I finally bought a copy of the new Grey Larsen book “The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle” while visiting Dusty Strings in Seattle during a business trip last week.
If there is anyone on this forum who doesn’t have a copy of this book, you need to buy a copy immediately, turn off the computer, lock yourself in your practice room for a month/year/rest-of-your-life and don’t come out until you’ve gone through the entire book.
Its an absolutely phenomenal book, and both as a player and teacher will be a great reference.
Well, The Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox just arrived today, so I guess I’ll work through that first. I’m on my way to bed, to start reading the intro right now. (It’s a bit too late to actually play anything.)
OK… I’ve been wanting to buy the Essential Guide… and I was just about to order it from Amazon here in the UK when they doubled the price! (It was on import, so you paid the US$ price, and then I guess Mel Bay released it here - at the same in £ as $ - in other words twice as much).
So now theres the Toolkit. And I’m thoroughly confused. Is the toolkit a subset of the Essential guide. Is it different? Is it a deeper exploration of whistle playing? or a more practical guide.
Essential is indeed terrific, but I find it daunting to try to work through huge chunks of it at a time. I immediately read the intro sections which have many useful insights. When I got to the ornamentation section (major part of the book) I slowed way down and worked through one or two ornaments and then backed off to let the information sink in. I now go back and browse the book from time to time and work on an ornament. I think if you try to digest too much at once, you will have a tough time.
I just bought mine Saturday. I’ve only made it through about a quarter of it so far (counting reading a bunch at the end!). Everything so far has been very impressive. The transcriptions at the end are awesome.
As i understand (someone correct me, please), the toolkit has more beginner-oriented stuff, while the guide is meant for people who already have some flute or whistle playing experience. The guide applies to flute and whistle, and the toolkit is mostly whistle. That’s what Grey told me, if i remember right.
I have the guide; it’s a mighty book.
Two words of caution: First, Grey is not exactly mainstream in the Irish flute world, so be sure to try to know some of the other players out there too. Second, there’s only so much you can learn from a book. Keep these things in mind and you should be able to learn a lot from the book.
Not having the Guide, I can’t compare them directly, but Grey mentions in the Toolkit that it doesn’t cover as much detail. For example, when it comes to ornamentation, it covers cuts, strikes, long rolls, and short rolls only. I have to say that it contains enough material on those to last me till the end of the year.
I found his explanation of cuts particularly helpful. Although I’ve only had a few minutes to work on it, I can already see that it’s going to help me.
The Toolkit deals only with dance music. Does the Guide provide much illumination regarding slow airs?
Here’s a link to the table of contents. Nearly 500 pages, plus 2 audio CDs for $39.95. Less than the price of a one hour private lesson in many places…
I’ve had the full Monty since Christmas. It’s easily the most impressive book of its kind I’ve ever seen and I will certainly be working through it. I have to finish writing a book of my own first.
I don’t think it matters much if his playing isn’t quite mainstream although it would be better if it were. He seems to be asking all the right questions so, if he gives the wrong answers, at least you have a point of departure.
I think I’ve only seen people criticise his playing in rather general terms, although I might be wrong. What would impress me would be for someone to take a piece of ornamentation they think he does wrong and simply redo his treatment, complete with illustrative examples corrected, and explain clearly what the difference is. Using what he says as a model, simply say what he should have said. Since he’s provided the model, that shouldn’t be too hard. Perhaps if someone were to do that in one or two places, we could do the rest for ourselves. Obviously you should never stop listening to other players and you should adapt what you learn to what you are trying to achieve. No book could be a substitute for either of those things.
