want to buy a music(whistle) book ,i want one that has many catchy tunes…any book(s) like that>>>
Try O’Neill’s 1000 tunes ( I forget the exact name). If you can’t find something catchy in there, you’re not looking hard enough!!
1001 actually. Not a beginners book, you should know how to read O Neill’s defects and oddities in his notations. It’s a great collection otherwise.
This ground has just been thoroughly covered in a few other threads.
Christina,
My two favorites are:
121 Favorite Irish Sesshin Tunes by L.E. McCullough.
This is put out by Homespun and comes with four CDs that demonstrate the tunes both slowly and more or less up to speed.
Mel Bay’s Complete Irish Tin Whistle Book by Mizzy McCaskill and Donna Gilliam
This book I recomend if you are a beginner with some music reading ability. It has suggested ornamentations that can give you a flavor for how to embellish any tune. I like the arrangements and tune sellection and keep coming back to this one again and again. Also there is a CD of many of the tunes beging played in full arrangements. It’s not a bad CD in its own right!
110 Ireland’s Best Session Tunes
Put out by Waltons who also publish a nice slow aire book among others.
PS: THIS IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG!
Clark
[ This Message was edited by: clark on 2001-12-02 07:58 ]
I have to disagree about Mel Bay’s Complete Irish Tin Whistle Book by Mizzy McCaskill and Donna Gilliam. This is suppose to be a tuttorial and yet the cd has absolutley nothing to do with learning to play. None of the techniques such as cuts or rolls are demonstrated on the cd and there is so much clutter around the whistle playing that it can be difficult to follow the whistling. This is more like a fustrated musician who couldn’t get a record deal so decided to play their arrangements on the tutorial and learning be damned. I still have not figured out what the hell gregorian chants have to do with whistle playing, and I have never heard rain sticks played in a trad session.
The cd might be fine if you were looking to pick up some “new age” type music but it fails miserably in my opinion as a tutorial. L.E.'s book and tape or Geraldine Cotters is vastly superior as a tutorial.
One book that I’ve enjoyed a lot is “The Penny Whistle Book” by Robin Williamson. Another good one is “Irish Tin Whistle Legends” by Tommy Walsh. In addition to the tunes, there are biographical sketches of great whistle players, and arrangements of pieces they have played. O’Neils “Music of Ireland” as already stated, is a huge and wonderful resource. Mine is published by Mel Bay and has 1,850 tunes.
Yes, I agree about Mizzy’s CD… it’s no tutorial. That’s why I said full arrangements of some of the tunes. Most of the tracks I like (even if they’re not always trad) and some are silly (I don’t get the chanting thing either). Mizzy did the same thing for a Flute tutorial and I hate most of the tracks on that CD. The accompanying flute book is not very strong either. Maybe that inconsistancy is why he can’t get a recording contract?
Anyway, I stand by the Mizzy’s whistle book as a good resource, although L.E.'s is a full package.
Clark
Another absolutely great resource but probably not for a beginner is “The Dance Music of Willie Clancy” by Pat Mitchell. Willie was the great piper from Peter Laban’s town of Miltown Malbay. Although the book consists of transcriptions of Willie’s bagpipe music, the tunes can certainly be played on the whistle. Mitchell has tried to capture all of the ornamentation and variations used by Willie and I’ve seen no other book with such detail. When you can play the 152 tunes in this book, apply for your Master’s degree in whistle playing!
I have to agree with Clark that McCaskill & Gilliam is a good book. The strong point of the book and CD is that the selected tunes you see in print are an exact transcription of what you hear on the CD (with accompaniment). Too many tutorials show the basic tune in their book and then play the tune with all kinds of ornamentations that aren’t shown which can be frustrating to a beginner. When it comes to tutorials it doesn’t hurt to have more than one. I don’t think any are perfect.
By the way, Gregorian Chant is absolutely beautiful on the whistle! That’s where the modes started that are used in Irish music! Oh well, to each his own!
Best wishes, Tom
hi..thanx for ur sugguestion.
may i know where can i order these books???i search thr the http://www.amazon.com and it seems that some of these are not available
On 2001-12-03 00:59, Tom_Gaul wrote:
Another absolutely great resource but probably not for a beginner is “The Dance Music of Willie Clancy” by Pat Mitchell. Willie was the great piper from Miltown Malbay. Although the book consists of transcriptions of Willie’s bagpipe music, the tunes can certainly be played on the whistle. Mitchell has tried to capture all of the ornamentation and variations used by Willie and I’ve seen no other book with such detail. When you can play the 152 tunes in this book, apply for your Master’s degree in whistle playing!
Again not quite a beginner’s project, though a great book. Breandan Breathnach always maintained Willie’s musicianship only fully came into it’s own in his wistleplaying and recordings of his playing show that he was indeed an unsurpassed whistleplayer who had a complete understanding of the music.
Mastersdegree?? Maybe if you could play half of them the way he did, otherwise they’re just a collection of tunes, if good ones (if you don’t count Champagne Charlie which is included in the collection)
[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2001-12-03 06:37 ]
http://www.hobgoblin.com/local/bookfram.htm
Hobgoblin Music have a wide selection of Tutorial books, most with optional CD of the Tunes being played. Videos are also available.
Your problem may be the cost of postage to Hong Kong, but you might note the details and then try to find them locally.
What sort of music do you want to play? The Clarke tinwhistle tutor has English, Irish, Scottish and American traditional folk tunes, all of which can be very catchy when played well.
Good Hunting, Martin
The](http://www.thewhistleshop.com/catalog/tutorials/tutorial.htm%3EThe) Whistle Shophas a number of the books mentioned.
“The Penny Whistle Book” can be purchased through The Kelischek Center for Historical Instruments at http://www.susato.com I special ordered the O’Neil’s “Music of Ireland” from a regular music store. Mel Bay is the publisher. The Mel Bay addition is around $30.00. I got “Irish Tin Whistle Legends” at Lark in the Morning. That’s also where I got “The Penny Whistle Book”, but like I said, you can also get it at the Susato web site.
I agree with those who suggested the Mel Bay Complete Tinwhistle Book and L.E. McCullough’s Complete Tinwhistle Tutor. McCullough’s tutorial CD is good about breaking down the rolls so you can really hear them. Also agree with Lee Marsh on The Whistle Shop–they’re great!