The Story of Swan Lake Maestro Classics - TOS Review

We had the opportunity to review The Story of Swan Lake from Maestro Classics.  When I told the boys it was a musical and a ballet I got groans and eye rolls.  We listened to it twice, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable.  I have never been interested in ballet, but I can see how having the visual to accompany the music would make for much better enjoyment of the story.

The Story of Swan Lake's music is by Tchaikovsky.  Bear recognized some of it as being in Harry Potter movies and Nolan remarked that some music was played in the theme song for Wonder Pets, although Wonder Pets plays it faster and added lyrics.  The boys had the realization that classical music is pretty much everywhere!

Maestro Classics CD's retail for $16.98 or you can download the MP3 for $9.98.  When purchasing from Maestro Classics, you aren't just getting a CD.  On the website you can get dozens of ideas and resources to accompany your CD and enhance your lessons.  CLICK HERE to check it out!

Noodle couldn't help but "dance" to the music.  No one has ever accused him of having rhythm, but bless his heart he loves to move around.  You can see this goofy clip of him enjoying The Story of Swan Lake.  Roxy the dog stares at him and even voices her opinion briefly.  Hehehehe  (The music is hard to hear at the beginning but then it gets louder.)

After the first time we listened to The Story of Swan Lake (33 minutes), we talked about the composer, Tchaikovsky.  Bear was interested in him because he was Russian and he has an interest in all things Russian since he began Russian as his foreign language this school year.  Noodle did a notebook page for Tchaikovsky that we found HERE.

On the CD, there are several other tracks besides the story.  On our CD there was a track about Tchaikovsky's life and much to Bear's amusement a "Speed Metal Swan" track!!  Further, there were tracks with more info about the music and other misc topics.

In the booklet that comes inside the CD case there is also information as well as a dot to dot and a crossword puzzle.

Noodle doing the Swan Lake Dot to Dot.

We enjoyed our time at Swan Lake and will revisit when Noodle is a little older, only next time we will go deeper in our studies.

In addition to The Story of Swan Lake, Maestro Classics offers Peter and the Wolf, The Soldier's Tale, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, My Name is Handel; The Story of Water Music, The Tortoise and the Hare, Casey at the Bat, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Juanita the Spanish Lobster.  You can order the 9 CD Collection for $128 which is a savings of $25.

In addition to their website, you can find Maestro Classics at Facebook and Twitter.

If you'd like to hear what other homeschoolers on the TOS Crew thought of Maestro Classics, click HERE.

I received a free copy of The Story of Swan Lake from Maestro Classics, in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was received.