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Critics Corner: 'Little Einsteins' in tune with children

William Whitehurst

Critics Corner: 'Little Einsteins' in tune with children

I was skeptical when I heard about the TV cartoon "Little Einsteins," which introduces preschoolers to classical music. Surely the show would oversimplify the music -- heck, kids that young don't typically play instruments, so how could they really learn about classical music?

Plus, TV isn't much of a teacher compared with parents or classes such as "Music Together" for this show's target group, 2-to-5-year-olds. While there is debate about how young is too young for TV viewing, my wife and I still severely limit our preschooler's time in front of the tube. When we do let him watch, one of us joins him, making it an interactive experience.

But we decided to see what the buzz was about. "Little Einsteins," the half-hour morning program that premiered in 2005, is part of Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool programming block. From the beginning, not only were my concerns assuaged, but I have been impressed by its conception and quality. Oh, and our son loves it, too.

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While co-developer The Baby Einstein Co. (now owned by Disney) has never impressed me as overly creative with classical music in its DVDs, the TV show "Little Einsteins" is inspired. It marvelously avoids "dumbing down" classical music while still engaging kids. The quartet of adventurous kids and their red rocket ship just might become the preschooler's version of Leonard Bernstein's "Young People's Concerts."

"Go a step beyond 'Fantasia.'" That's how executive producer Eric Weiner, formerly with "Dora the Explorer," articulates the show's ambitious goals. "Setting a story to classical music has been done before. [We] wanted to make the score as visual and concrete as possible -- how is music doing what it is doing?"

"Little Einsteins" does so by incorporating a famous composition and work of art into the "rescue mission" of each episode. During the course of the action, conductor Leo, singer Annie (his sister), dancer June and musician Quincy use and sing the themes to overcome obstacles.

Musical examples include Bach's "Brandenburg" Concerto No. 5, Dvorak's "New World" Symphony, Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony and Smetana's "The Moldau"; while art examples include Van Gogh's "Olive Trees With Yellow Sky and Sun," Kandinsky's "Circles in a Circle" and Warhol's "Fish."

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You might think that list would be hopelessly over the head of the preschoolers, but the creative team, led by Weiner and including curriculum adviser Valeria Lovelace, music adviser Cordelia Bergamo and music director Teese Gohl, has instead turned this supposed hindrance into an advantage.

"What turns preschoolers off from shows is lack of content," says Weiner. "Gohl's motto was: Let the composers speak for themselves. That has been our greatest asset. Kids who are hearing the music for the first time are turned on by it. It is not speaking down to them."

Each featured composition is broken down, repeated and used to solve puzzles as the toon tots zip around the globe in Rocket. Nearly all the action is set to aspects of that work, tying everything together wonderfully. For instance, in the new DVD, "Rocket's Firebird Rescue" (Disney, $26.99), Stravinsky's ballet provides the motifs to the good and bad characters. Music has magical powers here: the ability to make things work out for the young characters. And in all the episodes, children learn about musical terms such as crescendo, allegro and diminuendo (the latter a key term for parents!).

I love when the characters cheer for composers at the end of the show ("Yea Bach!), but I could do without the silly lyrics attached to the classical themes. Weiner, however, is adamant that getting kids to sing is crucial. "Preschoolers naturally make up songs to narrate their lives," he says. "That outweighed the risk of having the catchy tunes sticking in your head." I guess, but I still need to purge my mind of Quincy singing, "I'm rescuing my friends at sea, my magic instruments and me," to Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake."

But the show does a good job avoiding permanently attaching these wacky plots to masterworks by using each composition in two episodes. "We help kids understand that this music ... belongs to them, and they are free to play with it as they would their toys," Weiner says.

That last point is what I especially like about "Little Einsteins." It isn't trying to push big concepts on kids or asking them to sit through lectures. It's just a fun show that uses classical music as power and as a plaything. The music makes inroads on its own merits.

One local parent I talked to about "Little Einsteins" felt it helped her 3-year-old bring music and art into her life. "Now she makes up words to songs, including to classical tunes that don't have words," says Valerie Golik of Marshall.

I suppose some will try to assess "Little Einsteins" by what it can do for classical music. Will it lead to a new generation of concert-goers or redress the pullback of music education in public schools? That's all beside the point. If the show can affect children in a positive manner as it has for Golik's and mine, it is a success in my book.

The show does a sincere job of engagingly presenting this great music to children, and that is enough of a "mission completion," as Leo likes to say, for me.

"Little Einsteins" airs on Disney Channel's "Playhouse Disney" at 9 a.m. weekdays and at 10 a.m. weekends.

First Published: October 2, 2007, 8:00 a.m.

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