Author:Geza Szilvay
Illustrator:Tuulia Hyrske
Illustrator:Jatta Ehrlund
From the Forward by Géza Szilvay
"Children love to draw and in doing so create for themselves a world of trains, cars, 'pigs and kings and lots of things'! They invest this activity with their whole, undivided attention. Later, they will give the same concentration in learning to read and in practising forming their first letters. The same sense of happiness and enjoyment can be attained while learning the musical ABC, through which children will become acquainted with the rudiments of musical notation. The musical upbringing offered in the Singing Rascals ABC allows children to unravel the "secrets" of note recognition and formation in a way that they can enjoy as a game while they work. In this book, the child will be introduced to the natural, unaltered notes: even these natural notes appear here only in the octave ranges found in children's songs or in compositions written for the young. This particular book, in common with all the others in the Rascals series, is designed for use in the family, in kindergarten or nursery, in music schools and in primary schools."
Guidelines for using this book.
"The Singing Rascals picture book and exercise book are now combined in the ABC. The child will learn the musical ABC (the unaltered notes), in the same order as s/he is taught the alphabet in school: thus the order will be ABCDEFG. (Instead of the confusing system of 'H' for B natural and 'B' for B flat, we recommend for new generations of music pupils everywhere in the world the more logical use of B (natural), B sharp (Bis) and B flat (Bes). Nevertheless, there are pages in the book designed for those teachers who wish to maintain the old tradition.) There are two kinds of exercise for each note: recognition and drawing. These exercises are written both in the G and F clefs. The little fiddler or flautist should practise the musical ABC primarily in the G clef, and the 'cello and double bass rascals in the F clef. The future pianist is recommended to use both. The notes in brackets (e.g., on Page 6) seldom appear in music composed for children; therefore it is left to the teacher's discretion to exercise its drawing or recognition. The empty pages are designed for the teacher or parent to insert the appropriate clefs and exercises, which can favour either note recognition or note drawing, according to the particular needs of the child . The final pages of empty staves are for further free exercises."
