Musical Instrument Reviews: April 2012

Woodstock Percussion Chimalong Cheap

Customer Rating :

List Price : $40.00 Price : $24.99

Product Description

Encourages kids to sing along and experiment with notes and expression. Rich musical quality promotes understanding of tone and pitch. 8-note metallophone comes with 2 mallets and a 28-page songbook.

First introduced in 1986, the Chimalong is still one of our most popular products
Recommended for its educational value by John Sebastian, Marilyn Horne, Andre Watts, Peter Shickele and the late Jim Henson
Includes two mallets and a color coded songbook
Oppenheim Award Winner
Parent's choice top 25 toy award

Woodstock Percussion Chimalong Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

Top quality musicmaker for your tot, July 5, 2007

H. Lundwell "Grandma" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

= Durability: = Fun: = Educational:

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Woodstock Percussion Chimalong (Toy)

The tone of the chimes is SO far superior to any other low cost xylophone toy on the market, although it's not as easy to haul around as the old-fashioned pull toy. If the child is old enough to really want to play recognizable tunes or to make up tunes, the quality of the sound produced will certainly encourage that kind of activity.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

Very nice, but could be improved., January 6, 2008

M. Sinnott - See all my reviews

= Durability: = Fun: = Educational:

This review is from: Woodstock Percussion Chimalong (Toy)

This instrument sounds great! My daughter enjoys it, but not as much as I do. The only thing that is bothersome is the foam that the tubes rest in. If the tubes slide a little out of position in the foam, the tones are not clear. Because the foam is flexible, and a child is using it, this happens often, and you need to keep adjusting it. For this reason, I would recommend buying the Chimalong Deluxe model, which has a rigid case and would also be much easier to store.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

Great Sound. Needs Durability., August 4, 2008

Albert J. Lee - See all my reviews

= Durability: = Fun: = Educational:

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Woodstock Percussion Chimalong (Toy)

This toy is stinkin' expensive for what it is. But, the sound is great. I would actually call this a real musical instrument rather than a toy because of the beautiful tones it can produce. It comes with an extra tube that converts the scale to the Dorian mode, which is useful for some songs. The rubber mallets with plastic handles are excellent. However, tie the ends together with string and you get lethal nunchucks that the kids are all too pleased to whirl around.

The biggest flaw are the two gray foam rails in which the metal tubes are inserted. Easily picked to shreds by any toddler's fingernail, you have to watch your kids like a hawk or they just won't last. Without the foam, you have no resonance, and thus, no instrument. That fact coupled with the lack of a hard case and you get a fragile toy that must be handled with care and stored out of reach when not in use. We use the box it came in as storage, but I foresee it falling apart soon. I bought this when... Read more

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Bontempi - Clarinet Best Price

Customer Rating :

List Price : $16.99 Price : $13.85

Product Description

Made in Italy...

Our Clarinet has 8 colored keys/notes and is made by Bontempi. A quailty innovated toy for the young musican.
Learn to play 3 songs / instructions included - Jingle Bells , Twinkle Twinkle Little Star , Oh Susanna.

Recommended for children 3 years and up

16 5/8" in length

Made in Italy

For the budding musician - a silver clarinet for your home orchestra or marching band
This toy clarinet by Bontempi has eight color-coded keys that can play eight different notes and children can play along with songs that are printed on the box
The toy clarinet is plastic and has a shiny silver finish
Fun to play and pretend
Measures 16.5" long

Bontempi - Clarinet Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

A good inexpensive choice for a preschooler, May 12, 2007

Robert H. Gersky - See all my reviews

= Durability: = Fun: = Educational:

This review is from: Bontempi - Clarinet (Toy)

Our three year old loves this good looking (for plastic)silver toy clarinet that allows him to play along with his favorite classical CD's (he's a big Baby Einstein fan). For the price it's definitely worth the fun it's facilitated. We've got the whole set (clarinet, trumpet, and sax). The sax has made it through four months of regular use (not being used as a substitute toy drum though) with no defects- the other two instruments have each had a single button/key break.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Amusing Toy Clarinet, June 28, 2010

Karen A. Amrhein "Karen A." (Baltimore, Maryland) - See all my reviews

= Durability: = Fun: = Educational:

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bontempi - Clarinet (Toy)

The "Botempi" toy clarinet seems a reasonably sturdy plastic toy instrument. It plays a C-Major scale, though the lower half-octave is of dubious tuning. This can be a problem if one wishes to use the toy clarinet in conjunction with other instruments (a toy piano or toy trumpet, for example). I'm a composer, and I wrote a little piece for this toy clarinet, the "Botempi" toy trumpet, the "House of Marbles" toy drum (highly recommended), and a Schoenhut toy piano (a fine instrument). I found that I was only able to reliably use the upper half-octave (G to C) of the toy clarinet when accompanying the toy piano or even the toy trumpet.

The sound of both the "Botempi" toy wind instruments is close to that of the harmonica (actually, it's a cross between an harmonica and the medieval crumhorn), so don't expect a "clarinet" sound. Still, it's easy to use and sturdy, assuming gentle play. If you don't need the pitches to be accurate, and you don't need a toy clarinet that... Read more

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Cheap toy, March 10, 2009

April Lapetoda "mommy of 2 boys" (Andrews AFB) - See all my reviews

= Durability: = Fun: = Educational:

This review is from: Bontempi - Clarinet (Toy)

Have you ever gone to a dollar store and seen the cheap toy musical instruments they sell? They usually sell for maybe $3.99. Well, that's what you are looking at now, except they are charging $15.89. I orderered this as well as the saxaphone and trumpet for my 4-year-old son. When the package arrived last night and I opened it I was completely disgusted in how I had wasted my money. This toy is so cheaply made, even the box it was enclosed in is cheap. I am debating returning it or giving it to my son. I know because of how cheap the toy is made it'll be broke within a week.

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