The illustrations are nice but the content is all dry facts with no life or clear flow. ( )

"The Story of the Incredible Orchestra" was chock-full of information about instruments and the development of the modern day orchestra. The book begins in the 1500s with composers and the beginning of the orchestra in the 1600s. It lists reasons for performances like pageants and military music. It accounts the achievements and influences of composers like Bach, Gabrieli, and Mozart. This book also gives in depth definitions of instruments such as piano, kettledrum, oboes, and violins. The illustrations were honestly overwhelming. There were so many instruments and actions on each page that you didn't know where to look. There were also short snippets of information in all directions included in the illustrations. The text was very wordy and at a high reading level so this book would most likely have to be read aloud and discussed rather than read for pleasure. It included many dates and terminologies that required an education of music to fully understand. There are many opportunities to learn something you didn't know before! I appreciated the inclusion of today's influences such as computer synthesizers being used to recreate sounds, which is found in most music today. ( )

The Story of the Incredible Orchestra is a children's music history book like no other. The story opens with "No Orchestras Before 1600?" and advances through the baroque period, the classical age, the romantic period, and through the 20th-century sounds of jazz. Within each era, the instruments then invented are illustrated, often with interesting side notes ("when a harpsichord key in pressed, a wooden jack with a quill plectrum [the hard, hollow point of a feather shaft] is raised to pluck the string") or a brief description of the instrument's sound ("long wood tube gives clarinets a warm, mellow tone").

This book shines in its presentation of the enormous variety of orchestra instruments throughout the ages and the lively ink-and-watercolor illustrations. Occasionally, composers and instrument creators are mentioned, but the focus here is on the instruments and the development of the orchestra as a whole. (ages 4-9) ( )