Note: This is a three-part series. Please also see Music Show and Dance Show.
If you and your family are fans of HBO Family, then you are probably familiar with their “Classical Baby” animated series. This series takes you and your child on a journey through pieces of classical music, works of art, and dances inspired by famous choreographers, all under the conduction of a cute little animated diapered wonder. Each episode begins with our diapered host conducting an orchestra of all baby animals through “Piano Concerto No. 1” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. One episode of “Classical Baby” that is available on DVD is “The Art Show.”
One of the first segments of this episode is called “Shapes” and is based on a painting by Joan Miro. “Largo,” a movement from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Concerto in F Minor” sets the musical tone for the segment. The shapes in Joan Miro’s painting, the center of which is an eye, separate from each other and turn themselves into other objects. Some dancing objects spin and twirl as others fly past. All the while, the music follows the movements of these shapes.
Another segment in this episode is called “Dance Class.” The focus of this segment is a work of art entitled “Dance Studio at the Opera” by Edgar Degas. Amilcare Parchielli’s Dance of the Hours from “La Gioconda” accompanies the piece. In this segment, we see little black bugs walking into the painting, attempting to copy the dancers frozen in time. They hide among the people in the painting and continue playing hide-and-seek as they dance around freely.
My favorite segment is “The Conductor” which features our little host conducting various art tools in a fun dance. “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” by Johann Strauss, also known simply as “The Blue Danube,” is the musical background to this cute compilation. We see pencils, jars of paint, erasers, and sponges jump around the screen as the baby conducts the symphony of art supplies. Paint flies out of jars and sponges leave bunny and duck marks on blank backgrounds. These objects float around in a beautiful dance of chaos.
This video is a great way to introduce your child to the appreciation of art. Yes, s/he learn about certain famous works of art, but s/he will also know them as familiar even if s/he can not identify them.
For more information about the “Classical Baby” series, please visit HBO Family.
“Classical Baby: The Art Show” is available for purchase separately or in a three-disc box set with “The Music Show” and “The Dance Show” from the HBO Store, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and other retailers.
Complete Segment List for “Classical Baby: The Art Show”
- Open, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Frogs, with music by Erik Satie, painting by Claude Monet
- I Love You, paintings by Mary Cassatt, with music by Franz Schubert
- Shapes, based on a painting by Joan Miro, with music by Johann Sebastian Bach
- The Museum, with music by Gabriel Faure
- Trucks, with music by Duke Ellington, painting by Fernand Leger
- Dance Class, with music by Amilcare Ponchielli, painting by Edgar Degas
- The Conductor, with music by Johann Strauss
- The Kiss, with music by Edward Elgar, painting by Marc Chagall
- Art Faces, with music by Georges Bizet
- Busy Bees, with music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, painting by Jackson Pollock
- City Streets, with music by Count Basie, painting by Piet Mondrian
- The Sculpture Garden, with music by Scott Joplin
- The Starry Night, with music by Claude Debussy, painting by Vincent Van Gogh
- Baby paints with music by Frederic Chopin – no title