FIRST! We’ve got a free printable that you might want to grab for your little one to use to play with while listening to this episode. There are images of the two instruments we’ll be listening to as well as a visual representation of forte and piano and will help your little one understand this musical concept even better. Go to www.clapforclassics.com/episode2 to grab it.

In today’s episode we’ll be meeting a new friend, Piano the Cat. She will help us understand the words piano, that means the opposite of orte, which we learned in the last episode.

We’ll sing a familiar song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star both quietly and loudly to solidify the concept of forte and piano.

Next we’ll introduce the quiet sounds of The Cuckoo from Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals. We’ll identify the different sounds of the piano and the clarinet in this piece. Then we’ll contrast the quiet Cuckoo with the forte Royal March of the Lion, from the same piece, which we introduced in the previous podcast episode.

Forte and Piano are musical concepts that are fun to practice and reinforce at home. Try making forte and piano sounds with your voices and your body. This is a fun way to teach inside and outside voices!

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to see a video of Charlotte and I enjoying The Cuckoo, you can watch that here: www.clapforclassics.com/blog/cuckoo

Check out this song about a cuckoo clock, with lots of ideas on how to listen and play with the song for babies and bigger kids. https://www.clapforclassics.com/blog/ticktock

If you’d like to see all of our Carnival of the Animals songs and activities for little ones ages 2-6, you can purchase our Carnival of the Animals course bundle. Find it at www.clapforclassics.com/store

OR, join our All Access Membership for access to ALL of the musical content we’ve ever created for little ones at www.clapforclassics.com/join

Want to know about Carnival of the Animals and how to enjoy this music with your young kids? Check out this article: https://www.clapforclassics.com/blog/carnival

Special thanks to Classical.com for licensing the music for us to use on this podcast and inside our courses!