| From August 2001 review of The ABCs of Violin
for the Budding Virtuoso (Book 5) in American String Teacher
Journal by Anne Mischakoff Heiles:
Rhoda has added to her popular series with a book of
more advanced warm-up exercises, longer etudes, and familiar classical and
popular pieces in three positions. Seven of the nineteen melodies are the
author's, and other composers include Dvorák, Rubenstein, Saint-Saëns,
Schubert, Adam, Sibelius, and Franck. This eclectic collection includes
exercises for agility, shifting, a wider range of keys, double stops,
simple embellishments, and chromatics...the book adds attractive material
to the series, continuing its utility as an appealing supplement to Suzuki
materials.
Spring 2000 review of The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner
in American Suzuki Journal by Donald Becker:
In the ABCs of Violin series, Ms. Janice
Tucker Rhoda has included a combination of her own original works and a
selection of traditional tunes. These pieces reinforce concepts introduced
in the Suzuki repertoire, and many Suzuki teachers find the books useful
as supplementary reading material for their students.
The first book - The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner -
contains over fifty warm-up exercises, six duets, scales, a worksheet and
glossary. The books are now available in four violin volumes as well as
books for viola and cello. Violin volume three introduces third position,
volume four introduces second position and volume five (due in summer
2000) combines positions one through three. There are easy piano
accompaniment books...
The text of the books is minimal and enables teachers to be flexible
and use the material in different ways. One measure rests in 4/4 time are
introduced right at the beginning of the first book and follow a measure
of quarter notes which nicely prepare the student to count out the four
beats of the following rest as well as giving rhythmic repetition of the
pitch. Different keys are used to teach particular technical points
throughout the books and different meters are introduced to prepare
students for contemporary music.
Well-chosen exercises are interspersed with the original compositions
and folk tunes. A scale-like fourth finger study appears in the
twenty-ninth section, and the A, D, and G major scales can be used by the
teacher at any point. Three pieces from Book I of the Suzuki Violin School
appear in the first volume: Go Tell Aunt Rhody (No. 24), Long Long Ago in
D major (No. 43), and Lightly Row in G major (No. 54). I have used The
ABCs of Violin Volume One as reading material with students from age
eight to adult. It is helpful that the music is big enough to be read
easily and the layout is generally clear and uncluttered. I highly
recommend it as additional reading material for students of all
ages.
Fall 2000 review of The ABCs of Viola in
American String Teacher Journal by Anne Mischakoff Heiles:
Janice Rhoda's terrific collections for violin are
now available to viola students as well. These are delightful, short, and
mostly familiar tunes or melodies from famous works, augmented by some of
Rhoda's own compositions. The accompaniments are simple and sometimes
offbeat and funky. The three volumes make an excellent supplement to the
Suzuki materials and are carefully graded to coordinate with those books.
I have yet to encounter a student who has not been enthused enough with
the pieces in the ABCs to practice them regularly--and that says a
lot!
May 2001 review of The ABCs of Cello for the
Intermediate in American String Teacher Journal by Amy Catron
Flores:
Janice Tucker Rhoda has written a charming method
book for intermediate cellists. Included are many familiar folk tunes,
classical melodies as well as a few original tunes by the author. All of
the tunes are short enough to easily memorize. Each lesson emphasizes a
bow technique or a new note or position. What I especially liked was the
incorporation of simple and compound rhythmic meters and syncopation.
In the back of the book are six major scales and three natural minor
scales, with encouragement to use a metronome, different rhythms, and
different bowings. Also included is a worksheet for labeling fingerings
and notes and a handy practice log with the encouraging words that lesson
days count as practice days, too! This book is full of step-by-step
instructions that can be an excellent tool to lay a solid foundation for
the intermediate cellist of any age.
August 2001 review of The ABCs of Easy Piano
Accompaniments for Violin (Books 1 and 4) in American String
Teacher Journal by Anne Mischakoff Heiles:
These piano arrangements by Dan Fox are smooth and
have nice chromatic turns. They lie well for the hands, and like the
earlier version by Rhoda herself, support the violin part through doubling
for about two-thirds of the tunes. They go with the second or "Millennium
Edition" of Book 1. The accompaniments in Book 4 retain a sense of whimsy
and ease of playing.
August 2001 review of The ABCs of String
Orchestra in American String Teacher Journal by Kathleen A.
Horvath:
Another in the ABCs of Strings series, this
compendium is designed to complement the other published materials. Its
twenty pieces offer much to the elementary string class. The repertoire,
which mixes familiar pieces with original compositions by Rhoda, works in
tandem with regular lesson material encountered in the first two years of
study and utilizes G, D, and A major. The final page of each of the
student books has these three scales written out with fingerings. The
violin book provides only the second octave of the G major scale. The
viola and cello scales are two octaves. The bass scales are presented
without octave juxtaposition, which requires shifting into half and third
position.
The pieces present a variety of challenges for young players that
include 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and 6/8 meters; slurred, hooked, staccato, and
detache bowings; dynamics; repeats; fermatas; whole, half, quarter, and
eighth notes; and pick-up notes. They use all four strings for the violin
and the top three for viola and cello. The violin and viola books only
require first position while the cello book includes extensions as well as
second position, and the bass book uses the half and third positions.
At this level it is often hard to find exciting repertoire that
presents the skills needed for technical development, particularly in the
low string parts. All told, the volume is well done and makes an
interesting, positive contribution to the available repertoire for the
elementary orchestra. |
