I have mostly good things to say about Disney's Little Einsteins, a TV show for pre-school kids about music appreciation. On the surface, it seems to play into the parenting falacy (i.e. marketing premise) that classical music is inherently good for children's general intellectual development. This falacy usually manifests itself in toys and CDs that play public domain classical themes with tinny toy instrument sounds and an absence of musical meaning. In the show, this idea is reinforced by the use of random geographical landmarks, animals, insects, and cultural artifacts, without any meaningful context and often with basic facts removed or simplified, as secondary material. It's also implied by the title, where "Einstein" = smart.

But Little Einsteins' treatment of musical appreciation at the pre-school level is quite good. LE uses real orchestrations and orchestral instruments to play the classical themes. Instead of sacrificing the original expression of the themes by using toy instruments in the name of accessibilty, LE hones the presentation to samples of the themes of the original work, tied to story and interactive elements that explore the meanings of the themes. The catchy and literate original theme music is also wonderfully orchestral. The high production values in both the music and the animation are greatly appreciated.

I do see some value in being surrounded by signposts of education, as long as it isn't the heart of the material. Little Einsteins is mostly about music, really, so the other stuff is just set dressing. I don't feel we're ever expected to believe that seeing a picture of the Great Wall of China will make our children better people. I haven't made up my mind about the use of visual art, where a famous painting becomes the backdrop of an animated scene in each episode: They include some mild emotional exporation of each work, a bit deeper than the otherwise incidental "Look! It's the Space Needle! We're in Seattle, Washington." So no points lost on the art.

I really don't know if incidental exposure to a grab bag of abstracted trivia—Getty Images clip art as a semblence of knowledge—is developmentally productive. But I'm convinced that focused exposure to classical music, with real orchestration, enhances appreciation of classical music, and I entirely believe that's a good thing and something I wish for my children. The genuine treatment of musical concepts, such as tempo, rhythm, pitch, instrumentation, musical themes and theme recognition, is well done for its audience. This stuff is pretty much never addressed in other children's television.

I also get a kick out of hearing my 2-year-old daughter shout "Accelerando!" on cue. The Italian musical terms probably belong in the "trivia" category, but it's fun. On the other hand, whenever I play or hum a classical theme used in the show (e.g. Vivaldi's Four Seasons, "Spring"), she shouts "Little Einsteins!" as if that were the name of the piece. So I really don't know what she's learning.

Complete seasons of Little Einsteins episodes are not yet out on DVD, but you can buy them at the iTunes music video store for $2 each. Of course, you're stuck playing them on your computer, or your video iPod, if you go that route. Disney's Little Einsteins - Team Up for Adventure, a $20 DVD, features three 20-minute episodes. Disney's Little Einsteins - Out Big Huge Adventure, a one-hour special, is also on DVD, with an extensive treatment of themes from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. (The lack of material aimed at adults is especially noticeable with the extended length. But kids love it.) The show airs daily on The Disney Channel.

I had set out to compile a list of episodes with full citations for the musical and visual works used in each, and was pleased to discover that the Wikipedia article on Little Einsteins has the complete list. (Notice how they've re-used themes already, and they're not even 30 episodes in. Lame.)

I have no reservations whatsoever in recommending Classical Baby, an HBO mini-series collection of animated shorts for toddlers. Each short is set to a complete short work of classical music or American songbook song, in its original form, and is usually based visually either on a famous work of visual art or a famous work of choreography (!). No dialog, no story, just gorgeous animation set to beautiful music. It's probably the most re-watchable set of children's videos we own, for both parents and children, and it's by far the most pleasant child-occupier to put on in the background while I try to get a few things done around the house. Classical Baby is just great, and it manages to be so without any pretense that classical music will make my kid grow up to be rich doctor, or whatever it is I'm supposed to think. I'll have to compile a list of works depicted in Classical Baby, as I can't seem to find one online. P.S. HBO criticized for pushing TV to infants. (Oops.)

On the subject of packaging classical music for children, I'd also like to put in a good word for The World's Very Best Opera for Kids...in English! (CD and "teacher's guide" book set; I haven't seen the book, got the CD at a library sale). I suppose because it's opera, it makes no pretense of the magical powers of classical music over children. It's also a quality presentation, with full orchestrations and real opera singers. The English lyrics make the pieces accessible without detracting from their meaning, and the pieces are selected for fun.

On the subject of music education for small children, I have to mention my favorite children's video of all time, Blue's Clues - Blue's Big Musical Movie (2000). I like Blue's Clues for lots of reasons, and I like this movie for even more reasons, but one of them is certainly the sophisticated use of music throughout the show, and especially the movie. With regards to music theory specifically, Blue's Big Musical Movie contains a great sequence with Ray Charles and the Persuasions where Steve (the main character) composes a short song. The DVD is only $7.