A double bass? Lost?
A picture book that accompanies the little ones on their first steps with the big instrument. But it can also be told just like that.
"Noah, just imagine, my double bass is gone," Pauline calls out to her boyfriend at the beginning of the story. There's only one thing to do: the two of them have to go and find Pauline's instrument. The two friends experience all kinds of musical adventures, they play and solve tasks, always accompanied by a snail, a frog and a cat. The three animals are hidden in each picture and each tell their own funny story.
Noah & Pauline in Search of the Double Bass is a music picture book for the very youngest double bass players and their teachers. It is carefully illustrated in a contemporary style. There are many lovely details in the pictures that are strongly linked to the children's world of experience. The picture book can be told simply, but it can also be used - taught by the teacher - in early or slightly later double bass lessons. A lot of theory is embedded in the story and yet is conveyed quite quickly. Note values and rhythms are explained over the course of several episodes. Later, the staff comes into play, and on page 25 there is a first piece that can be plucked on the empty G string. Towards the end, the children meet a double bass player, and now the bow is also introduced. The last piece in the booklet is also relatively complex. It is provided with bow strokes and contains rests. To make all this possible on just 39 pages, the story sometimes has to take detours.
This didn't bother my nine-year-old test subject at all. She enthusiastically searched for snails and frogs, drew double basses and clapped rhythms. She also found it very practical that she already knew some of the signs from her double bass lessons and felt positively confirmed.
The story ends with a charming punchline: the double bass was at Noah's house the whole time. Pauline had forgotten it there and Noah didn't dare tell her. He had accidentally pulled the sting out all the way and thought the double bass was broken.
Song Choi and Eva Lotta Stein, Noah & Pauline. In search of the double bass, from 4 years, Fr. 24.00, Gilgenreiner, Winterthur 2015, ISMN 979-0-700268-19-0
