Rodanne Singleton Bartlett

Rodanne Bartlett, violinist and violin teacher, died on March 30 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after a long struggle with COPD. She was 68. 

Rodanne was born in Washington, DC, to Mary Ellen (nee Barton) and Rodman S. Rountree. She was raised by her mother and stepfather, William M. Bartlett. At a young age she began playing the violin, participating in the DC Youth Orchestra and going on concert tours with the DCYO to Berlin and Tokyo and Cardiff in the 1970s. She studied music at Indiana University and later obtained her BA from Catholic University. She started teaching private students and playing professionally while still in college.

Rodanne moved to Pittsburgh in the early 1980s, playing violin with the Pittsburgh Ballet as well as the Pittsburgh Opera. At the same time she started a business offering violin lessons out of her home in Wilkinsburg. She obtained certification to teach violin using the Suzuki Method and began specializing in teaching young children. She organized many, many concerts for her students, nurturing their love of music while they learned to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Mississippi Hot Dog.”

Rodanne is survived by three sisters: Sharon Sage of Pittsburgh, Martha Ann Rountree-Paris of Gaithersburg, MD, and Mary-Ellen Yeomans of Toronto, Canada, and by one brother, Russell Bartlett of Washington, DC.

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