Strange and mesmerizing for toddlers, just plain funny for us. A bizarre introduction to a wonderful song. [Via BoingBoing]



Who knows, maybe your child will learn to do this:



- Jeremiah

Child prodigy, it's time to make a name for yourself. Get involved in this YouTube Symphony Orchestra thing. Be the youngest member.



From Wired:

YouTube Symphony Orchestra asks classical and more non-conventional performers to shoot videos of them playing [Tan Dun]'s composition and a piece of standard repertoire to be judged by Google's experts and YouTube users. Sheet music for the pieces is available on YouTube in PDF form along with individualized conductor video featuring Tan conducting each part. In other words, if you're a timpanist, you can download Tan conducting the timpani part just for you. Instructions for participating are available in 17 languages in an effort to put world's classical talent on the same page, so to speak.

Google product marketing manager Timothy Lee (pictured on the right), who was involved with this idea from the start, explained to Wired.com that in addition to mashing the winning performers into a live orchestra for the Carnegie Hall performance Google will mash the uploaded performances by each winner into a single video with little boxes containing each performer, with the audio from their auditions mixed into a single orchestral track.

Auditions close January 28, 2009. Here's where you can download the stuff you need to participate. - Jeremiah

The 38 favorites and 72 minutes of hard-to-beat musical arrangements on Children’s Songs: A Collection of Childhood Favorites will please you and your child. Once again Susie Tallman delights with a variety of languages and her first-rate voice. Her friends chime in with a nice blend of back up vocals and instruments including the organ, train whistles, banjo and accordion. The top draw from my viewpoint is the wide variety of styles including songs from France, Spain, Ireland, England, and others and from many genres including country, rock, rap, and jazz.

Susie Tallman's voice is emotional without going overboard, her song choices represent the best of traditional favorites, and the CD art delights.

Our favorite tracks were “Pop Goes the Weasel,” “Little Peter Rabbit,” and “Monkeys on the Bed,” all for the creative, fun and unusual arrangements, and “When the Saints Go Marching In."

Children’s Songs: A Collection of Childhood Favorites was a winner of the Oppenheim Portfolio Gold Award. You can pick it up on Amazon.com for $11.99. - Karen