Author Description

New facsimile edition of a Classic Text of Music Education. Anne Rodwell's book, subtitled 'A Mirror of Music for Infant Minds', is presented in the form of conversations between mother and daughter, a typical format for the period as the engravings portray. The idea was to amuse as well as teach the child and reduce 'the fatigue of imparting instruction'. All that is known about Rodwell is her description of herself as 'Teacher of the Piano Forte'. Her book succeeds in presenting us with a striking contemporary background to private music teaching as it existed in fashionable London at a time when the possession of a piano was a luxury. For other studies of this kind see Kilner (1819) and Fitton (1855), CTME 30 and 33.