Oak Pennywhistle In D (Oak Classic Pennywhistles) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm not a professional musician, and I wanted to buy this just to fiddle around with it (and it was cheap, that was a plus). I found some websites that had sheet music for it, showed you how to play certain songs. Its great for that, its simple and the sound is very full. I'd recommend it if you wanted the instrument for the sound. The range of the instrument is lacking, some Pennywhistles in D give you a higher range, but not this one. Its not horrible, but if you're looking to hit some higher notes, you might want to look elsewhere.

All in all, its great.

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Product Description:
One of the premier pennywhistles in the world, created from premium triple-nickle plated solid brass tubing polished to a lustrous shine and capped with the unique Oak adjustable turnable mouthpiece. Ideal for playing traditional folk and Irish music, the Oak Pennywhistle is among the easiest of all the instruments for beginners to play.

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Irish Rhythm Guitar: Accompanying Celtic Tunes Review

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(More customer reviews)I've seen John Doyle in concert several times and he is absolutely awesome. This DVD is great if you have even a rudimentary ability to play guitar. You'll learn the D tuning that all the Irish guitarists (and lots of American rock n' rollers) use, and a ton of ways to make your chords sound fuller and more interesting if you're into rhythm guitar. If you get a chance to see John Doyle with Liz Carroll, I highly recommend you take advantage of it!

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Product Description:
Learn the fine art of backing Celtic tunes on guitar! The rhythmic center of one of today's hottest Irish bands (Solas) demonstrates the strumming patterns, bass lines, accents and syncopations that he uses to drive a tune forward. You'll discover how adding minor chords and other substitutions add interest to a basic three-chord tune, and will be playing both simple and complex accompaniments to more than a dozen great reels, jigs and hompipes.
John demonstrates his complex strumming patterns using moving bass lines, palm damping, backbeats, accents and syncopations to drive a tune forward. Using dropped D tuning throughout, John shows how to add interest and depth to a basic three-chord tune by using minor chords and other substitutions to change the underlying harmonic structure. He goes over each tune, slowly and up to speed, developing dynamic chord progressions and rhythmic flourishes as he goes.
You'll learn rhythmic accompaniments to reels, jigs, slip jigs and hornpipes, including "Crowley's," "The Mountain Road," "Craig's Pipes," "The Gooseberry Bush," "Gallagher's Frolics," "Mist Covered Mountain," "Langstrom's Pony," "Humours of Whiskey," "Banks of Loch Gamhna," "Return to Camden Town," "The Fermoy Lasses," "The Girl That Broke My Heart," "Chief O'Neill's Hornpipe," "Tim Henry's Favorite," "The Pullet" and "The Floating Crowbar."

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Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor: Book Only (Penny & Tin Whistle) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a very nice tutor for the Irish Whistle.Ms. Cotter assumes you dont know anything about music, and starts from the beginning, not only teaching how to play the whistle, but also the basics of reading sheet music.Tonguing, time & rhythm, breathing, articulation, slurring, ornamentation (including cuts, rolls and the casadh) are all covered using nice irish tunes as examples.There is also a small section on slow aire playing, which is the slow, haunting style that you often hear on movie soundtracks.
After the tutorial, Ms. Cotter lists the music for 100 Irish tunes.It is a nice mix of tunes--many are popular tunes that are often played during pub sessions, and others are very nice but less well known.
I started from scratch with this tutorial, and made very quick progress.However, I also had the accompanying CDs:one CD that walks through the teaching part, and two CDs playing the 100 tunes.IF YOU ARE NOT VERY VERY FAMILIAR WITH IRISH MUSIC, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU GET THE ACCOMPANYING CDS.I cannot tell if these CDs are also available on Amazon...it looks to me like only the book tutorial is offered.
Why is this important?One of the unique things about irish folk music is that unlike classical music, the basic irish tune is almost never played as written...the soul of irish music and whistle music is how you embellish and customize the tune to your own style.In her written tutorial, Cotter covers how to play cuts, rolls, and other ornaments, but you have to HEAR it played to really understand and learn how to play this music.
So, to sum up, this is a great learning tutorial when you get the CD's too.I've heard that L.E. McCullough's Irish Whistle tutorial is also very good, and also comes with a bunch of good session tunes.Im going to get McCullough's next, since his list of session tunes seems to be the "bible" that a lot of players use and refer to during pub sessions.

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Product Description:
A complete method for the Irish tin whistle with an appendix of 100 choice Irish airs and dance tunes.

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Alternative Strings - The New Curriculum Book/CD (Softcover) (Amadeus) Review

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(More customer reviews)Written by expert music teacher Julie Lyonn Lieberman, whose programs have aired on National Public Radio, Alternative Strings: The New Curriculum is a resource book especially for stringed instrument music teachers that emphasizes learning to play popular contemporary music as well as the great classics. Chapters address the nuances of fiddle, blues, jazz, pop, and world styles for strings, and an accompanying audio CD demonstrates the work of a wide variety of string players and clinicians. An excellent supplement to the music instruction or even self-instruction of any string player.

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Product Description:
Let's keep our string programs vital, contemporary, and thriving! Alternative Strings: The New Curriculum is the first resource book in the world to offer a comprehensive guide to string educators wishing to step into twenty-first-century inclusive string pedagogy. The "Dear Abby" for string players, Julie Lyonn Lieberman offers detailed descriptions of over two dozen fiddle, blues, jazz, pop, and world styles; bountiful support materials; a massive discography; musical examples; photographs; and audio from master players and clinicians, far exceeding the scope of other books in the field.
About the Audio CDSome of todayÂ's top alternative string players and clinicians demonstrate rock, jazz, and fiddle styles, present innovative ideas for teaching new generations of string players, and more:
1. Howard Armstrong: My first fiddle2. Geoffrey Fitzhugh Perry: Zydeco Rock3. Daryl Silberman: Through Contemporary to Classical and Back4. Ed Caner: Rock Basics5. Anthony Barnett: Stuff Smith plays "Body and Soul"6. Mark Wood: Evolution, Rock, and Musicianship7. Jesus Florido: Latin and Beyond8. Randy Sabien: Jazz Strings: A Life Inspiration9. Leanne Darling: Arabic Strings10. Bob Phillips: Fiddling in the Schools11. Julianna Waller: Developing Diversity12. Martin Norgaard: Jazz String Pedagogy13. Richard Greene: Moving Forward14. Martha Mooke: Breaking the Sound Barrier15. Claude Williams: Reminiscences 16. Julie Lyonn Lieberman: "Fiddle, Sing," excerpt from Mixing America

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Banjo Pickers Fake Book Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is 216 pages of banjo tunes arranged for three-finger and clawhammer players. It includes a cross-reference of alternate titles and a 24 page general discography, as well as a discussion of the types of tunesincluded.There is also a short discussion of technical topics such asmodes (very appropriate for traditional music) and how to readtablature.
This book is a lot like a Grainger's collection of fiddletunes for flatpickers.Unlike Grainger's, which only provides enoughtablature to spell out the melody for the A part and the B part, The BanjoPicker's Fakebook takes you through one whole iteration of each tunecomplete with first and second endings. Also like Grainger's, this is notan instruction book.It leaves both the right and left hand fingeringsentirely up to the reader.For example, if you are a strictly a bluegrassplayer, the clawhammer arrangements will not be useful to you.
Although the discography could be used to collect aural examples of thetunes, a CD or a set of tapes would have been a welcome addition.Music isan aural art, and it is impossible to convey the full musical sense intablature or in standard musical notation alone.
If you are looking for alot of tunes, thoughtfully arranged in a single volume, I highly recommendThe Banjo Picker's Fakebook. If the tune can't be found in this book,chances are no one eles knows it either, so you could go ahead and playanything that fit.

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Product Description:
This ultimate sourcebook for the banjo player contains over 230 jigs, reels, rags, hornpipes, and breakdowns from all major traditional instrumental styles. Includes special introductory materials on regional styles, interpretation, and bluegrass techniques. Discography.

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Irish Whistle Tune Book (Penny & Tin Whistle) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you only want to buy one book of tinwhistle tunes, this wouldn't be a bad way to go.About half of the 34 tunes are ballads and airs, and the other half are dance tunes such as jigs, reels, polkas, hornpipes and mazurkas. Most of the tunes are quite distinctive and catchy. They are also in an informal, easier to more difficult order. The companion CD (available from 'Sheet Music Plus') has all the songs, played on whistle & low whistle, flute and guitar. I don't have the tutor by the same author, but I suspect that combined with this book one could become well steeped in Celtic whistling and music.

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Product Description:
Forty-two of the finest old Irish Dance Tunes, Song Airs and O'Carolan pieces in easy setting and easy traditional keys (D, G & A). Suitable for beginners on most traditional instruments.

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Music Theory and Arranging Techniques for Folk Harps Review

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(More customer reviews)Music Theory and Arranging Techniques for Folk Harps by Sylvia Woods.
If you ever had to take a class in music theory in school maybe you are more fortunate than I in that and you can remember and apply some of what youlearned. For the rest of you Ihighly recommendbuying this book ofSylvia's titled; Music Theory and Arranging Techniques for Folk Harps.Written before the "..... for Dummies" series became so popular,this book takes you easily and with lots of examples and illustrations frommajor chords to transposing... and everywhere in between! In theintroduction Sylvia urges the reader to " Have fun with this book. Just goat your own pace, and take it step by step." Presenting concepts and theorystep-by-step is another thing Sylvia does best!!!

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This book teaches harpers step-by-step the music theory and techniques they need to make their own arrangements.Subjects covered include chords, inversions, keys, accompaniment patterns, transposing, and much more.The book gives plenty of examples and includes more than 90 pieces on which the students can practice their newly gained skills as they progress through the book.Spiral-bound.

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Celtic Thunder (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am thrilled to get my hands on this songbook!I already own the DVD and both CDs, and have seen "the lads" twice during their first US tour.I am looking forward to future tours and additional recordings to add to my collection.

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Not a group but a show, Celtic Thunder is a collection of traditional and contemporary Celtic music at its finest. Featuring five male vocalists, the show was first staged in Dublin of August 2007, and has since been a mainstay on PBS stations. Our songbook includes 18 tunes arranged by Phil Coulter: Caledonia * Come by the Hills * Heartland * Ireland's Call * The Island * Lauren and I * The Mountains of Mourne * Remember Me * Steal Away * and more.

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The Fiddler's Fakebook Review

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(More customer reviews)Printed in 1983, the Fakebook remains the undisputed champion of music references for fiddlers, and it's aided a fair number of other non-fiddlers as well.
Inside its broad covers you'll find nearly 500 tunes from the various fiddle traditions. Jigs, reels, hornpipes, rags and breakdowns, each clearly labeled for origins (Irish, bluegrass, French-Canadian, old-time, etc.) and including a short list of recordings where the tune can be heard. Just flip it open randomly for a taste of its contents, and imagine the sound of tunes like "Haste to the Wedding," "Leather Britches," "The Munster Buttermilk," "Drowsy Maggie," "The Wind That Shakes the Barley," "Hanged Man's Reel" and "Great Big Taters in Sandy Land."
Eight pages of textbook materials -- music theory, history and culture, style and genre -- give a wonderfully brief overview of the things you'd like to know without loading the book down with endless information which, frankly, can get in the way of the tunes and make it too bulky for carrying. Better still, the book is held together by a sturdy plastic binding which allows you to plop it down on your music stand with ease. There's nothing so frustrating as a music book with tight bindings which make it impossible to play straight from the page.

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Product Description:
Contains nearly 500 jigs, reels, rags, and hornpipes from all the major fiddling traditions. Special introductory materials on regional styles, bowing, and ornamentation. Includes an extensive discography.

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