Comments on: Rabbath versus Simandl – a comparative study

By: Michael Schneider

Michael Schneider — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:23:43 +0000

Many, too many bassists do their job because they learned by Simandl and their stupid teachers. In the end they all do not know the fingerboaerd at all, nothing about flageolets, except, where ” Simandl ” teaches them to play.
One exammple: I show a bass-pupil the many possibilities of a certain fingering and tell him: look at me,how happy I am with this fingering.
I want to have fun also, was his answer. Nor me or somebody else in the world would be inspired by Simandl in that way. This is Rabbath, the rest is: by learning the Rabbath technique I know to play Simandl a hundred times better ………..
Rabbath is liberation of old minded teachers and players. My ceolleagues ignore everything what I am doing , because they would have to admit, that they learned a lot of ****. And it really is hard to accept this. So all Germany goes on like before. This is the problem, not Rabbath.
Michael Schneider from Heidelberg, Germany

By: Jeff Holsen

Jeff Holsen — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:42:59 +0000

Hey Jason and everyone,
Each method seems ‘integral’ in it’s own way.
On another note. I remember David Walter’s book “The Melodious Bass” as being full of great tunes. Unfortunately it is also impossible to find. It was not a method per se but was a great collection of fun stuff for students to play! I’m on a quest to find it. Sure wish it would be reprinted!!

By: One Finger One Fret | The Bass Guitar Blog

One Finger One Fret | The Bass Guitar Blog — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:40:06 +0000

[...] There is much more than that to the Simandl method. It includes some things which would sound wild even for those familiar with the likes of Victor Wooten – like using the thumb in the highest positions – but that will do for now! You might also want to check out the Rabbath method, which has applicability on eletric bass too, especially fretless (see Rabbath versus Simandl). [...]

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:18:56 +0000

Hi Jason, I was just wondering, has your opinion of the Rabbath technique changed since you had a lesson with Sturm? Surely you have found out that the books have been edited by Leduc(Rabbath calls them “stupid”) and are best used with a very competent teacher. I could never imagine learning a quarter from the books about the Rabbath technique as I have learned from my teacher. Especially about the movement of the pivot.

By: vito

vito — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:05:46 +0000

I was reading this interesting post and I would like to tell you that we should compare more doublebass players, in example the HIGHER SIMPLYFIED
TECNIQUE by the great italian solist and pedagogue FRANCO PETRACCHI. But we can talk also Isaia Billè, Guido Gallignani and so on which tried to find a correct way in posture but also in fingerings.
In Italy we study a lot Billè, only for the 5th years we study something from Simandl but usually changing fingerings, and for thumb position adopting Petracchi’s system. Which is the better?
I don’t know! Probably we should study every system to enlarge our possibilities of fingerings. Sorry for my no correct English, but I listen today to young students which play better and better which one or the other system. Probably Rabbath’s system is a little bit “dangerous” in tuning, but it’s only my own idea. STOP!

Ciao Jason

By: Andres

Andres — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:17:34 +0000

Hi Jason, I find your article very interesting (you posted some of my videos long time ago).
I had several years of experience teaching know and tried with several different methods. I learned with the Billé methods and when teaching I used Some Rabbath, Simandl, Nanny, etc.
I completely agree with you about the Boring thing when starting bass studies. Right know I wrote a small book containing 12 studies very melodic and very fun, wiht a very small difficulty in the left hand and lots of hard work on the bow. Im working know for about a Year and my studies prooved to be a very good complement for my students. So they work with the formal method with all the boring but necesary studies, but they have a complementary etude each month that its on their level but its really fun and serves as a solo piece to peform on a recital.
Right know I like to publish my small book, because many people of different countries asked me for it (mostly latinamerican countries because the text its in spanish) Maybe you can help me contact some editorial that you think they will be interested on.
The book comes with a CD of me playing all the studies with the “musical” concept. send me an email so I can send you some stuff.
Thanks for your work blogging, your place its helping a lot for the world bass comunity

Andres…

By: News, Reviews & A Little Something on READ! Singapore 2008 | library@esplanade

Sun, 18 May 2008 09:15:59 +0000

[...] the double bass is your instrument of choice, you might also wanna check out PY’s links to Jason Heath’s article comparing Francois Rabbath and Simandl’s teaching aids for the instrument. It’s an [...]

By: Monica

Monica — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:31:27 +0000

I started off with Simandl as well, and was definitely bored with it, as I let my teacher know on several occasions…but I’ve always found it reputable for producing results, as a student seeing myself improve. Combined with the pieces I was learning for orchestra to keep myself interested, that is.

By: Jason Heath

Jason Heath — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:44:00 +0000

Thanks for the good comment regarding my Rabbath/Simandl piece. I e-mailed you about it as well, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Rabbath technique. My experience with it is limited–mostly from former students of Rabbath, never with the man himself. It would be great to hear commentary from someone who’s studied with him.

By: Brian Roessler

Brian Roessler — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 22:57:00 +0000

I’d be interested, given your enthusiasm for Vance’s books (which I share) what aspects of Rabbath’s technique you remain skeptical about? Having worked closely with Francois for a long time, I must say I’ve never heard him advocate collapsing one’s fingers although I’ve heard lots of people criticize him for advocating it… the other things that you mention (instrument shape and size, bent endpin) are things that he advocates for folks wanting to learn his technique. It would certainly be very difficult to make signifcant progress in the Rabbath technique using a large, wide shouldered, heavy bass with a straight endpin.

One of the difficulties in understanding the Rabbath technique for those who haven’t workied directly with Francois is that it really isn’t adequately explained in his method books due to various pressures brought to bear on him when he first published them (mostly that Leduc didn’t want to rock the bass pedagogy boat too much). With the imminent publication of the fourth volume of his method I think some of this will be cleared up.

Ultimately, most of the criticism I’ve heard about the Rabbath technique comes from people who, through no fault of their own, have no firsthand experience of it and deep misconceptions of what it is about.