go with you throughout the day. Glen Packiam’s performance of “The Beautiful Body and Blood” which looks forward from Jesus as a baby to the fulfillment of His purpose on earth made me sit up and take interest. Though I’ve heard Packiam’s work on Counting on God with Ross Parsley and the Desperation Band, this solo offering with its laid-back musical accompaniment really highlight the quality of his voice.

Likewise, Jared Anderson can count me as a new fan of his solo work after being captivated by his “Messiah’s Song” featuring subtle, rich harmonies, and a tender, understated melody that somehow kindles an intense desire for the Savior; this is easily my favorite track on the disc.

The delight of this compilation is the opportunity to discover previously unknown artists. Paul Baloche – though well-known – is a new voice for me. His heart-felt and authentic expressions of praise in the closing “We Adore You” is so warm and straight-forward that it’s impossible not to be moved.

While many Christmas albums are rather shoddy efforts that are quickly tossed together, a great deal of care shines through on this disc. The majority of the music has been newly written this year, helping Worship and Adore delve into fresh new territory while avoiding any appearance of being derivative, or merely repackaged.

It would truly be a shame if Worship and Adore is shelved after the holiday season due to the word ‘Christmas’ in its title and liner art consistently associated with the month of December. Songs that encourage believers to reflect upon Jesus’ birth, to worship Him, to adore Him, are appropriate all year round. It’s into this precious place of thoughtful worship that Integrity’s artists lead us into – one that I hope to revisit frequently.

An accompanying digital songbook on CD is also available for purchase separately from Integrity Music.

Track Listing:

1. Offering (Christmas Version)
2. Adore Him
3. Glory To God
4. He Is Wonderful
5. The Beautiful Body And Blood
6. He Made A Way In A Manger
7. Joseph
8. Messiah’s Song
9. Gloria (Mary’s Song)
10. Holy Is The Child
11. We Adore You

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT CHRISTIANBOOK OR AMAZON.COM!

Far from being a newcomer to Christian music, Augé has been performing and recording since 1999 with other bands. His debut album reflects his calling as worship leading, offering up what he calls ‘vertically inspired’ songs – straight from his heart to God’s. With the majority of the offerings on the album flowing from his own pen, the blending of straight-up praise and worship songs is carefully enhanced by the frequently sparse acoustic accompaniment of each work.

Augé terms his style ‘art-rock’ – I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with the label, but I’m impressed with what he does. Strong folk influences are felt throughout with his simple guitar picking and rhythmic cadences. However, punchy, upbeat tunes with electric guitar, bass, keyboards, and percussion are also present making up the backdrop for the rock-inflected songs.

It’s hard to pick favorites from the disc; nearly each song is excellent, though some suffer from awkward or seemingly irrelevant lyrical phrases at times. While listening to the disc my husband even mentioned periods where the lyrics weren’t as strong as they could have been. Hopefully as Augé matures in his song writing these slight glitches will be resolved. The overall strength of the album clearly overwhelms these ‘off’ moments.

Like most worship albums, the first half of the album is geared towards the upbeat, rocking songs of straight-up praise. “So Deep In Love” is a clear winner, while “Even the Rocks” evokes images of irrepressible worship and ties in with scriptural images. “Every Heart” casts a vision for the time when we’ll all surround the fallen and risen Lamb in singing His praises – beautiful.

The second half of the disc is clearly the folk-inspired, acoustic collection of worship songs – it’s much more laid back, subdued, and even bittersweet. “On the Blue” is an atmospheric exploration of being in unexplored waters with only Jesus to cling to and “I Am Here to Praise You” is a softly convicting call to worship God no matter our circumstance. “Singing Hallelujah” was actually one of my least favorite tracks, it seems more of a collection of personal reminiscences that few listeners will be able to connect with, than a universally applicable song as the others tend to be.

Augé’s tenor voice tends to soar into the upper heights of his range, soaring and undulating. His isn’t a husky, hearty vocal performance – more of a plaintive, pleading style. Clearly, I’m a new fan. I could only have wished for a longer disc. Augé’s work sits so well with me that I could enjoyably listen to a double-length album from him.

Track Listing:

1. So Deep in Love
2. Where You Go I Go
3. Every Heart
4. Even the Rocks
5. Miracle Love
6. Glory Glory
7. Stolen it Away
8. Singing Hallelujah
9. On the Blue
10. I Am Here to Praise You
11. Call On Me
12. I Know My Place

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT CHRISTIANBOOK, AMAZON.COM, OR AMAZON.CA!