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What resources would you use for Peter and the Wolf and The Nutcracker?


helena
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I'm looking for books, recorded performances, animation, CDs, puppetry, websites... anything really.

 

I'm starting to go batty compiling my resource lists for our year of orchestra, ballet and opera. :001_smile: I'd love to hear your suggestions.

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We have this that I like for Peter and the wolf

http://www.amazon.com/Sergei-Prokofievs-Peter-Wolf-Fully-Orchestrated/dp/0375824308/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1341810653&sr=8-3&keywords=peter+and+the+wolf

 

This is my favorite Nutcracker

http://www.amazon.com/The-Nutcracker-Baryshnikov-Kirkland-Charmoli/dp/B0002S6428/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341810715&sr=8-2&keywords=the+nutcracker

 

Nothing can beat live though. Look around at your local colleges and dance schools at Christmas time for the Nutcracker. Peter and the wolf is usually preformed fairly often too. About every 3 years they will do it in our local kids concert.

 

This is a pretty cool book, they do one for ballet too, but this orchestra one is great.

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Orchestra-Listen-Instruments-Composers/dp/1579121489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341810879&sr=8-1&keywords=parts+of+the+orchestra

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We have this that I like for Peter and the wolf

http://www.amazon.com/Sergei-Prokofievs-Peter-Wolf-Fully-Orchestrated/dp/0375824308/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1341810653&sr=8-3&keywords=peter+and+the+wolf

 

This is my favorite Nutcracker

http://www.amazon.com/The-Nutcracker-Baryshnikov-Kirkland-Charmoli/dp/B0002S6428/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341810715&sr=8-2&keywords=the+nutcracker

 

Nothing can beat live though. Look around at your local colleges and dance schools at Christmas time for the Nutcracker. Peter and the wolf is usually preformed fairly often too. About every 3 years they will do it in our local kids concert.

 

This is a pretty cool book, they do one for ballet too, but this orchestra one is great.

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Orchestra-Listen-Instruments-Composers/dp/1579121489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341810879&sr=8-1&keywords=parts+of+the+orchestra

 

Thank you for the links. I own the orchestra book (we're using it). I was hesitant to get the ballet version though. I wasn't sure if it was as good or if it would be overkill.

 

We try to go every year to see The Nutcracker. :001_wub: We've never read it though... I think it'll be fun and different. But your right, nothing is like a live performance. We'll go for sure this year! :001_smile:

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Maybe this is my own nerdy interest, but we listen to this version, with David Bowie providing narration (we also have a version with Patrick Stewart, which is excellent, too). Here is a guide to Peter and the Wolf, produced by the Westchester Philharmonic; if you Google "Peter and the Wolf" and "guide" or "educational guide", you'll find other similar documents.

For a younger child, "Zin Zin Zin, a Violin" is a good picture book introduction to musical instruments (and the composition of groups - duet, trio, octet, etc); there's also a Scholastic/Weston Woods animated version of the book, as well (available through Discovery Education, as well as other resources).

I second the recommendation for "The Story of the Orchestra," but would also include this lesser-known book on the history of the instruments themselves (if you/your child is interested), called "The Story of the Incredible Orchestra."

When we briefly studied opera, we used this book and this book; I honestly don't remember which I liked more, but I do remember thinking they were a bit above my (less than completely interested) 7 year old son's level.

Here are a number of educator guides to well-known operas, from the Met; I would also suggest looking at the education sections of other large cultural institutions' websites for more resources (New York City Ballet; New York Philharmonic; etc).

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For the Nutcraker portion of our ballet study, we are making nutcracker puppets (Clara, the Nutcracker, Mouse King, Sugar Plum Fairy) and sugar plum candies. We watched a performance of the ballet via Netflix since we did our study in the spring (no live Nutcracker performances then!). It is easy to find the music for the Nutcracker on CD at your local library. DVD's of the performance are usually available.

 

It's fun to read the original story that the ballet was based upon by E.T.A. Hoffman. This picture book version is good as well. I requested both through my library's ILL.

 

We studied Tchaikovsky using the Mike Venezia book and Tchaikovsky Discovers America. I also found these free notebooking pages. We listened to the Nutcracker music CD while working on our notebook pages for

Tchaikovsky and the ballet.

 

For the ballet notebooking pages, we wrote out the cast of characters, then described what happened in each act. We did this for all of the ballets we studied.

 

Hopefully some of that was helpful!

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We have it on Rhapsody! I'm a big David Bowie fan, I'm so glad you recommended it. :001_smile:

I have The Story of the Incredible Orchestra and Sing Me a Story sitting here with my library books. I checked out everything they had. I'll sit down with it today.

 

Sadly, our library doesn't have The Children's Guide to the Opera (I do have another one of her books here though).

 

I love all your links, thanks for taking the time to type it all out. It's appreciated.

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For the Nutcraker portion of our ballet study, we are making nutcracker puppets (Clara, the Nutcracker, Mouse King, Sugar Plum Fairy) and sugar plum candies. We watched a performance of the ballet via Netflix since we did our study in the spring (no live Nutcracker performances then!). It is easy to find the music for the Nutcracker on CD at your local library. DVD's of the performance are usually available.

 

It's fun to read the original story that the ballet was based upon by E.T.A. Hoffman. This picture book version is good as well. I requested both through my library's ILL.

 

We studied Tchaikovsky using the Mike Venezia book and Tchaikovsky Discovers America. I also found these free notebooking pages. We listened to the Nutcracker music CD while working on our notebook pages for

Tchaikovsky and the ballet.

 

For the ballet notebooking pages, we wrote out the cast of characters, then described what happened in each act. We did this for all of the ballets we studied.

 

Hopefully some of that was helpful!

 

Very helpful! Thank you

Running over to the library right now. :001_smile:

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Yes. Narrated by the fellow who was Winnie the Pooh. I love his voice for children.

 

For other classical music things, my son loved the Vox Music masters from age 5-7.

 

(returning to this thread a bit late :blush:)

 

Thanks! We've been listening and re-listening to the Vox CDs for years. Your suggestion prompted me to look at Rainbow Resource, and I've found 3 more discs we haven't heard.

Yay! :001_smile:

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Peter and the Wolf -- I have the one with Leonard Bernstein. You can listen to one with Sting for free here. It isn't until about 24 minutes in, but the whole thing is worth listening to.

 

I'm starting to really appreciate Rhapsody for school time. The Leonard Bernstein album is on there!

I'm listening to your second link right now. Very cool website! :001_smile:

Thanks for the ideas.

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