tune books - recommendations sought

Irish Flute
1

I’ve worked through much of the 2 Shaskeen books, and found them to contain plenty of session-favourites, without including too many of the tunes you’d be more likely to get in a beginner’s book. Can anyone else recommend other books that similarly include the sorts of tunes you’re likely to hear in sessions, but which are not aimed at beginners?

2

I’m fond of the two 'Irish traditional Music" books edited by Michael Turbridy published by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann. Lots of great tunes and the settings are all flute friendly.

3

Uh… have you tried “thesession.org”?
If you go there, I recommend going to the Members tab on the right, then click Tunebook on the top tab. Tunes are listed in order of popularity, so that’s a good bet that you’ll hear them at a session.

4

Ceol Rince Vol. 1 is one of the best, great tunes, should do ye for while

5

My first book was “100 Popular Irish Session Tunes” and I believe was published in England. Currently though, I’ve been grazing on a copy of Mel Bay’s Irish Session Tune Book from my local library. I find it has a lot of stuff in the sessions I attend.

6

I would just like to support the suggestion for L.E. McCullough’s “121 Session Tunes” (or something like that). I’ve had this book for awhile, and it does seem to be helpful. There’s also four cds (as well as notation), with Mr. McCullough playing each tune twice-once slow and simple, and the second time faster with ornamentation.
Enjoy.
M in China

7

…

8

Why is no-one yelling “Learn by ear! Learn by ear! A pox on dots and books!” like they would over on the whistle forum?

9

cos on the flute forum we’re so smart everybody already knows that..
wink

Lesl

10

I think one of the best, and funniest, flute tutors/tune books out there is Fintan Vallely’s TIMBER. Gorgeous versions. May be out of print, however.

11

Thanks for the recommendation, Kate-I found this on ebay, and I believe you are right about it being out of print. The seller has 23 left, and it was at a reasonable price too, in new condition. Here’s the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3749474520

I found the book and cassette at OssianUSA.com also:

http://www.ossianusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?

I ordered the cassette after the book, and it arrived very quickly from Ossian, before the book on Ebay which I haven’t received yet.

12

Hey, thanks for the ebay link to Timber…I’ve been looking for a copy for two years now. :party:

13

Looks like Timber has been re-issued (by Mel Bay in the US) and is now widely available. About time. :slight_smile:

14

LOVE that book. Esp. the sections on flutes and drinking and smoking. :laughing:

15

I was thinking about investing in the Ceol Rince series myself after seeing what a wonderful version they had of the Salamanca, among other things. But being a miserable cheap she-git I was wondering … is there any way to designate a SOURCE for tunes in Tunefinder (i.e., so I could find the Ceol Rince version of The Salamanca without having to sift through 100 other matches)?

If not, no worries, I’ll just save my pennies to start buying the books and thus support Comhaltas. :slight_smile:

thanks!

16

Hi folks, if anyone was interested in the ‘Timber’ book, I’ve found the companion cassette at Ossian USA. I couldn’t find it elsewhere. I don’t know how many they have, either-I ordered it online, and the order went through.

Although the book has been reissued, I don’t believe the cassette has, but I could be wrong. Here’s the link to Ossian:

http://www.ossianusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=ossian&Category_Code=INST

17

It looks like the "Timber’ on eBay is the Mel Bay re-issue. You can see the red “Mel Bay” logo in the pic.

If you’re interested in the companion cassette, send me a PM or an email.

I think “Timber” is a gem of a book both as a tutour and for the tunes included.

Cheers,
Aaron

18

here’s one place you can find CRE 1-4
http://www.qmcorp.net/zouki/webabc/

here are links to the batches:
CRE 1: http://www.qmcorp.net/zouki/webabc/~batch/CRE1.abc
CRE 2: http://www.qmcorp.net/zouki/webabc/~batch/CRE2.abc
CRE 3: http://www.qmcorp.net/zouki/webabc/~batch/CRE3.abc
CRE 4: http://www.qmcorp.net/zouki/webabc/~batch/CRE4.abc

19

MY HERO!!!

thank you, rh!

(tho’ now I have to wrestle with guilt)

20

hey, don’t thank me, thank Zouki! and if yr feeling guilty, send a donation to CCE and save a tree by just printing the tunes you want rather than having another book printed… it’s all good :smiley: