By Lloyd Moss
A rhyming count-up that brings the instruments of the orchestra on stage one at a time until all ten are playing together.
One lonely trombone slides out onto the stage. Then a trumpet joins it, and that makes two. A French horn, and that's a trio. The whole book is a counting song that adds one instrument at a time, all the way up to a chamber group of ten, and it teaches your child the real words along the way, solo, duo, trio, quartet, right up to a full ensemble. Lloyd Moss's rhyme bounces and snaps, and Marjorie Priceman's swooping, ribbony paintings won a Caldecott Honor. By the end your child knows what a bassoon looks like, what a cello sounds like in their head, and how ten different instruments stack into one sound.
Your child's obsessed with instruments but too little for a real music book, and this is exactly the right size. It hands over the names, the look, and the feel of ten orchestra instruments inside a rhyme that begs to be chanted, so the learning happens without anyone sitting still for a lesson. It also teaches the counting words musicians actually use, solo through to ensemble, which makes a small child feel like they're in on the secret.