When ``The Probably Untrue Story of Mary (Who) Had a Little Lamb'' is put in a CD player, watch a child become quiet. Then hear the child's gleeful laughter when ``Mary Had a Little Lamb'' is eventually played in western hoedown style, complete with fiddles and banjos. At that point on the CD, the child would have listened to about 25 variations of the song and, without knowing it, have learned about classical music and the great breadth of music in general. ``If kids really like and find that education is entertaining, they will be absorbed by it and they won't want to put it down,'' said Micah Levy, the Maryland-based musician who composed the music. Levy, a former orchestra conductor who now teaches piano and composes music, didn't set out to create a CD for children. He embraced composing to sharpen his conducting skills. Later, he fell in love with composing. Finally, he got the idea of using his composing skills to make classical music fun for children. The result was ``The Probably Untrue Story'' ($13, Sonus Novus). Levy gives ``Mary Had A Little Lamb'', one of the most simple and universally known songs, a Broadway spin,

then a sacred spin, like music heard in a medieval cathedral. A child just might say, ``That sounds like church, Mommy.'' During Levy's ``Mary Had a Little Lamb'' story, in which Mary and her lamb get lost in the woods during a snowy winter and take refuge in the house of Mary's uncle Antonio Vivaldi, Levy creates moods with dramatic treatments of the song. Every moment in the plot gets a musical illustration. French horns play as a hunting party passes by and almost shoots the defenseless lamb. Timpani boom as Mary and the lamb trudge through the snow. Levy narrates. The ``Mary Had a Little Lamb'' melody is stretched, slowed, quickened and turned on its ear as Levy shows how a major chord here or a minor chord there can manipulate your emotions. What fun to realize that an endless number of songs are in the air, unplayed, and all you have to do is reach out for the notes and put them together in just the right way. Parents may be intrigued that you never hear the tune ``Mary Had a Little Lamb'' performed on the CD in the traditional way. ``The whole point of the CD is that classical music should be fun,'' Levy said. ``Everything that makes us human can be expressed in music. Why shouldn't fun be expressed in music, especially classical music, which is often seen as serious?'' Levy was music director of the Orange County (Calif.) Chamber Orchestra for 11 years and received a master's degree in orchestral conducting from the New England Conservatory. When he was a junior in high school, he played French horn professionally with the Long Beach (Calif.) Symphony. Now Levy teaches piano, does some commercial composing and hopes one day to make a living as a composer. The ``Mary Had a Little Lamb'' CD has been a fun project for him, something he never knew would consume so much of his interest, he said. He also took the extra step of including a teacher's guide on the CD, written by music educator Barbara King. One can stick the CD in a computer, print out the guide and get more out of the CD listening experience. And what of Uncle Antonio Vivaldi? Turns out he can play a mean version of ``Mary Had a Little Lamb'' on the violin. He also introduces Mary and the lamb to his newest composition, ``Spring.'' You gotta love Levy's sense of humor. He eventually turns ``Spring'' into a bar mitzvah number.

William Wood, Kalamazoo Gazette

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