Got another good tune book today!

Whistle
1

I was in my favorite acoustic music shop, browsing their books for tin whistle offerings (pretty thin, I’m afraid) when I came upon Robin Williamson’s “English, Welsh, Scottish & Irish Fiddle Tunes.” A quick glance revealed that a good many of the tunes in the book are playable on the whistle (and not already in my collection!), so I snapped it up (it was the last one on the rack) and brought it home.

This really is a treasury of good tunes. Sure, some fall outside the range of the whistle or are in awkward keys (though even some of these are playable…I’ve found one already that just dips down to a C, which I can easily compensate for by going up to a C instead, and another that only requires one simple half-hole), but a large number are easily playable on the whistle as written.

What I like best about Williamson’s collections (as you’ve no doubt heard me say about his excellent tutor "The Penny Whistle Book, which is, sadly, out of print, but still available used) is that he doesn’t focus ONLY on Irish music. Sure, I like Irish music as much as the next whistler, but it’s certainly not the only genre our little instrument is well-suited for. It’s nice to find little gems from England, Scotland and Wales to add to the Irish repertoire.

The book is organized by country, and includes jigs, reels, hornpipes, strathspeys, airs, Morris tunes and country dance tunes. I’ve picked up three new (to me) tunes already: “Linnen Hall” (an English country dance), “Swaggering Boney” (an English double jig) and Sheffield Hornpipe (an English…er…hornpipe).

The other thing I like is the background he gives on each tune, and his obvious enthusiasm for the music, which really shows through in his descriptions.

Oh yes…and it comes with a CD. I haven’t listened to it yet, but my understanding from the book is that it’s not intended to be an instructional CD so much as examples of some of the tunes. Still, a nice bonus.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a tune book that’s a little different, I recommend taking a look at this one. I keep thinking he ought to reissue The Penny Whistle Book (perhaps with a CD as well)…it really is a good tutor, as well as a useful collection of tunes that I refer to again and again.

Redwolf

2

I like his penny whistle book, too. I don’t really like it as a tutor for a musical beginner, though. If you are already experienced with some form of music, it is fine. For me, the whistle was my first instrument. RW’s tutor kind of went way too fast for me. For a raw tyro, I like Bill Ochs’ Clarke tutor.

Still, there are some wonderful tunes in RW’s book and I also love the way he gives some thoughts about how to play them. I’m sorry to hear that it is out of print. Mine was a gift, so I wasn’t really paying attention to availability.

If I spot the fiddle book, I’ll buy it.

-Patrick

3

Yeah…it’s true it probably doesn’t give enough basic info for someone who doesn’t already read a little music. If I were to suggest some improvements to a successive edition, the only changes I’d make would be to expand the introductory section just a tad (a few additional note reading and fingering exercises, maybe), include a CD so people unfamiliar with these tunes can get a basic idea of how they should sound, and move “The Ash Grove” a little further back in the tune line-up (it’s a beautiful tune, but probably not the best one to start with, as it goes well up into the second octave and is a bit challenging to play smoothly for a beginner who is still struggling with breathing correctly). The other early tunes in the book are great introductory tunes, and a nice change for the adult or teen learner who wants to get into traditional music as quickly as possible, and who’s not particularly interested in learning “Mary Had a Little Lamb” or “Yankee Doodle.”

Hmmm…given the upsurge in interest in “Celtic” music in general (and in the whistle), I wonder if Mr. Williamson could be persuaded to do a new edition? Used copies are out there and relatively easy to obtain, but with a few basic updates, this could be one of the best tutors out there.

The fiddle book is quite simply a must-have. There’s enough new stuff (to me) in there to keep me happily occupied for quite a while.

Redwolf

[ This Message was edited by: Redwolf on 2003-01-16 11:00 ]