François Rabbath
Encyclopedia
François Rabbath is a contemporary French
double-bass
player, soloist, and composer
.
He was born into a Syrian family of musician
s but his only instruction came from a book written by a Paris
ian bassist Edouard Nanny
. In 1955 he went to Paris
, hoping to meet Nanny, who had died before he arrived, but he continued to study, and in 1964 recorded for the first time. Rabbath's playing has been well documented with CDs and DVDs.
Rabbath's major contribution to the field of bass pedagogy
is represented in the three-volume Nouvelle technique de la contrebasse. The main differences in Rabbath's approach from that of the double bass method of Franz Simandl
is Rabbath's use of the left hand and his detailed attention to the bow arm. In Simandl's system, first position (below thumb position) encompasses only a whole step. In Rabbath's method, the entire fingerboard is divided into only six positions, defined by the location of natural harmonics on the strings. Playing the bass with six positions is possible by using a technique called pivoting.
Pivots are often mistakenly called extensions or shifts. An extension is a widening of the hand to reach a new note [as outlined by Zimmermann]. A pivot is a rocking of the hand to reach a new note where the thumb remains stationary but all fingers gain the technical freedom to move anywhere else possible/required. Pivots thus enable the fusing of several different positions at once. By placing the thumb in an appropriate place and just rocking the hand back and forth the player can use for example both half, 1st, and 2nd positions without the need for shifts. Usually, the thumb should be relatively behind the index finger or closer to the middle finger(when not in thumb position) so the bassist can fully utilize their weight of the left arm and have a very free pivot. The reason a pivot is not a shift is because the thumb does not move either on the string or behind the neck. A shift requires that the whole hand moves and results in a change of position.
Another technique used by Francois Rabbath is the Crab Technique, named for to way the hand
movement resembles a crab's sideways walking. The technique is outlined in the third volume of the Rabbath Method and allows for part of the hand to move while the other part remains and vice versa - in this way the hand can move up and down the string in certain passages without ever fully shifting. Rabbath is not the first person to use the Crab Technique but he is the first double bassist to name it and give it a thorough full technical exploration. For example, similar exercises are found on the first page of Franco Petracchi's Simplifed Higher Technique. Some small examples can be found in method books such as Simandl, but it is a point of contention whether these were intended as crabs or shifts as they do not contain textual explanations.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
double-bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
player, soloist, and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
He was born into a Syrian family of musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s but his only instruction came from a book written by a Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian bassist Edouard Nanny
Edouard Nanny
Edouard Nanny was an important French double bass player, teacher, and composer. He was a longtime professor of double bass at the Paris Conservatory.-Career:...
. In 1955 he went to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, hoping to meet Nanny, who had died before he arrived, but he continued to study, and in 1964 recorded for the first time. Rabbath's playing has been well documented with CDs and DVDs.
Rabbath's major contribution to the field of bass pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
is represented in the three-volume Nouvelle technique de la contrebasse. The main differences in Rabbath's approach from that of the double bass method of Franz Simandl
Franz Simandl
Franz Simandl was a double-bassist and pedagogue most remembered for his book New Method for the Double Bass, known as the Simandl book, which is to this day used as a standard study of double bass technique and hand positions.His approach uses the first, second, and fourth fingers of the left...
is Rabbath's use of the left hand and his detailed attention to the bow arm. In Simandl's system, first position (below thumb position) encompasses only a whole step. In Rabbath's method, the entire fingerboard is divided into only six positions, defined by the location of natural harmonics on the strings. Playing the bass with six positions is possible by using a technique called pivoting.
Pivots are often mistakenly called extensions or shifts. An extension is a widening of the hand to reach a new note [as outlined by Zimmermann]. A pivot is a rocking of the hand to reach a new note where the thumb remains stationary but all fingers gain the technical freedom to move anywhere else possible/required. Pivots thus enable the fusing of several different positions at once. By placing the thumb in an appropriate place and just rocking the hand back and forth the player can use for example both half, 1st, and 2nd positions without the need for shifts. Usually, the thumb should be relatively behind the index finger or closer to the middle finger(when not in thumb position) so the bassist can fully utilize their weight of the left arm and have a very free pivot. The reason a pivot is not a shift is because the thumb does not move either on the string or behind the neck. A shift requires that the whole hand moves and results in a change of position.
Another technique used by Francois Rabbath is the Crab Technique, named for to way the hand
movement resembles a crab's sideways walking. The technique is outlined in the third volume of the Rabbath Method and allows for part of the hand to move while the other part remains and vice versa - in this way the hand can move up and down the string in certain passages without ever fully shifting. Rabbath is not the first person to use the Crab Technique but he is the first double bassist to name it and give it a thorough full technical exploration. For example, similar exercises are found on the first page of Franco Petracchi's Simplifed Higher Technique. Some small examples can be found in method books such as Simandl, but it is a point of contention whether these were intended as crabs or shifts as they do not contain textual explanations.