Gustav Mole grows up dreaming of being a violinist. This story follows his rich and diverse musical education, covering a wide variety of styles and instruments, including Folk music, Jazz, Opera, and Classical.
This delightful book and CD is a great way of introducing young children to music. "The Musical Life of Gustav Mole" is narrated by Patrick Macnee, and includes short pieces of each type of music, fully orchestrated.
The CD also includes the musical score for those who would prefer to listen without the narration. The book comes in paperback, with the CD included.
"The Lost Music"
Written and illustrated by Kathryn Meyrick
"Melancholy is a mole without music"
In this sequel to "The Musical Life of Gustav Mole", Gustav and his family leave their home in search of the lost music of the world. They travel to many countries, experiencing the various different cultures and musical styles of the world, such as African, Indian, European, Chinese, Australian, Hawaiian, and South American.
This book and CD give children an excellent introduction to musical styles and instruments they may not be familiar with as they listen to instruments such as pan pipes, zithers, sitars, marimbas, lutes and many more.
The author, Kathyrn Meyrick, spent two years on the research and artwork for this book. The CD features both the story with its background music, and the musical score by itself.
The book comes in hardback, and is available with the CD included.
Musical Families Card Game
In addition to "The Musical Life of Gustav Mole" and "The Lost Music", this card set, designed by the same artist, is a great tool for teaching children about music. Each of the 32 cards shows a character from "The Musical Life of Gustav Mole" and their instrument.
Children can play six easy to more challenging games, learning to recognize instruments and their "families" and group them into quartets.
Musical Families Card Game is recommended for children ages 3 to 10, and can be played by 4 to 6 players.
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