Mother Goose Suite by Ravel: a listening guide for kids
Updated 2026-11-12
The Mother Goose Suite is a set of five short pieces by the French composer Maurice Ravel. Each one is a scene from a fairy tale: Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, an empress in a far-off land, Beauty and the Beast, and a fairy garden. Ravel wrote it in 1910 as piano duets for two children he knew. The next year, he arranged it for orchestra. The whole suite lasts about 16 minutes.
For a child, start with “Conversations of Beauty and the Beast.” It lasts about four minutes.
Quick facts
- Composer: Maurice Ravel, from France
- Written: 1910 for piano duet, and arranged for orchestra in 1911
- Written for: Mimie and Jean Godebski, the children of his friends
- Length: about 16 minutes
- French title: Ma mère l’Oye
The five pieces
1. Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty. A pavane is a slow, old dance. A flute plays a hushed tune over plucked strings. The princess is asleep, and the whole castle sleeps with her. It lasts under two minutes.
2. Tom Thumb. Tom Thumb drops breadcrumbs to mark his path through the forest. The violins wander, and the bars keep changing length, as if he is not sure of the way. An oboe plays his tune. Then come chirps and trills high in the violins and the flute. The birds are eating the crumbs.
3. Empress of the Pagodas. An empress takes her bath while tiny creatures play music for her on instruments made of nutshells. The tune uses a scale of five notes. Listen for the xylophone, the celesta, and the gong.
4. Conversations of Beauty and the Beast. A clarinet plays a gentle waltz. This is Beauty. Then a contrabassoon growls down low. This is the Beast. They talk back and forth. The music grows, and then a harp sweeps upward. The spell is broken. A solo violin plays the Beast’s tune, high and sweet. He has become a prince.
5. The Fairy Garden. The strings begin in a hush. The music climbs, step by step, with a solo violin and celesta. It ends with ringing bells, harp, and the full orchestra, as the prince wakes the princess.
Who plays whom
| Character | Instrument |
|---|---|
| Sleeping Beauty | Flute |
| Tom Thumb | Oboe |
| The birds | Violins and flute |
| The empress’s musicians | Xylophone, celesta, and gong |
| Beauty | Clarinet |
| The Beast | Contrabassoon |
| The prince | Solo violin |
Things to do together
Beauty or Beast? Stand tall when the clarinet plays. Crouch when the contrabassoon plays. Listen for the harp, and stand as a prince when the violin takes over.
Follow the crumbs. Walk a winding path around the room during “Tom Thumb.” Flap like a bird when the chirps begin.
Black-key music. The empress’s tune uses five notes. At a piano, play only the black keys to hear the same kind of scale.
Grow like the garden. Start “The Fairy Garden” curled up small. Rise as the music rises, and open your arms on the last chords.
Five boxes. Fold a page into five and draw one tale in each box. A listening journal page works for one piece.
Read the tales. Read the fairy tales first. A child who knows the story hears it in the music.
Written for children to play
Ravel meant the piano version for small hands. Two children sit at one piano. The parts are simple to play and rich to hear. If your child takes piano lessons, ask the teacher about it once they can play duets.
Why the title
“Mother Goose” is the name of an old French book of fairy tales. Ravel took two of his scenes from it and others from similar books.
Print and play
Read Ravel for kids and print the Ravel fact sheet. To learn the instruments in the table, see woodwind instruments for kids and percussion instruments for kids. For more music that tells a tale, see classical music that tells a story.
More guides are listed in classical music listening guides for kids.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.