By Dale Farris, Secretary
Golden Triangle PC Club
September 2003

Game Overview

Welcome to the world of musical adventure! With this superb CD ROM rendition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Music Games International continues setting new standards in how to integrate great music with fun learning. They have combined the fantasy and the charm of the Alice in Wonderland story with the timeless music from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.

Delight in Vivaldi's timeless music. Learn how composers put music together, and do it yourself. This is a wonderful introduction to music, and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons will also make you musical, even if you did not think you were.

In the genre of "edutainment," CD ROM titles that focus on having fun while you learn, this marvelous new title represents a unique venture in this field with its focus on having fun while learning about music. The program perfectly blends music and technology, while boosting the imaginations and creative interests of all players. You will also sharpen your ear for music in a neat and different way.

This is the third in the ever increasing series of these marvelous music games for children. The first two successful titles include Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker: The Music Game and Mozart's Magic Flute: The Music Game. All three of these marvelous music games for children represent the best example how to design clever, intriguing games that stimulate learning about classic music as children have great fun.

Playing the Game

Kids are cast in the role of Alice, from the Alice in Wonderland story. Alice walks into a magical Music Clock dropped by the White Rabbit. But the clock is broken, and Alice is trapped inside. The player's task is to fix the Music Clock and free Alice by winning 12 different music games and activities, including 12 musical "month puzzles." All the games correspond to the 12 months of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and combine this immortal music with exquisitely animated scenes and characters from the Alice books.

All game instructions are articulated by the charming and enigmatic Cheshire Cat, who also brims with memorable poems for kids, hilarious jokes, and entertaining Lewis Carroll quotes. Other features include the Listening Room (where players can enjoy Vivaldi's music), a beautifully narrated biography of Vivaldi, and an animated, narrated, and rhymed Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments.

The game fuses several game genres and combines the diverse talents of the creative team into this unique music game. The standalone music games sizzle with multiple levels of play. Several of the games are based on the Music Game International proprietary Music Jigsaw Puzzle concept. Kids can recreate famous musical passages from The Four Seasons by combining musical instruments, match musical sounds and tunes, and even make their own melodies. They learn while they play, about how music is made at the same time as they expand their knowledge of Vivaldi's masterpiece.

The combination of interesting aspects of Vivaldi's life during these games is another intriguing feature of this game, and this biographical background will likely amaze children who may be learning for the first time in their life about Vivaldi's musical gift. The game settings are beautifully produced, and children will get a sense of interacting with a marvelous musical composition as they strive to solve the music clock problem.

About Vivaldi's The Four Seasons

The program is built around Vivaldi's famous The Four Seasons music. The Four Seasons is one of classical music's most popular pieces. There are over 100 recordings available. The common music buyer is faced with a multitude of choices, and choosing a rendition of The Four Seasons means considering more than just the price.

You have to consider who the recording is by, the year it was recorded, modern or period instruments, and even the solo instrument you prefer. On top of that, The Four Seasons are just four concertos from a larger set of twelve, Opus 8, called The Trial Between Harmony and Invention.

The Four Seasons work includes Concerto 1, "Spring/La Primavera" in E Major, Concerto 2, "Summer/L'Estate" in G minor, Concerto 3, "Autumn/L'Autunno" in F Major, and Concerto 4, "Winter/L'Inverno" in F minor.

The Kids Music Stage company has chosen a high standard in this newest title in their new series of music games for children, and they successfully exceed their high expectations. This means players will enjoy learning about this famous musical work, while improving basic learning skills and all the time having fun.

Learning Skills

This program focuses on enhancing the following functional skills:

Audio and Visual Memory
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Pattern Recognition
Listening

Game Features

In addition, the game features the following additional fun things to do:

7 Music Games
19 Music Jigsaw Puzzles
8 Truly Twisted Music Riddles
The Orchestra Game
Vivaldi's Biography
An Animated Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments
Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (Hamburg Chamber Orchestra)

The program presents a neat user interface, designed for simple pointing and clicking, and players are guided by the Cheshire Cat, who explains what is going on and acts as a guide. The interface provides various objects that represent the various games and information areas of the program. As you begin the game, you face the broken music clock that you have to repair in order to set Alice free of the clock.

As you enter and successfully accomplish each of the games, you win groupings of 5 minutes of time, and you must solve 12 different musical puzzles in order to repair all the time and set Alice free. When you go back to that game, a nice reminder shows up (300 points per game) that you have already won the game and do not need to do anything more in that game. The games can be played over and over again, a nice touch that allows players to just enjoy the game and not necessarily bother with accomplishing the eventual object.

The games are all keenly focused on learning about music, as players attempt to solve the various puzzles and challenges. In one game, players listen to a piece of The Four Seasons, and then try and piece together the different musical instruments that play the music. This musical jigsaw puzzle is one of the most intriguing, unique ideas I've seen in any computer game in many years. Kudos to the developers for this wonderful new design that will certainly delight all players.

In another game, you hear different pieces of Vivaldi's music, and then you have to select one of various objects that when clicked play back a piece of the music, but in a distorted manner. This approach means you have to carefully listen to the music, the object in the game after all, in order to pick out the correct item that is playing that piece of the music, but in the distorted manner. These are the parts of the game that may challenge very young players, but with help from Mom or Dad they should be able to correctly guess these distorted samples.

Age Group

While the game is designed for ages 5 and up, I think it has great potential as an educational tool for use in music classes in all elementary levels. Parents can also look forward to having great fun with their very young rug rats, as they play along with them in their journey of discovery of the marvelous music of Vivaldi. In addition, many young players will likely be able to play alone through the games, while some very young players may need a little bit of coaching from adults.

Targeted Customers

While the targeted age group, 5 and up, is certainly realistic, I also think music teachers in all elementary schools will want to give serious consideration to adding this program to their existing teaching resources.

With adult supervision, I also think this super program can be used with small groups of children in music classes to aid in their learning about music, musical instruments, and of course about Vivaldi's marvelous The Four Seasons.

In addition, I think this program belongs in all public libraries. For those libraries supporting Little Bookworm programs, I think this program can serve as the focus in one of these programs. Also, I think the program can be supported in libraries with a layout and design of their children's library area that would support the use of the program in a manner that would not disturb others in the library. Or, you could also support the program on computers with headphones to direct the music directly to the listener.

For schools and libraries, I also suggest considering loading this program on higher end machines with better sound cards and better speaker system. While the program certainly does not require this, I suggest that with this higher hardware players will just better appreciate the marvelous music of Mozart, as well as have a more rich auditory experience with the program.

Install and Setup

The installation and setup presented no difficulties on my machine. You use the Windows Add/Remove tool to uninstall the game. The entire game will load on a machine, and you will need the disc in the CD ROM drive to play the game.

Price

$24.95
$39.95 - Special 2-game combo price

System Configuration Requirements

P-360 MHz or higher processor
Windows 98 or higher
128MB RAM
250MB free hard disk space
4x CD ROM drive
Mouse
Sound card
Recommend a high-end sound card and speaker system

Not requiring a 3d graphics accelerator card, and needing a relatively minimally powered CPU means this game is playable on many systems, a wise move on the part of Kids Music Stage. While it is true that more newer systems either come with or are being customized with newer 64MB or even 128MB 3dfx graphics accelerator video boards and high-end, 3d audio boards, driven in part by the high-end requirements of many of today's newer computer games, in fact I suspect there are many "older" systems still working that will likely run this game.

Kids Music Stage seems to recognize the need to not leave behind all those with relatively older systems, in order to maximize their potential impact on their targeted customer group, by not designing a game that absolutely must be run on today's "state-of-the-art" hardware. A lot of Moms and Dads will be very thankful for this decision.

The above system configuration requirements indicate the minimum and recommended system configuration requirements, and as any experienced gamer knows, if at all possible, you will want to load and run any computer game on as powerful a system as you can afford. Although this game thankfully does not demand high end systems, computer games are notorious for taking over machines, and this is why users will need to be sure and close out all their other open files, before playing this and any computer game. However, in the case of this super title, I think we have an example of a computer program for children that will actually very likely play just fine even on a minimally configured system.

Also, since the game is designed to delight in the music of Vivaldi, you will really enjoy this experience if you have a high end sound card with a high end set of speakers. In addition, the game does play well and sound well even on systems with less demanding hardware.

About Kids Music Stage

The Alice in Vivaldi's Four Seasons game was created by an award-winning team of composers, animators, and educators at Kid's Music Stage. This new company combines the award-winning talents of Mirek Nisenbaum's Studio Mobile (Best Animation, South-by-South West 2001, Audience Award FIFI 2001) and ProNetMusic (Best Music, FIFI 2001).

Kids Music Stage is a division of Kids Music Stage LLC, with offices in New York and Boston.

Kids Music Stage is dedicated to the creation of quality non-violent edutainment for children. Alice in the Four Seasons is the third game in their planned series of many interactive music game titles. In addition, at the company's Web site, you will find a link to super sample lesson plans for teachers interested in integrating the program into their classroom.

If you thought this game was super, just wait. This fine company plans to release still more new titles that will continue their successful venture into the world of having fun while learning about music. Titles on their drawing board, in addition to the already released Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker: The Music Game and Mozart's Magic Flute: The Music Game, include Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolfe, Strauss's Vienna Woods Tales, Christmas Carols, Children's Classical Music Favorites, Children's Songs From Around the World, Nursery Rhymes, and Hanukkah and Other Holiday Songs.

Contact Information

Sasha Gimpelson
Music Games International
121 Thorndike Street
Cambridge, MA 02141
617-868-8026
FAX 253-541-3518
www.kidsmusicstage.com
info@kidsmusicstage.com

You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.