I studied it with someone two away from Rabbath. I think it is fine if the beginner is set on being a classical soloist.
Or if you're Rufus Reid or Lynn Seaton or Glenn Moore or Renaud Garcia Fons for starters.
The set up, pivots and approach to sound production just does not transfer to the wider needs of a working bass player playing jazz, classical and whatever else is thrown at them, as I keep saying, such a person also needs to be well aware of Rabbath's contribution.
Most working pros whether they reject him or not are quite aware of Rabbath. Pivots were a part of orchestral playing long before Rabbath. Many orchestra players I have taken lessons from, (CSO, Chicago Lyric Opera, Minnesota, Boston and NYP) all advocate a pivot approach in order to most accurately play speedy passages. Most of them don't really subscribe to the Rabbath thing.
For starters, you are just never going to get a powerful pizzicato tone like William Parker or Paul Chambers using that system.
See above
You can, however with the left hand parts of Simandl
Though Simandl is the preferred method here in the states, there are others that preceeded his. Remember it is was at one point the New Method and as such was probably met with the same kind of reception as you present for Rabbath back when it was published. Bottesini wrote a method before him, so did Frantisek Cerny (which is awesome BTW). They both were pretty good at playing I think, judging by their compositions.
Petracchi advocates pivots all over the place right from the start. Pivoting from a half step between the thumb and first finger, than a whole step, then a minor third is the crux of his simplified higher technique. It applies down lower as well, see exercise 14. When I saw him in recital, his fingers danced all over the fingerboard. Again, like Rabbath, his method needs to be explained fully by someone who studied with him.
I think some methods are better to start with than others, but I don't think we can get every single thing we need from any of them.
The one that gets you playing music the quickest is probably it.
I'm not a Rabbath freak or anything, but any method that advocates six positions vs. geez I don't even know how many positions off hand, I don't really want to count, suffice it to say feel free to count up from 11 (I didn't do book II), my fingerboard goes to D, can't be bad. Also advocating no fear of the thumb position by introducing soon is something any free improvisor has got to appreciate. I think Rabbath has a lot to say that is really helpful and has helped in the renaissance in bass we see today. It's definitely worth a second glance. Especially going through Book 3 with a knowledgeable teacher.
Having met Rabbath and sat in on a master class with him, I can definitely say this. He has a profound joy for the bass and what can be done on it. He would never tell you your opinions are wrong or there is one way to do anything. It his method of playing bass. He has played as a soloist and in the orchestra. He studied the Nanny book and went to Paris to study with him because he had so much reverence for him. Unfortunately he had already passed on. It's his method and plenty of people have used it or at least parts of it (or the Vance books which are essentially a hybrid of Rabbath and Suzuki and is in my opinion the best method for absolute beginners. I think Simandl is an intermediate text)and are either working in orchestras or are going to. In the end, as my dad used to say the proof is in the pudding and he can play his @$$ off.
Just my 2¢
Haven't found a single system that solves all the problems of that mean spirited 3 ft of ebony.
