Mel Bay's "Music Pocketbook" and other goodies

Whistle
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Man, yesterday felt like Christmas! First I picked up my mail and found that my Kilkenny Road CD had arrived (good music; great playing! Highly recommended). Then, yesterday afternoon, UPS delivered a shipment of music I’d ordered from The Whistle Shop: O’Neill’s (long-coveted!), Ireland’s Best Tin Whistle Tunes, and one little gem I’d ordered on a whim (because it was cheap): Mel Bay’s “Music Pocketbook.”

I’m really impressed with this teeny, tiny, little book (it’s so small you could easily tuck it into your jeans pockets and forget it was there, and I think it cost me all of 95 cents). It includes basic whistle-playing instructions, enough elementary music theory to get started with and about 21 tunes (set both in standard notation and whistle tab). The tunes range from very simple (“The Foggy Dew,” “Cockles and Mussels,” etc.) to fairly complicated (“Drowsy Maggie,” “Harvest Home,” etc.). I was thinking, for those of you who like to hand out free whistles occasionally, this could be a nice thing to include…a little basic primer and tunebook to give the recipient something to work with, for less than a buck!

The one thing I didn’t like about the book (or rather, thought was odd)…in the section on half-holing, it tells you to “cover only the top of the hole.” That seems a bit awkward…does anyone here actually half-hole by sliding your finger up? I’ve always covered the SIDE of the hole, either by straightening my finger, or by tipping it into the hole slightly, depending on the whistle.

That little oddity aside, it’s a useful little book, and one heck of a bargain. I wonder if you could get a discount if you ordered them by the case?

Oh yes…and to put the capper on my Christmassy week, my new Dixon tuneable is scheduled to arrive today or tomorrow. I hope UPS doesn’t put it where they put the music books…for some reason, even though I was home, they decided to put the books in the garage, right where my husband had to swerve around them when he parked his bike. I’d hate to have my new whistle arrive, only to be made into a two (or more) piece a la Kawasaki!

Redwolf

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On 2003-01-30 11:57, Redwolf wrote:
I’d hate to have my new whistle arrive, only to be made into a two (or more) piece a la Kawasaki!

Redwolf

But you’d be the first whistler on the block to own a ‘Kawasaki Improved.’ :slight_smile:

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On 2003-01-30 11:57, Redwolf wrote:

Mel Bay’s “Music Pocketbook.”

I’m really impressed with this teeny, tiny, little book (it’s so small you could easily tuck it into your jeans pockets and forget it was there, and I think it cost me all of 95 cents). It includes basic whistle-playing instructions, enough elementary music theory to get started with and about 21 tunes (set both in standard notation and whistle tab).

This book certainly helped me, when I first started the whistle. Would that I had taken the time and learned more of what it had to offer.

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On 2003-01-30 12:01, Wombat wrote:

On 2003-01-30 11:57, Redwolf wrote:
I’d hate to have my new whistle arrive, only to be made into a two (or more) piece a la Kawasaki!

Redwolf

But you’d be the first whistler on the block to own a ‘Kawasaki Improved.’ > :slight_smile:

Eeek! And wouldn’t it be hilarious if, after some patching, it sounded great! I can see the tweaking instructions now:

“First place your Dixon on a level concrete surface. Run over it at least once with a cruiser-style motorcycle (minimum empty weight, 500 pounds). Reassemble whistle with super glue, being careful to dribble the glue down inside the whistle. Use acetone to remove excess glue from blade. Etc.”

Redwolf

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I also ordered that little book from the Whistle Shop. They had a Clarke original on sale in there garage sale section and I have never had or played one so I thought for 6 bucks what the heck. Trouble was the shipping was going to be more than the whistle. So… I added a Gen in Eb both brass and nickel and the little pocked book. Should be here today. Sounds like a well spent buck.
I am still being blowen away by this little Gen in F. What a sweat sounding whistle. I seem to be reaching for it everyday now, much to Hank the wounderdogs shagrin. Lucky for him my fingers are way to big for a G. :smiley:

Tom

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Oh, I have one of those little books. They’re so cute!

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Yep, they are great little books, I’ve given away dozens. They go especially well with Megs. The tablature is the quickest way I know for folks to start learning to read the music and play songs that they will recognize. The selection in the book includes a number of very common tunes:
Contents:

  • Cockles And Mussels
  • Drowsy Maggie
  • Dumphy’s Hornpipe
  • Haste To The Wedding
  • Love Is Teasin’
  • Miss Mcleod’s Reel
  • Saint Patrick’s Day
  • The Boys Of Bluehill
  • The Butcher Boy
  • The Foggy Dew
  • The Galway Races
  • The Harvest Home
  • The Irish Washerwoman
  • The Liverpool Hornpipe
  • The Londonderry Air
  • The Merry Ploughboy
  • The Old Woman From Wexford
  • The Rakes Of Mallow
  • The Rocky Road To Dublin
  • The Sally Gardens
  • The Wild Rover

Enjoy Your Music,

Lee Marsh

[ This Message was edited by: LeeMarsh on 2003-01-30 15:33 ]

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It’s funny Redwolf, I was looking at that book yesterday, when I was rifling through my shelves for something else. Sat and went through it for twenty minutes or so. It to was my first whistle book.

On another thought, you posted somewhere else that you like doing chip carving. Here in the Windsor Public Library’s Central library is the Windsor Wood Carvers Museum. About the only one in Ontario run by club members exclusively devoted to wood carving.

Go Here:
http://members.tripod.com/woodcarving/

Thought you might be interested.

MarkB

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Redwolf;
If you or anyone else on the board wants
a quantity of these " Music Pocketbooks"
(i.e. minimum 50 units) I can give you a discount
of 20% to 25% depending on the actual quantity you
order. I’ll make very little money but please forgive
the "commercialism " of the post anyway. Just reply
here and I’ll let you know a way to contact
me of the board. It’s a little thing I can do
to help spread the gospel…

Kelhorn Mike