I am deeply indebted to Mr. F. Simandl for the basic
information in this blog. He developed the `New Method for the Double Bass’
when he was an instructor in the double bass at the Institute of Musical Art at
the Juilliard School of Music. His edition was in German and English. I must
confess that I followed the English version on the left half of the page. Mr. Simandl was born in 1840 and died in 1912. I
learnt the early stages of the double bass from his book – but had to find
easier material as his method of teaching progressed.
In the preface he wrote:
“Although the methods for the Double Bass which have appeared
in print up to the present time have not been lacking in many good qualities, I
have come to the conclusion that the majority are either not complete enough,
or too complicated for general understanding to supply the student with a
thorough education on this particular instrument in an easy and practical manner
and in accordance with present day requirements.”
We must be grateful for the length and sincerity of this
sentence – but could he also have been writing about some of the present forms
of eleven plus papers? I must confess that sometimes, when his material was
remarkably challenging, I used to entertain myself by trying to make sense of the
German. I could never make sense of his abbreviated pizzicato. Any proper
bassist would recognise immediately my lack of ability and perseverance!
Some eleven plus exercises seem to testing children in
elements of their language skills – rather than what some may consider to be
cognitive ability. Good grammar, for example, may be useful for children going
onto enjoy languages at grammar school. True eleven year old potential
scientists, however, may not see the reason for exercises playing on the nuances
of language.
There may be a place in the eleven plus for questions which
explore ability in `an easy and practical manner in accordance with present day
requirements!’
