Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido d'Arezzo

I use this book in my music classes for grades 4 and above. I found it to be a great read and an interesting story for my students.

If you can read musical notes you can sing or play any piece - but there was a time when songs had to be memorized lest they be forgotten. It was Guido d'Arezzo whose efforts lead to the sheet music records we have today, and his biography and challenges are here presented in a lively fictional form backed by solid facts. Kids in grades 2-4 will appreciate the fun, lively chatty format of DO RE ME: IF YOU CAN READ MUSIC, THANK GUIDO D'AREZZO: a fun survey which will reach fiction and nonfiction readers alike.

Thoughful and charming presentation of how musical notation came to be created. The choice of subject does credit to the author's questioning mind in that she decided to explore something that's been around for centuries and that we usually take for granted. It is important to let children know that some things that always seem to have been in existence were actually begun by someone who saw the need for innovation and did something about changing the situation.