FORM Go Tell Aunt Rhody follows an A - B - B1 - A form; the first and last lines are identical, and the middle section is repeated with a small change the second time.
AURAL SKILLS Go Tell Aunt Rhody is intended to serve as an opportunity for students to learn by ear with minimum help from their teacher. The melody is relatively linear, with simple motions up and down the scale, and only a few skips.
BOW ARM There are no new bowing skills in Go Tell Aunt Rhody.
LEFT HAND While there are no new left-hand techniques required to play Go Tell Aunt Rhody, this song presents an excellent opportunity to introduce the idea of the trading finger, a detail that will be very useful later!
go tell aunt rhody
A trading finger is when one finger lifts up in exchange for putting another finger down. Our default technique calls for leaving old fingers down as we add new fingers, so it is important to note that trading fingers will be a technique used only in specific designated instances.
Trading fingers are useful when a passage calls for an awkward jump or skip between fingers. In Go Tell Aunt Rhody, the first and last line end with a sequence of 1-0-1-2-0, with the last two notes skipping from the second finger back to open. If we lift our first finger in exchange for our second finger, then we will be able to progress from second finger directly to the open string without tripping over the first finger on the way.