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THE MUSE WITHIN

Name: THE MUSE WITHIN
Author: Jon-Roar Bjorkvold
ISBN: 0-06-019025-6

CREATIVITY AND COMMUNICATION, SONG AND PLAY FROM CHILDHOOD THROUGH MATURITY

by Jon-Roar Bjorkvold ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1992

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A passionate case for the centrality of music in children's education; originally published in Norway. Using research findings and his own impressionistic evidence of children in three cultures, musicologist Bjrkvold begins at the beginning—fetal responses to sound—as he emphasizes the importance of rhythm, movement, and song as sources of creativity. The play of young children, he maintains, is where ``reason acquires wings,'' and is a universal necessity for social and cognitive development as well. Most schools, Bjrkvold contends, systematically repress the best of childhood impulses, putting the youthful culture in conflict with adult rules—though this is a somewhat familiar argument less likely to astonish American readers than the Scandinavians who—we're told—made this book a bestseller. Bjrkvold shows a profound respect for children's energies and natural learning tendencies, and he introduces similarities to be found among Norwegian, American, and Russian schoolchildren—song formulas, for example, and capacities for improvisation. He offers an interesting appreciation of the language of rock music—more expressive, he says, than ``art music''—and presents strongly held opinions on the disadvantages of early formal music study (``the long shadow of Mozart'') and on the state of most school-based music instruction (``still at the Dick and Jane stage''). Although most of the text can be understood without a firm grasp of musical notation, the chapter on Shostakovich is extremely challenging, more than most general readers will want to follow. Still, many will find his ardor compelling, right down to the notion that death comes ``when the foot stops tapping.'' (Illustrations throughout.)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-06-019025-6

Page Count: 372

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.