Mozart's Magic Flute The Music Game

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic educational game. Kept all my kids riveted!
Review: This game was a last minute impulse buy for Christmas for my 6 year old son. Little did I know that it was to be the most popular gift out of all those I purchased all year! As a classical music fan, I am thrilled with the understanding of music that it has given my children. While the game is intended to be played by children, I would also recommend it for adults who want to train their ears to hear individual orchestral instruments or gain a better understanding of musical composition.

The product description promises musical jigsaw games, musical trivia, an instrument encylopaedia, and more, but it does not even come close to doing justice to the hours of fun this game has provided my kids. Even my four and two year old sons play with this game. I do recommend that you find or buy a cd of The Magic Flut or excerpts from it prior to introducing the game to your children as they won't be able to get enough of the music once they start playing it! My kids now listen to a cd of the Magic Flute every night before bed. I tried to replace it the other night with a traditional lullaby cd and was met with a collective hue and cry to "puhleeeeeeeeeze put back Mozart..."

A couple of neat items in the game...

1.) There is a game where a sound clip of Mozart's Magic Flute is played. The player then listens to other clips from various sections of the opera which have been sped up or slowed down and chooses the match for the original clip. This is fantastic for training the ear to recognize tempo and chord progression.

2.) There is a section where the children can read a child-friendly description of the libretto of the opera while they listen to the music.

3.) There is a game in the program that allows the children to "mute" certain instruments while a piece is playing so that they can hear how the instruments sound together or separate and what parts they play.

4.) There is also an instrument encyclopaedia which not only plays a sample of each instrument but also speaks the definition aloud for children who have not yet learned to read well.

5.) The narration in the program is NOT, I repeat, NOT smarmy, annoyingly brash, condescending, or overly peppy as are many children's programs. It is done very tastefully but still very engagingly.

This program should be at the top of your list of educational games to purchase for any kids you know or any adults who love classical music. I cannot wait for my other Music Games International items to arrive. I hope they keep producing more and more- and if someone from their company happens upon this review, I'd like to request that they do something with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony!!!