I am taking a different spin this for this week's edition of Tuesday Tunage. This week it is for the kiddies! Oh ok, and parents too.
I had the opportunity to review Cristofori Baby Company's new DVD, Trebellina. Trebellina is supposed to be a revolutionary music series aimed at teaching little ones, ages 1-4, musical concepts, instrument names and sounds. The DVD is supposed to help young children develop pitch and teach them to read music in a fun and interactive manner. Since Grady loves music and sings all the time, I thought it would be a perfect fit.
I was all excited as Grady and I took our places on the couch. I had watched the video previews but was not sure how my almost four year old would like it. Initially he liked trying to mimic Trebellina singing the notes. Trebellina would say the name of the note and then demonstrate it by singing it. Sounds simple enough. Then they introduce two of the other characters as well a variety of musical instruments. Sadly, after about 10 minutes of the program, my son lost interest and walked out of the room. I tried a few day later to get him to watch it again to no avail.
I personally, was not impressed. As an parent and educator I have seen a lot of different ways to engage children with music. I personally would rather expose my child to a variety of different musics then try and teach them the names and sounds of the specific notes. Sadly, my pre-schooler felt the same way. While I do feel the DVD is very educational and has a lot of great ideas, I just don't feel it was appropriate for a young child. I am sure younger children would like it just from the cartoon and music stand point, but the academics of it was lost on my 3 year old. I will try and revisit the DVD when he is a bit older, but for now Trebellina will be filed away.
