I know one thing about music: what I like and what I don’t like. And, granted that can be eclectic (Jim Byrnes anyone? How about Queen? Elvis? Ella? Bowie? Fraggles?) But I never thought about the “how to” of it. After all, why bother? I knew I liked it, but why should I learn about Do, Re, Mi? It’s just a silly song in a fun musical movie right? Well, yes, but it’s a lot more, too. While I still do not know a lot about music, I know about the Italian monk who loved music so much, he wanted to find an easier way to teach it to students. And in The First Notes: The Story of Do, Re, Mi by Julie Andrews (or aka: the Maria von Trapp actress) tells us how this came to be when Guido d’Arezzo, a 11th Century monk wrote it down.
Long story short, Guido (sorry, I am loving the fact his name was Guido…. That’s such a stereotypical Italian name, and not a stereotypical name you associate with music. But then again, I love the fact we have a pope Frankie…. I am sure the Dear Lord will forgive my blasphemy. After all, he gave me this warped sense of humor) figured out how the scale should be put together and would tweak it until the bases for the do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do would happen. It would later be tweaked more, but the seed was planted. While little is known about this man, Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton bring to life a wonderful story. It might be a bit longer than most picture book readers might like, and there is little traditional action, there is much to love. Good for a classroom, this book fits art, history, music and even a smidgen of religion (but does not push anything religious). The afterwards adds to the strength of things.
I am assuming Chiara Fedele created the cover image of The First Notes with its allusion to The Sound of Music. But the internal images by them are rich, colorful, busy, detailed and wonderfully done. They are not “real” nor “cartoon” but have an in-between to them. They are clever and support the text, while giving a little extra as well. Though currently out, I read this via an online reader copy from my tons of saved links. And I am excited that I did.
