Sesame Street Let's Make Music, Warner Home Video, 2009. UPC 074645171890, 40 minutes on DVD. $9.95
Annotation: Sesame Street characters unite with the Stomp percussion troupe to make beautiful music out of the most unusual instruments up and down the street.
Summary: This musical journey opens with Telly discovering that he has lost his beloved tuba. As he retraces his steps to try to find it, he interacts with many familiar Sesame Street characters like Oscar, Elmo, and Burt while they celebrate making music with familiar objects like oatmeal boxes, coffee cans, and glass soda bottles. The percussion troupe Stomp is visiting Sesame Street on this particular day, and they also create catchy rhythms with trashcans, pots and pans, and their own bodies.
Interspersed with the live action segments are animated and musically-themed bits from classic Sesame Street episodes, which combine with the main story line to create a captivating celebration of music. Children ages 2 and up will enjoy hearing and seeing the music that is made using everyday items and will be inspired to try making some music themselves.
Critical Evaluation: The childhood development experts at Sesame Workshop have decades of experience in educational programming for children. This DVD release is yet another product that has been developed with the interests of children in mind. Not only is the quality of the production high, but the presentation has been segmented into short portions, which are appropriate for the attention spans of the target audience.The segments are a mix of live action, puppet performances, and animation, which will captivate the interests of young children. Additionally, the rhythmic musical numbers often feature children not only participating in the music making, but also dancing to the beat, which will encourage young viewers to get up and dance along, adding an active, dynamic element to each viewing.
Age or Interest Level: Ages 2 to 6
Why Included? Music is a key element in preschool learning, and has been shown to positively affect spatial-temporal skills and language development. This presentation makes musical learning fun, and shows how music can be incorporated into everyday life by people young and old.