Book Review and Interview: In The Hall of the Mountain King

Edward Grieg wrote a very popular song that my students love to play around the holidays, In The Hall Of The Mountain King. It has a real cool sound, with a staccato bass and right hand, that is played so quick and lively. (Allegro moderato)

Amazon Snippet

This beautifully illustrated story brings to life Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg's musical masterpiece and Henrik Ibsen's timeless characters. Geared toward children 5-9, the story will delight readers as the action mirrors the movement of the music it's based on. Includes a CD with orchestral performances of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and four other pieces from the "Peer Gynt Suite." Lesson plans and a puppet-making sheet are available from the author's website. "This is a pitch-perfect book that will capture the attention of an entire classroom. . . . Despite the fact that this is a perfect book for any family, teacher, or caregiver with an appreciation for music, Flannery's retelling stands alone as a wonderful story for all picture book fans."-- The Children's Book Review

Product Details

• Hardcover: 34 pages
• Publisher: Samizdat Publishing; 1ST edition (2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193863313X
• ISBN-13: 978-1938633133

My Review

This is the perfect book for young musicians and piano teachers. I'm proud to display it in my studio. Grieg's popular and exciting songs promise to entertain the listener's ears, while the author's exciting rendition of Ibsen's play 'Peer Gynt' will capture young children's imagination and facilitate music theory and appreciation for the older ones. The beautiful illustrations add a wonderful touch of adventure to the story of Peer venturing farther off from home by the forest's edge and slipping through the front gate of a castle he discovers. The musical dynamics of Grieg's masterpiece, intertwined with encountering the Mountain King, will provide an enjoyable and lasting memory for the reader. I love this beautiful book and find it to be very stimulating and engaging for all. It's awesome and will make a great addition for home and school library, too.  I highly recommend it.

5/5 stars.

I am so fortunate that Allison agreed to do an interview with LadyD Books!

Author Interview

Tell us a bit about your book and where it’s available.

In the Hall of the Mountain King is a picture book that loosely follows the story line from Norwegian playwright Henrik Isben’s Peer Gynt written in the 1860's.  I modified it into a kid-friendly story of a young boy on an adventure, which ends in the mysterious Mountain King’s castle. The story’s action mirrors the music that Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg wrote for this scene of the play. I include directions in the book on how to make story and music an interactive experience for children that helps them learn about musical dynamics in a fun way. 

It is available through my website www.inthehallofthemountainking.com and through Amazon.com.

What was the inspiration for your book?

I was asked to write this book by one of my Kindergarten students two years ago. Five year olds really believe anything is possible and he was no exception.  I had told this story orally to my classes, and he kept insisting to see the "book that goes with that story."  At that time, there was no book, but because of his persistence, I started the process that led to the book getting published.  It is dedicated to that student!

What was your aim for this book? What did you want readers to think and feel when reading it?  I wanted my students to appreciate and enjoy classical music—to notice its movement and variations—and, for this piece, to visualize the action mirrored by the sounds.  As a teacher it is my aim to make learning fun as well as to impart beauty, truth, and goodness in my teaching.  I hope that readers will enjoy the story and the music and be inspired by its power and beauty. I love engaging young readers with whole body movement and to try to make the music come alive for children physically as well as emotionally. Through it all, I hope they will gain appreciation for the great composers and writers that left of these classic works of art and not overlook them as "boring."  

Do you have any other books currently available?

No, this is my first book.

What will you be working on next?

I would like to write stories based on other scenes from the Peer Gynt play, based on other pieces by Edvard Grieg.  There are several interesting possibilities, so I am not sure where I will go next, but it will likely be a story that accompanies one of the other pieces on the CD included with my current book.

How did you originally get into writing?

I have always been an avid reader, staring in my elementary school years.  Books were my best friends. I think writing is just an extension of reading. I feel privileged to have gotten to write this book.

What do you enjoy most about being a writer?

I really still don't consider myself a writer.  I am more of a discoverer. I discovered this book more than I wrote it.

What do you find hardest about being a writer?

Writing a picture book is challenging because most of my words in the original manuscript ended up on the cutting room floor.  The illustrator did such an amazing job of saying what I wanted with the illustrations that my editor and I deleted much of what I had originally written. But I do miss some of those words!

Who or what would you count as your main influence? 

My mother and my paternal grandmother.  My mother read to me constantly in my early childhood.  My grandmother always sang to me and took me on long walks on the family farm where I grew up.  I think the combination of these two women created a love of the written word and the beauty of adventure in nature.  I am grateful to have had them shape my life in such profound ways.

What do you enjoy reading? 

I love reading biographies and learning about people – how they think, what drives them to be successful, why they make the choices they do, and how that influences them and the world around them. I also love children’s books. They were and still are such a big part of my own children’s lives. Some of our most precious times have been reading and entering in to stories together. There are books that I’ve read over and over to each of my children or whole series that I’ve read to each of my daughters at certain ages that very special to me—and to them to.. 

Who is your favorite author?

Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I read all of her books 13 times by the time I was in the fifth grade. Her books are one of the series I referred to above that I’ve read to each of my daughters as well. They let you experience a different world and a different time, while helping to instill values that are as relevant today as ever.

What would be your ideal writer’s haven for creating your book? Would you have a desk in a quiet cabin somewhere or an iPad on the beach?

Probably a classroom full of kindergarteners.  I would love to have a whole day with them to hear their ideas, listen to great music, and interact with their responses to it.  They are so uninhibited by the world around them and see life so purely.  They would give me great ideas and inspire me to make them happen!

• The Peer Gynt Suite

The famous Norwegian writer and poet Henrich Ibsen asked Grieg to write music for his play Peer Gynt. This work, first performed in 1876, became so popular that it made Grieg nationally known.

The story is about Peer, a foolish and bold young fellow, who sets out from home in search of fame and fortune. The group of pieces (called a suite) tells the story of his adventures. Grieg wrote the pieces for orchestra and later transcribed them for piano.

"In The Hall of the Mountain King'" Peer goes into a dark cave where the trolls live. The music expresses the excitement and danger of the adventure.

About The Author

Allison Flannery is a Kindergarten music teacher in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She is passionate about bringing music to life for children. She sings, dances, marches, and teaches eleven classes of five-to-six-year-olds at two local elementary campuses, and team teaches a music and movement class for four- to-seven-year-olds at the Colorado Springs Conservatory.

Also a long-time piano instructor, Allison loves inspiring youngsters to listen and learn from the great classical composers.

The author offers a variety of lessons plans and a free downloadable coloring page of the characters that can be mounted on craft sticks and turned into puppets to use along with the music.

Books may be ordered online at Allison's website and at Amazon, In the Hall of the Mountain King.

Thanks for the opportunity to review your book and have this wonderful interview, Allison.
Best wishes and much continued success!

Have a wonderful Christmas season everyone!








 “You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." C. S. Lewis

Review: Chopin - First Discovery (Music)

From the music series, Chopin - First Discovery (Music) written by Catherine Weill and illustrated by Charlotte Voake, with narration by Michael Cantwell.

• Amazon Snippet

As a young Polish boy, Chopin was already composing his own tunes at the age of five. He learned Latin, Greek, and French, then German, English, and Italian at the same time he was learning to play the piano. Children who can tell stories through their piano playing or singing, or who have ever danced a Polish mazurka, will find that they have much in common with Chopin.

• Review

Fryderyk Chopin was ushered into the world with his mother singing a sweet lullaby and introducing him to the piano at just five years old. His father who taught him many foreign languages was proud of his son playing for the Russian Tsar when he was eight. Chopin loved the rhythm of country dances and loved the opera at twelve. Moving to Paris from Poland, he was a success, a genius at improvisation and well praised during the Romantic period. Chopin composed 24 studies that were extremely difficult to play and enjoyed giving piano lessons to so many. He wrote polonaises, elegant waltzes and mazurkas recalling his native country. Chopin also wrote ballades (a poem that tells a story) and nocturnes. The beautiful book is a plus for music education, as well as hearing the beautiful music of Chopin. My favorite quote, "If you want to play the piano, you have to make it sing."

5/5 stars! Highly recommend.

• Songs on the CD

Latin, German and Music
First Success
National Dances
What Glorious Singing
His Trusted Friend
The Lure Of The Unknown
A Genius!
Music To Learn By
Music To Dance To
Music To Dream By

Fryderyk Chopin (First Discovery: Music)







 “You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." C. S. Lewis

Review: Vivaldi (First Discovery - Music)

Product Details

Age Range: 7 - 11 years Grade Level: 2 - 6 Series: First Discovery: Music Hardcover: 28 pages Publisher: Moonlight Publishing (May 1, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 1851033238 ISBN-13: 978-1851033232   About the Author Olivier Baumont is a professional classical musician. He is a regular performer in baroque music festivals around the world. Charlotte Voake is an award-winning illustrator whose titles include Ginger and Hello Twins. The narration is by Michael Cantwell. Amazon Snippet

Antonio Vivaldi's father was a baker and a barber as well as being a violinist by profession. Vivaldi became a priest very young and was nicknamed the red priest because of his red hair. Children who have tried making their own musical instruments or pretended to conduct an orchestra will find that they have much in common with Vivaldi.

• Antonio Vivaldi

Born: 1678

Died: 1741

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer during the Baroque period. He was born in Venice to a poor family. His father taught him to play violin and he later became a priest. As a priest he was the violin teacher at an orphanage. He wrote over 500 concertos as well as 46 operas, 90 sonatas, choral music and chamber music. His most famous work is The Four Seasons.

• My Review

The Italian Baroque composer was known as il prete rosse, the red priest, because of his auburn red hair. Vivaldi lived during the baroque period, a time in Europe between 1600 and 1700 when art and architecture were fancy, grand and decorative. Music, too was grand, filled with the rich sounds of flutes and trumpets and violins. Vivaldi's compositions were in the baroque style - elaborate, rhythmic and melodic.

Unlike a symphony where musicians all work together, a concerto is usually designed to show off the talents of one outstanding player. Vivaldi played the violin, wrote music rather quickly, and became a music teacher for a school of girls. He travelled and wrote operas, too. His music made people happy. The Four Seasons is said to be the 'ancestor concerto' which influenced later composers who were inspired by nature. Spring sounds like twittering birds; Summer sounds of unsettled weather; Autumn suggests hunting and Winter ends the concerto with ice and snow. Young musicians will enjoy, not only learning about this wonderful composer, but also interacting with some engaging activities like conducting a choir or making an instrument with wood and wire strings. Warm, earthy illustrations and excellent music make this a must-have for home, school and music library.

5/5 stars! Highly recommend.

• Childhood

Vivaldi had five siblings. His father was a barber who then became a professional violinist. After he taught Antonio to play violin, the two of them performed all over Venice. Vivaldi suffered from poor health throughout his life. He probably had asthma, but there was no treatment back then.

However, Vivaldi's health did not hold him back and he became a famous violinist and a great Baroque composer. When he was 25, he accepted a job at an orphanage for girls in Venice.

For nearly 40 years Vivaldi supervised the music program at the orphanage. Many of his students became outstanding musicians. Each Sunday the girls performed concerts. These concerts were very popular and featured choirs and large groups of instruments.

Vivaldi wrote most of his famous works there - many for his students to perform. He wrote over 230 violin concertos because the violin was the most popular instrument for the girls to play, but some played flute, oboe, cello, and bassoon. Vivaldi composed concertos for all these instruments.

• Concerto Gross

Most of Vivaldi's concertos are solo concertos that feature one soloist with an orchestra. Some of his concertos were a different type called a concerto grosso. These feature several soloists playing with an orchestra accompaniment.

• Venice

During Vivaldi's life Venice was the capital of the Republic of venice, and today venice is part of Italy. Venice is a city in northern Italy that is built on islands. It is famous for its many canals that separate the buildings like streets in other cities. People often travel around Venice in boats called gondolas.

Venice has 180 canals, 200 palaces, and many colorful buildings along the canals. St. Mark's Square (Piazzo San Marco in Italian) is the center of Venice. In warm weather visitors and venetians gather there to eat, talk, shop, and watch the thousands of pigeons. Just around the corner from St. Mark's Square is the building where Vivaldi worked, on a street overlooking the Grand Canal. When the tides are very high, St. Mark's Square often floods because it is the lowest point in Venice.

• The Four Seasons

Vivaldi's most famous work is Le Quattro Stagioni which means The Four Seasons in English. It is a series of 4 concertos, each with 3 movements. It is one of the most popular baroque pieces and was first published in 1725. There are four poems that go along with the work to describe the seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Throughout The Four Seasons, Vivaldi musically imitates sounds from nature. For example, in the "Spring" concerto, trills sound like bird calls and tremelos and rapid scales sound like thunder and lightning for a summer storm.

Antonio Vivaldi (First Discovery: Music)







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 “You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." C. S. Lewis

Review: Claude Debussy (First Discovery - Music)

Written by Pierre Babin and beautifully illustrated by Charlotte Voake, the team provides wonderful insights into Debussy's compositions creating beautiful pictures. I love this book!

• Product Details

Age Range: 7 - 11 years

Grade Level: 2 - 6

Series: First Discovery: Music

Hardcover: 28 pages

Publisher: Moonlight Publishing (May 1, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1851033211

ISBN-13: 978-1851033218

• Amazon Snippet

As a boy, Debussy wanted to be a sailor. At music college in Paris he used to shock his teachers with the sounds he made on the piano. Children who want to know how to make a glass sing or hear the sound of the sea in a teacup will learn much from Debussy.

• My Review

Debussy was a French composer who wrote some wonderful piano music. When he was 7 years old he started taking piano lessons and was admitted to the famous Paris Conservatory when he was only 10 years old. He became very interested in composing music and experimented with new ideas and sounds. Debussy loved the sea and water, and many of his pieces have something to do with water. Most of the titles of his pieces are very descriptive and suggest what the piece is about in "Gardens in the Rain" or "Reflections in the Water." You will enjoy the book of listening to Debussy's music. His melodies are smooth and graceful like flowing water.

5 stars! Highly recommend!

• Debussy had many interesting ideas about music and composing

There is nothing more musical than a sunset.

Music is the space between the notes.

Composers aren't daring enough.

Collect impressions. Don't be in a hurry  to write them down.

• The Submerged Cathedral

One of Debussy's famous piano works is called La cathedrale engloutie which means sunken or submerged cathedral. The piece is based on am old story of a cathedral that is sunk beneath the water off the coast of France. On clear mornings the cathedral rises to the surface and then sinks again.

In Debussy's music you can hear the church bells and organ across the ocean and then slightly muffled as they go back underwater. 

Claude Debussy (First Discovery: Music)







“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." C. S. Lewis

Book Review: Hector Berlioz (First Discovery: Music)

Title: Hector Berlioz

Author: Christian Wasselin

Illustrator: Charlotte Voake

Narrator: Michael Cantwell

Age Range: 7 - 11 years

Grade Level: 2 - 6

Series: First Discovery: Music

Hardcover: 28 pages

Publisher: Moonlight Publishing; Har/Com edition (September 1, 2013)

• Amazon Snippet

Young music fans will learn in this brief biography that Berlioz was influenced all his life by the music and singing he heard at his first communion, and that his father was a doctor and wanted him to become one too. Children who have ever sung in a choir, or tried to make strange sounds by blowing into an empty bottle, will find much to enjoy in Berlioz's life and music.

• Book Review

 Hector Berlioz was a great French Romantic composer who used orchestra, choral and opera to create fresh and exciting sounds. Use of the orchestra was ahead of his time, as seen in the composition "Symphonie Fantastique," which was his most popular work. Berlioz believed that music should grab your emotions and imagination by creating pictures and dramatic action. His music is full of unexpected turns, exciting rhythms, and unusual harmonies. Berlioz was home schooled by his father and secretly studied books about harmony and writing compositions. He never gave up hope of becoming a musician. Today Hector Berlioz is known as a great composer, but during his lifetime, audiences did not understand his music. This is a great read for music students who have an appreciation for the arts and want to become a better musician.

5/5 stars. Recommend it.

• Excerpt

Later on, Hector will become a great traveller and will explore Europe from one end to the other, from London to Russia. But while he is a boy, he can only travel in his dreams.

• History

Hector Berlioz
1803 - 1869

Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts (Requiem). Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works, and conducted several concerts with more than 1,000 musicians. He also composed around 50 songs. His influence was critical for the further development of Romanticism, especially in composers like Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and many others.

For more information, visit Wikipedia.org and you might also want to spend some time at the website, http://www.hberlioz.com/

• Music by Henry Berlioz

The Trojans
Fantastic Symphony
Harold in Italy
The Childhood of Christ
Lelio
The Damnation of Faust
Les Nuits d'ete

Perhaps you would like to listen to some music by Hector Berlioz

• CD Recordings

1. One fine December day- Bienvenuto Cellini, Op.23, Overture
2. First feelings for music - L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25, 'LAdieu des Bergers'
3. Playing music with friends - L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25, Trio des Ismaelites
4. In love at twelve - Symphonic fantastique, Op. 14, 2nd movement, Un bal
5. Setting off on his travels - Harold in Italie, Op. 16, 3rd movement, Serenade d'un montagnard des Abruzzes a sa maitresse
6. The love of singing - La Captive, Op. 12
7. Night and nightmares - Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14, 5th movement, Songe d'une nuit de sabbat'
8. Opera - Les Troyens, Act 5, Dido: 'Je vais mourir'
9. Symphonic music - Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14, 4th movement, Marche au supplice'
10. Sacred music - L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25, "La Fuite en Egypte,' Overture Orchestre de l'Opera de Lyon
11. Strange works - La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24, 'La Course a l' abime': 'Dans mon coeur retentit sa voix desesperee'

• More about this Romantic Composer

Berlioz was born in a small French toen. He was the oldest of a doctor. His parents wanted him to become a doctor like his father, and they did not want him to be a musician. At eighteen Berlioz moved to Paris to study medicine, following his parents' wishes. He hated it, and started to take private theory lessons at the Paris Conservatory. When he quit medical school, his parents got very upset with him and stopped giving him money to live on. 

After a few years of struggling, he won an important composition contest, in which the prize was a three-year scholarship to study at a French school in Rome, Italy. The gorgeous landscape of Italy inspired Berlioz to compose beautiful pieces of music.

When Berlioz returned to Paris from Italy, he did not have as much success as he had hoped. He continued writing music and organizing concerts and became a very good orchestra conductor. Audiences in France still did not like his unusual music very much. Berlioz also wrote books about music and became  a respected music critic.

In the 1840s Berlioz traveled around Europe as a conductor. Audiences in other countries were much more welcoming, and he soon became one of the most popular conductors in Europe. His concerts in Russia, England, Austria and Germany were very successful and made up for his misfortunes at home. Many great composers including Franz Liszt, appreciated his new ideas and became fans of his music. Berlioz considered moving out of France, but in the end he always returned to Paris, where he lived for the test of his life.

• My Favorite Line

Hector loves to listen to country people singing as they walk in processions or celebrate harvest festival. When he is seventeen, he begins to compose songs to express his feelings of love and sadness.

Hector Berlioz (First Discovery: Music)

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Book Review: Henry Purcell

• Title: Henry Percell
• Author: Marielle D. Khoury 
• Illustrator: Charlotte Voake
• Narrator: Michael Cantwell

• Publisher: Moonlight Publishing
• Book Type: First Discovery - Music
• Ages: 7-11
• Themes: Music, Church, Opera

Excerpt: 

Henry was interested in all kinds of music. He developed a fascination for the theatre thanks to an old family friend. 

From Amazon Website:

Purcell was a court musician like his father and uncle. He also wrote music for the theater—a mixture of instrumental pieces, songs, and dances. Children who have tried making up their own dance steps, or who can tell the difference between the sound of the violin and the viola, will find that they have much in common with Purcell.

Book Review

Wonderful information about a great English composer who was born in Westminster and lived near Westminster Abbey. Rough beginnings and some dark days ahead for the lad because his dad died young and the plague hit London which was incurable. Fortune soon comes to Purcell as he sings for the children's choir in the Royal Court. This famous composer of Baroque music began composing at the early age of nine. He learned the organ and published a book of songs when he was 16. I especially love that Purcell liked all types of music, including the theater of comedy and tragedy scenes. Court composer at 18 with the King's Violins, this will surely soothe your soul in hearing such heavenly music. Students will learn about the richness of anthems, along with Queen Mary's celebration of Purcell's odes. His operatic work is inspiring by King Arthur and all. Indeed, you will enjoy discovering the richness of Henry Purcell's music.

Purcell was universally mourned as "a very great master of music." 

5/5 stars. Highly recommend.

* I was not compensated in any way for an exchange of my honest review. *

Music by Purcell:

Dido and Aeneas

King Arthur

The Fairy Queen

Ode to Saint Cecilia

Cd Selections

1. A City Child
2. Like Father, Like Son
3. Dark Days
4. Learn To Read As You Sing
5. In The service Of The Royal Court

6. First Job
7. From Church To Theatre
8. Royal Composer
9. Sacred Music
10. The Odes
11. Music For The Theater

Henry Purcell (First Discovery: Music)



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“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." C. S. Lewis