Cartoons for your kids to hear?

[RABid]

If you were choosing cartoons for your children in an attempt to introduce them to classical and jazz what would you choose? When taking piano lessons I remember many of the classical pieces were familiar because I heard them in cartoons as a child. I know there are probably a lot of older Saturday morning cartoons or movies that have a foundation of classical, jazz, swing and big band. Many are probably available on tape or DVD. The only two I can think of now are Peanuts – Great jazz by Vince Guaraldi Fantasia – Nice orchestral classics. Any suggestions? Robert

[topper74]

Looney Tunes stuff had a lot of classical music in it. "The Barber Of Seville" is hilarious. You should probably play the original piece first though. :D

[whitefang]

Looney Toons, yes! A lot of classical snippets in those, as well as a lot of the jazz composed by Raymond Scott. In fact, most of the older cartoons from the '40's used some pretty well written music for background. Even some of the original music. And surprising to me was, when the "Smurfs" came out, and my kids started watching them, I noticed quite a bit of classical passages used for background music in them. Even some Stravinsky! Whitefang

[Sp3nc3r]

Man, Looney Tunes was light years ahead of everyone else. The musical score ALWAYS added, never distracted. That, and cross-dressing rabbits in 1955!! That's truly pushing the envelope. I'm SOOO gonna miss Chuck Jones (rest in peace, brother) Cheers! Spencer

[Mark Zeger]

Remember the Bugs and Daffy cartoon where they play vaudeville performers? Daffy rigs a xylophone to explode when Bugs plays "Those Endearing Young Charms". Well, my daughter's trumpet lesson last week included "Those Endearing Young Charms". It took us both a few days to stop laughing and not think of the cartoon. "No, you stupid rabbit, like THIS!" In addition to what's already been mentioned, I'd add some of the "Schoolhouse Rock" tunes written by jazz composer Bob Dorough, especially the swinging "Conjunction Junction"!

[Felix_dup1]

Lil' Bill on Nick Jr. has some nice Jazz stuff. The show was created by Bill Cosby, so the music is along the lines of what the Cosby show used to be.

[Rod S]

Tom and Jerry.

[Mark Zeger]

How could I have forgotten...The Pink Panther!

[jeffbayson]

This cartoon (see link below) doesn't have particularly good music. But I still think children of all ages could learn quite a bit from it. Well, at the very least, some TV ad executives thought so fifty years ago. http://www.tvparty.com/vault3/flintbig1.ram

[Roto]

I don't think Looney Tunes has any competition in this category. The Pink Panther and Charlie Brown are the only ones I remember hearing any kind of jazz. I loved the music on Ren and Stimpy. I think they used classical music a lot during the show, but my favorites were the opening and closing themes. They rocked :D

[dave64o]

ABSOLUTELY Looney Toons! Every summer the Philadelphia Orchestra does a Bugs Bunny concert where they play the actual soundtrack while the cartoons are played on big screens behind the stage and on the outside of the venue (the Mann Music Center in Farimount Park). They do such an amazing job keeping everything in sync it's difficult to tell where the music on the cartoons ends and the orchestra kicks in. We took our son this past summer and he LOVED it. My wife got to tell him all about how the music related to the cartoon, I got to enjoy the cartoons I haven't seen in years, and our son got a great intro to classical music. It's a great show for families.

[-_dup1]

Classical, schmassical... Who needs that kind of music when [url=http://www.eyeenvision.com/litterbox/litterbox.html]Litterbox[/url] rocks! :D

[spigotsaol.com]

peter and the wolf

[doug osborne]

Hey Arnold, I think on Nickelodeon, has an excellent original jazz score written by Jim Lang. Samurai Jack on Cartoon Network has an excellent, creative synthesized orchestral score.

[Steve LeBlanc]

Not a cartoon and I admit the main character is a little weird but Mr. Rogers Neighborhood has some of the greatest Jazz piano playing of all time. That piano player is a major influence...man he was fun to listen to. [url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=SEARCH&sql=Bkz6jtra9kl2x]Johnny Costa[/url]