Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Little Einsteins Redux
The Little Einsteins are a teeny bit yuppie for my taste, but I do like them on the whole. I especially like the fact that they expose Petunia to famous pieces of classical music, even if Annie's made-up lyrics are often pretty lame. (For good made-up lyrics, I recommend the Beethoven's Wig series.)
One of my PET PEEVES, however, is that they recycle music too much (in addition to having way more Gustav Klimp than any kid ever needs). Case in point: This morning, we were treated to 'I Love to Conduct' in which a bald eagle swoops in and steals Leo's baton. Their mission is to get the baton back, and the featured music is Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Morning Mood.
Terrific. Lovely piece of music. Annie actually has decent lyrics to this one. 'We lost our baton, yes, we lost our baton. Have you seen the bald eagle who took our baton?'
However, throughout the rest of the episode, the other movements from the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 were used, including In the Hall of the Mountain King, Anitra's Dance and The Death of Ase.
Again, fine. Lovely little bits of music.
The problem is that the episode 'Dragon Kite' features In the Hall of the Moutain King and uses all the other movement from the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. The same thing happens in 'Little Einsteins Halloween.' And the episode 'The Good Knight and the Bad Knight' also uses all the music from the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1.
And it's not just Grieg who gets replayed. Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons: Spring gets double billing in 'The Incredible Shrinking Adventure' and 'O Yes, O Yes, It's Springtime.' Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 is the centerpiece of both 'The Legend of the Golden Pyramid' and 'Hungarian Hiccups.'
Maybe I'm missing the point here. Maybe the Disney Channel wizzes are consciously using the same pieces of music over and over again so that they really get hammered home into their viewers' little brains. But it seems like the point of the show is to expose kids to lots of different pieces of music, by different composers and in different styles.
So mix it up already, Einsteins!
One of my PET PEEVES, however, is that they recycle music too much (in addition to having way more Gustav Klimp than any kid ever needs). Case in point: This morning, we were treated to 'I Love to Conduct' in which a bald eagle swoops in and steals Leo's baton. Their mission is to get the baton back, and the featured music is Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Morning Mood.
Terrific. Lovely piece of music. Annie actually has decent lyrics to this one. 'We lost our baton, yes, we lost our baton. Have you seen the bald eagle who took our baton?'
However, throughout the rest of the episode, the other movements from the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 were used, including In the Hall of the Mountain King, Anitra's Dance and The Death of Ase.
Again, fine. Lovely little bits of music.
The problem is that the episode 'Dragon Kite' features In the Hall of the Moutain King and uses all the other movement from the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. The same thing happens in 'Little Einsteins Halloween.' And the episode 'The Good Knight and the Bad Knight' also uses all the music from the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1.
And it's not just Grieg who gets replayed. Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons: Spring gets double billing in 'The Incredible Shrinking Adventure' and 'O Yes, O Yes, It's Springtime.' Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 is the centerpiece of both 'The Legend of the Golden Pyramid' and 'Hungarian Hiccups.'
Maybe I'm missing the point here. Maybe the Disney Channel wizzes are consciously using the same pieces of music over and over again so that they really get hammered home into their viewers' little brains. But it seems like the point of the show is to expose kids to lots of different pieces of music, by different composers and in different styles.
So mix it up already, Einsteins!
# posted by merseydotes @ 10:51 AM 
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I'm with you here. I think they need to broaden their definition of the classics.
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# posted by 
: 5/17/2006 1:04 PM
: 5/17/2006 1:04 PM << Home
