Songs are sung on the playful side

Two Little Sounds: Fun With Phonics and Numbers

Hap-Pal Music

CD: $15.95; Ages 4 to 9

www.happalmer.com

“P-I-G, my playful pig / drop that P and use a W.... Wig, wig, wove a wig / drop that W, and use a J / In his funny wig, he danced a jig”: Hap Palmer, one of educational music’s best teachers, offers another winning combination of catchy tunes and rhythms and substantive lessons in consonant and vowel sounds, number patterns, sounding out words, beginning math and more. The liner notes offer parents and teachers detailed lesson plans for the songs and the instrumental tracks that follow them.

*

Beethoven’s Wig 2: More Sing Along Symphonies

Rounder Records

CD: $12.98; Ages 6 and up

(800)-ROUNDER

www.rounder.com

Richard Perlmutter has followed up his delicious debut release, the Grammy-nominated “Beethoven’s Wig, Sing Along Symphonies,” with an equally delectable celebration of famous classical pieces to which he has added lyrics. His words not only amuse but also say something about the music and / or the composers. Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” for instance, becomes a 17-verse opus: “Note that this recurring tune / Is performed by bassoon / It will be repeated soon ... 14 to go. Next the cello and the bass / Ceaselessly keep the pace / Just in case you lost your place ... we’ve 13 more to go.” In addition to Perlmutter’s Alan Sherman-like lead vocals, solos and background vocals by opera pros add a theatrical layer to the informed comic tweaking; the CD includes the legit orchestral and operatic versions too.