The Probably Untrue...
author: Ralph Ringo
Hi Micah,
My name is Ralph Ringo. I'm a friend of Larry Latham. We met many years ago and in fact, I sat at the same table as you at Larry's wedding reception. Larry and I were looking for your album at Barnes and Noble, couldn't find it, so went on line. Anyway, we enjoyed your music and just wanted to say hello and best of luck.
Warm Regards, Ralph Ringo
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The teacher loved it
author: Donna Lynch
We gave this CD as a gift to my child's 2nd grade teacher. The class had just performed the play Mary's little Lamb and we thought this would be a nice end of year gift. She loved it and will use it with her class next year. Being from Sterling. MA, the birthplace of Mary Elizabeth Sawyer, it was the perfect gift. I am sure her students will gain a love for classical music through a favorite poem.
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When “The Probably Untrue Story of Mary (Who) Had a Little Lamb” is put in a
author: Bill Wood/ Kalamazoo Gazette
When “The Probably Untrue Story of Mary (Who) Had a Little Lamb” is put in a CD player, watch a child become quiet. Then hear the child's gleeful laughter when “Mary Had a Little Lamb" is eventually played in western hoedown style, complete with fiddles and banjos. At that point on the CD, the child would have listened to about 25 variations of the song and, without knowing it, have learned about classical music and the great breadth of music in general. “If kids really like and find that education is entertaining, they will be absorbed by it and they won't want to put it down," said Micah Levy, the Maryland-based musician who composed the music. Levy, a former orchestra conductor who now teaches piano and composes music, didn't set out to create a CD for children. He embraced composing to sharpen his conducting skills. Later, he fell in love with composing. Finally, he got the idea of using his composing skills to make classical music fun for children. The result was “The Probably Untrue Story” .
Levy gives "Mary Had A Little Lamb", one of the most simple and universally known songs, a Broadway spin, then a sacred spin, like music heard in a medieval cathedral.
A child just might say, “That sounds like church, Mommy.”
During Levy's "Mary Had a Little Lamb" story, in which Mary and her lamb get lost in the woods during a snowy winter and take refuge in the house of Mary's uncle Antonio Vivaldi, Levy creates moods with dramatic treatments of the song.
Every moment in the plot gets a musical illustration. French horns play as a hunting party passes by and almost shoots the defenseless lamb. Timpani boom as Mary and the lamb trudge through the snow. Levy narrates.
The "Mary Had a Little Lamb" melody is stretched, slowed, quickened and turned on its ear as Levy shows how a major chord here or a minor chord there can manipulate your emotions.
What fun to realize that an endless number of songs are in the air, unplayed, and all you have to do is reach out for the notes and put them together in just the right way.
Parents may be intrigued that you never hear the tune “Mary Had a Little Lamb" performed on the CD in the traditional way.
“The whole point of the CD is that classical music should be fun," Levy said.
"Everything that makes us human can be expressed in music. Why shouldn't fun be expressed in music, especially classical music, which is often seen as serious?"
Levy was music director of the Orange County (Calif.) Chamber Orchestra for 11 years and received a master's degree in orchestral conducting from the New England Conservatory. When he was a junior in high school, he played French horn professionally with the Long Beach (Calif.) Symphony.
Now Levy teaches piano, does some commercial composing and hopes one day to make a living as a composer.
The "Mary Had a Little Lamb" CD has been a fun project for him, something he never knew would consume so much of his interest, he said.
He also took the extra step of including a teacher's guide on the CD, written by music educator Barbara King. One can stick the CD in a computer, print out the guide and get more out of the CD listening experience.
And what of Uncle Antonio Vivaldi?
Turns out he can play a mean version of “Mary Had a Little Lamb" on the violin. He also introduces Mary and the lamb to his newest composition, "Spring."
You gotta love Levy's sense of humor. He eventually turns "Spring" into a bar mitzvah number.
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It is fanciful, entertaining, whimsical, fun, and incredibly musical! Bravo!
author: Mary-Ellen Cohn, Executive Director Maryland Music Educators' As
Composer Micah Levy saw a problem and came up with a creative solution. He saw the American symphony orchestra in trouble and saw composers like himself creating new sounds and new works, seeking an audience. Perhaps, he mused, the way to bring folks, especially children, to the symphony halls was to give them something new but very familiar. That he has done, masterfully crafting an expanded tale of Mary and her small lamb into a whimsical tale that speaks a different musical language to a variety of ages and levels of understanding.
One readily can identify with how “Peter and the Wolf” fascinates children and adults as well. But this fanciful tale does more than feature the sounds of specific instruments and specific themes. This takes a simple nursery rhyme tune and turns that tune inside out and upside down. Levy’s music breathes life into fascinating moments and characters. The musical images used to tell the story are clever, unexpected and downright funny! The added selections after the “story” give an even broader understanding to compositional techniques and styles as Mary and her lamb hit the road.
Levy touches on so many musical styles, trained musicians will hear something new in each hearing. Children remain fascinated, and older children and teens start to see how something so simple can be varied to be something musically complex.
The addition of the lesson plans by Barbara King make this musical story something that every music teacher in the country can embrace and use effectively. It meets many of the national and state Standards and benchmarks of 21st century music education and the activities are sheer fun!
(See the Curriculum on the CD for ideas on how to do wonderful activities in your class -- at many levels!)
It belongs in the repertoire of every major symphony orchestra in the country. While “Peter and the Wolf” tells a story musically, “Mary” tells a musical story in a variety of styles and variations in a new way. The eventual inclusion of the lamb is a powerful reminder of the ability of music to include everyone, even those with...well, you’ll understand once you hear "The Probably Untrue Story of Mary
Who Had A Little Lamb"
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