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Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido D'Arezzo
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About Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido D'Arezzo
Product Description If you can read musical notes, you can sing any song or play any piece. But musical notes have not always been here. Long ago, songs were memorized. If songs were forgotten, they were lost forever. Thanks to one man, Guido d’Arezzo, music now can last forever. From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 5—Working in the early 11th century, d'Arezzo is widely credited with having formulated the system of musical notation. This fictionalized picture book tells an abbreviated version of his story, following him from a boyhood in the choir to various monasteries to his eventual achievement. The emphasis is on his perseverance as he struggles to develop a system for "writing down the sounds of a song," and to convince the musical establishment of the benefits of being able to read, rather than memorize, music. The language is simple and intimate, fabricating conversations and thoughts that d'Arezzo and his medieval fellows real. The large-font text moves clearly across the cut- and torn-paper (and the occasional photo) collages that fill the spreads with wonderful colors and fibers. The slightly simplified forms lend a kind of cheery awkwardness and individuality to the characters. The stylized artwork ranges from close-ups to mini-frames to broad landscapes that subtly incorporate d'Arezzo's staff. While the narrative does a good job of explaining the significance of d'Arrezo's innovation, it sometimes oversimplifies matters and gives a sense that he was flying completely solo rather than building on ideas already around. In the actual explication of his system, the glossary has to do the heavy lifting. The book's format is young, but much of its content-including an author's note-is aimed at an older audience with some musical background. This is an attractive if flawed introduction to a little-covered figure.— Nancy Palmer, The Little School, Bellevue, WA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist "A thousand years ago. . . . There was no written music at all." In this fictionalized biography, Roth introduces Guido d'Arezzo, the Italian monk who devised the first system of musical notation. In easy language, Roth first describes how, as a child, d'Arezzo came to think about writing down the sounds of a song. She then follows him into adulthood, when his experimentation with notation met with plenty of skepticism, even after he experienced an epiphany that led to the beginnings of the system that we use today. The words are basic, lyrical, and inspiring, but the paper-collage illustrations are less successful. Roth's wide-mouthed, almost cartoonish figures seem at odds with her elegant, layered backgrounds, which incorporate sheets of music, earthy textures, and images of beautifully patterned mosaic floors. Still, this is an appealing, accessible, and thought-provoking introduction to a rarely covered subject. A bibliography and an author's note conclude the volume. Gillian Engberg Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Review A sublime blend of education and entertainment. Kirkus Reviews An appealing, accessible, and throught-provoking introduction to a rarely covered subject. Booklist, ALA "Roth's naif collages, populated by doll-like figures, quickly shoo away any misgivings that music history could be a bore, and make a marvelous counterpoint for her carefully researched prose." Publishers Weekly "The language is simple and intimate. . .wonderful colors and fibers. . .attractive." School Library Journal "A gifted author-illustrator offers a lovely picture book...Her collage illustrations are always interesting." Buffalo News Roth winningly narrates the ups and downs of Guido's efforts to work out his ideas and get them accepted. But it's the illustrations that really make the book sing: torn-paper collages wittily celebrating musical marks everywhere, from the staff lines of plowed furrows and
