What Songs Are on Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes
For the uninitiated, the Take Forth Tunes toy plays a series of excerpts from Classical- and Bizarre-era (more often than not) orchestral works while flashing colored lights; its purpose is to distract and occupy your baby while you're forcing them to do something they don't particularly relish (in our case, diaper changes). As musical toys go, it's actually non abrasive, because the tunes are pleasant and the excerpts are long enough non to drive you up the wall with repetitiveness.
While there are some obvious, Greatest-Hits-of-the-Classical-Era-type selections (William Tell, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), some other excerpts stumped me.
Stride ane: Google.
I tried but searching the internet for a list of songs, and I was able to discover a review of the toy that appeared to take answered this question for me. A number of these were right—all the Mozart selections, the Chopin, the Rossini, and Vivaldi "Bound"—merely I listened to all of "Summer" and didn't hear annihilation from the toy, and about four tracks were left unidentified.
Have a listen to these mystery tracks and feel yourself being transported to your concluding drop-the-needle test.
I then tried entering the unidentified melodies into things like Shazam and ThemeFinder.org, to no avail.
Thus began my wild goose hunt.
Stride 2: Musicology Twitter.
Clearly I needed to tap a bigger network, and then information technology was time to bring in Twitter.
I was encouraged when, after less than twenty minutes, a hero identified two of the four tracks equally some real deep cuts.
(at the gamble of exposing an embarrassing lack of noesis about a composer I once considered writing my dissertation on…)
wtf is a Goldberg canon!?
Plainly they were simply discovered in 1975. Weird pick for a baby toy, right? Here's an edition of the Goldberg canons on IMSLP—the toy plays #v with some pocket-sized alterations.
Vivaldi wrote and so much stuff that I'm not surprised I couldn't identify this violin concerto. We are very far out of my wheelhouse with this one.
But no one was able to tackle Mystery Tracks A and D yet.
Step 3: Inquire nerdy friends.
Every bit a outcome of being a music professor and obtaining a PhD in music geekery, I know a lot of people who seem to know everything most Classical music. I contacted some of my nearly savvy friends from CUNY—no IDs, although one friend suggested that D was "bad Handel" and that A had mode mixture that was "a Brahms or Dvořák thing, or like Berlioz."
Then I even my former professor Nib Rothstein, who I suspect has a photographic memory and seems to be able to sit downwards at the piano and immediately play whatever slice you mention from memory—withal nothing!
At this point I started to fright that I'd never know the answer to this mystery.
Step 4: Back to Twitter.
I went back to Twitter to beg and plead for my followers' help. I fifty-fifty tried highly-seasoned to people's egos by mentioning they'd exist out-guessing Pecker Rothstein if they knew any of the answers. Notwithstanding no one answered my calls. Inspired by the suggestion that Mystery Melody D was "bad Handel," I decided to tag in Handel scholar Greg Decker. In a surprise twist ending, though, it was Mystery Tune A that Greg was able to place!
Music Theory Twitter begged Greg to work his magic on Mystery Tune D besides. He did admit information technology "could be Handel" but said he was too decorated for the time beingness to go on a scavenger hunt. (I hateful, come on, though, what could be more than important?)
But another surprise came when the final slice was identified by a theory professor whose expertise came not from their all-encompassing schooling, but instead from their extensive family.
So information technology turns out "bad Handel" and "early 18th-c." were both pretty good inferences.
The Consummate Listing of Songs in the Have Forth Tunes toy
Here is the actual list of pieces featured in the Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes toy and a Spotify playlist I've assembled for your (and my) listening pleasure.
| Composer | Slice and IMSLP link |
|---|---|
| Ludwig van Beethoven | 12 Contradanses, WoO 14, No. half-dozen |
| Wolfgang Mozart | Serenade in D major, K. 239, mvt. I |
| Frédéric Chopin | Waltz, Op. seventy, No. 1 |
| Johann Sebastian Bach | 14 Canons, BWV 1087, No. 5 |
| Antonio Vivaldi | Violin Concerto in E, Op. 3, No. 12 |
| Gioachino Rossini | Overture from William Tell |
| Wolfgang Mozart | Piano Sonata in A major, G. 331, mvt. 3 |
| Antonio Vivaldi | Violin Concerto in E, "Leap", mvt. I |
| Georg Philipp Telemann | Ouverture-Suite TWV 55:C3, mvt. VI |
| Wolfgang Mozart | Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525, mvt. I |
Source: https://meganlavengood.com/2021/07/21/what-actually-are-all-these-songs-on-the-baby-einstein-take-along-tunes-toy/
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