Music for Little Mozarts Deluxe Starter Kit: Kit Paperback – October 1, 1999

A few months ago I splurged on the whole "Music for Little Mozarts" package. This comes with a music lesson book, a workbook (coloring, drawing, etc.), a CD, flashcards, another "music discovery" book with another CD (these are pretty worthless as far as I can tell), two stuffed animals ("Mozart Mouse" and "Beethoven Bear," who feature in all the materials), and a magnetic/dry-erase musical notation board with magnetic notes. I also got the teacher's guide, but I don't think this helps much, unless you're a music teacher perhaps.By the way, we tried another music package--it wasn't very good. This, by contrast, is professional and well-thought-out in practically every way.This is a very basic, from-absolute-ground-zero package. I appreciate the very gradual pace, which begins with low and high sounds, then talks about loud and soft, then the groups of two and three black keys. Then you start playing two black keys together, then three, then you start going up and down the black keys... Anyway, it's very gradual.The CD recording of the main lesson book helps a lot. It basically contains the entire text and tunes from the lesson book, and is written in a sort of "story" form--my little boy (almost 4 now) bought it anyway. We've listened to the CD many times (all at the kid's request), so now the tunes (if you want to call them that--they are as basic as you can imagine) are totally ingrained. So he really got into it. He sleeps with Mozart Mouse and Beethoven Bear (you might not think the stuffed animals are necessary, but they really help).As to lessons, well, I take this approach: if he says "no," then we absolutely don't do it, and probably not the next day either. If we take breaks of a week or even a couple weeks, that's absolutely OK. On the other hand, if he seems enthusiastic, we kick things up a notch, and we have lessons daily or even, rarely, a few times in a day. We received the package around March 15 and were at it nearly daily for a couple weeks. Then there were a couple weeks in which we did only 3-4 lessons total. Since then we've been practicing fairly regularly, not a lesson every day but 2-5 per week.Results: we've gone through half of the first book and have ordered the second. He can actually play the little tunes in the book, and when he successfully pulls one off, and I say, "Yay!" then he claps and says "Yay!" very excitedly himself. He's very proud of himself. He's getting better at putting the fingers where they belong, and also he can play different notes with different fingers.I've also been teaching him "Chopsticks" which is his favorite thing to play. Today he almost got it right. I just had to prompt him once.He loves the flashcards. We've gone through them many times by now and he likes to do all 32, or whatever it is, in one shot. This takes time because many of the cards involve clapping rhythms written on the cards. He can't do this yet just by looking at the notes--he has to look at the back of the card to read the numbers written under the notes--but he's very good at the actual clapping part, which I guess is the important part for now. He does know a lot of the signs inside and out anyway, in no small part because of the powerpoint & LR flashcards we'd done before.Anyway, so far we can recommend "Little Mozarts."BTW, I had 8 years of piano lessons as a kid myself, and once upon a time, for a short time, earned a living teaching violin. So I have experience with this sort of thing--your experience may be different, and if you haven't got a clue about where to start or what to do, you might want to hire a teacher (or not!). We are currently playing on an electronic keyboard (which he loves to explore and make noise with).

I am a musician and was so happy to find this kit! Great for parents wanting to expose their child to music early in life. Great for homeschoolers and teachers. One CD reads the 'lesson/story' book to the child to reinforce material. We use that in the car to reinforce the material. The second CD has little songs that each teach something different in a fun way! The Discovery Book integrates with the music CD and asks the children to do an activity that coincides with what they are hearing on the CD. The Lesson Book discusses basic theory using the stuffed animals Mozart Mouse (High tones) and Beethoven Bear (low tones). The books use the stuffed animals to do activities to help remember concepts. For example, 'place Mozart Mouse on the side of the keyboard that makes HIGH sounds".The Recital book is self explanatory. I think it is very thorough, age appropriate and creative. Many people will not start a child out this early. However, this kit allows the child to learn basics in a fun way AND set a passion for music and creativity in their little brains! My 4 y old daughter loves this kit. She is starting to tap out rhythms and has improved her listening skills in musically and in general. It is well documented that introducing children to music at a young age develops superior listening skills, enhances abstract reasoning skills needed for science and math and it teaches them how music can be used to effect their emotions.

So much to say about this!It’s fun for the whole family!I do recommend also getting the Teacher’s Guide!!!!. I think you can purchase the digital copy of the teacher’s guide directly from the manufacturer for cheap!If your a parent with little to no piano skills this is a great way to teach your children piano! You will learn a thing or two too!Just get the teacher’s guide and it’s pretty much like following a bouncing ball at that point! It makes teaching and learning the piano so easy!!! And the kids absolutely love it!!It is very interactive and each lesson covers a wide variety of exercises and lessons! We’ve been using this product for months now and our daughter (5yo) is showing great progress in piano and music!That’s the other great thing about this. It not only teaches thin how to play piano but it teaches them about music as well (how to read and write)!It does it by having a story the students interact with!Must have for teaching!

My son is 4yo and just started piano lessons two months ago. The teacher started him on this program and we all love it. This starter kit is pricey, but well worth it to get "all the stuff." The cute little animals captures my kids attention and the coloring pages makes it a physical (not sit at the piano and practice) whole body learning experience. He is excelling and we just bought the second set. My only complaint is that the CD hasn't been upgraded to something more accessible in today's home. Between my house, two cars, and the piano teacher, only one car has a CD player. It would be ideal if there was a link to an MP3 download or something like that so that we can get it on our phones...