Old Calvert Melody Lane vs. new Discoveries in Music

[Carolyn in Ohio]

Does anyone know how much more is in the new set? I know there are a few instruments in the kit and the Melody Lane videos are in it. Is the manual vastly improved? Are there new activities?

 

thanks

Carolyn

[abbeyej]

I only have Discoveries in Music... I had *thought* that there wasn't a manual for the old Melody Lane? As I understand it, the video portion of it is the same. I was just happy to have it on dvd, not video.

 

The manual is actually really nice (though I wish it included all the music for the songs in the series), but I didn't end up using it. It was one of those things -- yes, the kids would get more out of it if the parent/teacher used *all* of the program, but since that wasn't going to happen, I decided they would get *something* out of just seeing the videos. We used the manual some, but it certainly had a lot more depth there that we didn't use at all. It had written material for the teacher, further study recommendations (including pieces of music that would further illustrate the concepts on the video), some simple worksheets... The instruments didn't add a lot of value for me -- the lap harp (like most children's lap harps) is difficult to tune and couldn't hold a tune. The other instruments are a simple triangle and a flutophone.

[Carolyn in Ohio]

The old Melody Lane has a 100 page "guidebook". The pages are smaller than than the 'regular" sized Calvert teacher manuals. It lists lots of extra music pieces to listen to, but many of the activities are of the "make home-made string instruments with rubber bands and tissue boxes" variety.

 

Carolyn