Thistle and Minuet: 16 Easy Pieces from Scottish Baroque (Hal Leonard Corp.) Review

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(More customer reviews)Scottish musicologist David Johnson has selected and edited a lovely play-along collection of 18th-century Scottish music.Few of the tunes have previously been available in modern editions.

The book is described as "16 Easy Pieces from the Scottish Baroque for Violin (Flute or Oboe) and Keyboard, and optional Cello (or Bassoon)." In fact, the lead lines of most of the tunes can be played by any instrument with a 2-octave range (D next to middle C, and up), including recorders in C, mandolin, and clarinet.

The accompanying CD includes complete performances of the entire set, played by harpsichordist Jeremy Barlow,I Scottish fiddler Bonnie Rideout, flutist Jadwiga Kotnowska, and cellist Kevin McCrae.A second set of tracks on the CD offer just the harpsichord and cello accompaniments.The performances are clear, accurate, and stylish.

I am a professional pianist and a dedicated amateur recorder player.It is a treat to play tenor recorder along with these fine musicians.A few tunes are played faster than I can play, but we can all use a challenge, can't we?

The editing, typesetting, and layout are clear and precise.No fingerings are given, and bowing is shown for only one tune.There are no instructions on interpreting the ornaments. The keyboard parts are given in standard modern layout of treble-and-bass clefs, with no figured bass. The keyboard realizations are generally quite simple and direct -- effective and entirely musical. Part books for lead instrument and cello are included. Four selections include parts for a second instrument, mostly playing lower harmonies. Two selections include notation for the octave shifts required, depending upon whether the lead instrument is violin or flute.

"Thistle & Minuet" is part of a series called "Baroque Around the World," which includes collections of 18th-century music from France, Sweden, Italy, Ireland, and England, as well as a second volume of Scottish music.I have previously reviewed English Airs and Dances: 16 Easy to Intermediate Pieces from 18th-Century England Violin (Flute or Oboe) and Keyboard (Baroque Around the World Series), which I enjoy nearly as much as "Thistle & Minuet."I look forward to the other books in this outstanding series. -- Hoyle Osborne

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Product Description:
A collection of attractive pieces for flexible ensemble with keyboard accompaniment for use in the home, in schools and music centres. Violin, flute or oboe and keyboard with opt. cello or bassoon. Ideal for informal music-making, student and professional performance. CD with listening and play-along tracks, performed by outstanding musicians: Bonnie Rideout (fiddle), Jadwiga Kotnowska (flute), Kevin McCrae (cello) and Jeremy Barlow (harpsichord).

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The Disney Collection: Book/Instrument Pack (Recorder Fun!) Review

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(More customer reviews)This was the best Christmas purchase of the year for my 4-year-old little girl.The music she plays is dreadful, but she absolutely loves it and wants to take it everywhere.The songbook is difficult and I don't think young kids would be able to comprehend it, nor reach the recorder notes with their tiny hands, but the recorder itself has provided hours of (deafening) entertainment.

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Colors may vary

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Songs for Kids (Book & Recorder) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this for my 8 year old daughter.It was great for the first few pages, then it just got extremely hard, and she put it down.Playing the recorder was one of the things she most looked forward to in her homeschooling this year, and this book was a huge let down.

One of the biggest problems was that the second song in it, "Aura Lee," was totally unfamiliar to us.It is tough for a kid, just learning how to make music, to try and play something when she doesn't know if she is playing correctly because she's never heard it!In addition, you really can't advance until you have mastered Aura Lee!

If she could get past this, it might be good, but since she never will, I can not give it a good rating.

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Product Description:
14 songs, including: London Bridge * This Old Man * Take Me Out To The Ball Game * and more. Also includes a high-quality recorder and easy-to-follow instructions.

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English Airs and Dances: 16 Easy to Intermediate Pieces from 18th-Century England Violin (Flute or Oboe) and Keyboard (Baroque Around the World Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)A master class in playing 18th-century English music

Jeremy Barlow is a superb performer and scholar of early music.He has been making excellent recordings under the name of The Broadside Band since the 1980s.

Barlow and others have collaborated on a series of music books with CDs called "Baroque Around the World."Barlow edited the volume "English Airs & Dances," playing (digital) harpsichord on the CD, accompanying violinist Sharon Lindo, flautist Jinnifer Stinton, and cellist Nick Stringfellow.

The book is described as "16 Easy to Intermediate Pieces for Violin (Flute or Oboe) and Keyboard, and optional Cello (Bassoon)."In fact, the lead lines of most of the tunes can be played by any instrument with a 2-octave range (D next to middle C, and up), including recorders in C, mandolin, and clarinet.

Five of the tunes have high notes that may challenge beginning and amateur violinists and recorder players.Numbers 9 and 11 have high Ds, numbers 10 and 14 have high Es, and number 16, which is in the key of E-flat, has high E-flats.Most of the tunes are in the keys of C, G, and D (and relative minors), keys which are comfortable on violin, flute, and soprano and tenor recorders.

The selections are lovely, interesting, and rare.Many are dance tunes from Playford and Walsh collections.There are a few sonata movements, as well.John Dowland is the only well-known composer represented.Next best-known is Thomas Arne, hardly a household name.

The editing, typesetting, and layout are clear and precise (the only error I've found is the placement of the endings of number 13 in the full score).No fingerings or bowing marks are included, nor are there any instructions on interpreting the ornaments.The keyboard parts are given in standard modern layout of treble-and-bass clefs, with no figured bass.The keyboard realizations are generally quite simple and direct -- effective and entirely musical.Part books for lead instrument and cello are included.Three selections include parts for a second instrument, mostly playing lower harmonies.Two selections include notation for the octave shifts required, depending upon whether the lead instrument is violin or flute.

The performances on the CDs are clear, charming, and stylish.Ornaments are played fairly simply and comprehensibly.Small, stylistically correct melodic variations are introduced.Each tune is played just once, with repeats.

The CD includes complete performances of all the tunes, with violin and/or flute accompanied by harpsichord and cello, and a complete second set of tracks with harpsichord only.One might wish the second set of tracks had included the cello, so that someone playing the lead part could have the full sound of the accompaniment.

Most professional players of early music tune to a lower pitch than the modern standard of A=440 when performing music of the 18th century, making it impossible for musicians whose recorders are tuned to modern pitch to play along.The recordings for this collection were made to modern pitch.

Barlow and the publisher chose to leave discussions of stylistic matters such as ornamentation, variation, phrasing, and bowing for the student to seek out elsewhere.It would have been helpful to include a few suggested sources for that kind of information.A great deal of that kind of information is conveyed aurally through the recorded performances.

I am a professional pianist and my work is mostly in American popular music styles.I have played recorders and studied early music as a dedicated amateur since I was a child.I am quite used to learning music "by ear."I have thoroughly enjoyed playing the 11 selections (the ones without the highest notes) on tenor recorder along with the CD.Because I am studying the phrasing, ornamentation, and variations, I have played along only with the complete tracks, and have not yet tried playing with the solo harpsichord tracks.I find that the tempi on the recordings tend to be just brisk enough to challenge me, but not impossibly fast.I can well imagine that less-skilled players might wish for slower recordings.I recommend to them the shareware program called The Amazing Slowdowner.

"English Airs & Dances" is beautifully conceived and executed.I look forward to the other volumes in the "Baroque Around the World" series. -- Hoyle Osborne

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Product Description:
The collection includes country dances, Cheshire rounds, hornpipes, and pantomime tunes, plus examples of the march, minuet, siciliana, gavotte, and jig. Featured composers include Arne, Earl of Abingdon, Hebden, Holcombe, Linley, Roseingrave, Stanley, Thackray.

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The Sound of Music: Book/Instrument Pack (Recorder Fun) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Sound of Music book and recorder set is a good beginning book. My sons have enjoyed learning the recorder and have also used the book for their other instruments (guitar and lapharp).

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Product Description:
7 songs, including: Climb EvÕry Mountain * Do-Re-Mi * My Favorite Things * and more. Also includes a high-quality recorder and easy-to-follow instructions.

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Early Music For Recorder De-Smet Review

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(More customer reviews)The back cover description of this booklet, an "outstanding collection of recorder solos" really gets it right. It is an outstanding collection of early music for the soprano recorder, by far the best I've seen in fact.

It is excellent value for your money. It consists of 47 clearly printed tunes, one of which is arranged as a duet (Edi Beo) and one as a 4-part round (Sumer is icumen in). It also includes guitar chords for about 40 of these. The selections range from the 10th to the 17th century, by such composers as Machaut, Dowland, Byrd, Susato, Schop, Campion, Cornish, Gervaise, Neithart von Reuenthal and Holborne, to name a few, plus lots of anon.

The complete list of pieces included is: All in the Garden Green, Belle Qui Tiens Ma Vie, Bergamasca, Blame Not my Lute, Blow Thy Horn Hunter, Branle de l'official, Branle No.1, Branle No. 2, Branle de Bourgogne, The Carman's Whistle, Courante, Douce Dame Jolie, Danse Royale, The Earl of Salisbury's Pavan, Edi Beo, Fortune my Foe, Greensleeves, Green Groweth the Holly, How Should I your true love know?, The Honie-Suckle, If My Complaints, The King of Denmark Galliard, Matona mia cara, Minuet (x3), Move Now with Measured Sound, Never Weather-Beaten Sail, Now is the Month of Maying, Now, oh now my needs must part, Narrenaufzug, O Admirabile Veneris Ydolum, The Oil of Barley, Pastime with Good Company, Parson's Farewell, Quant je suis mis, Ronde, Saltarello, The Sick Tune, The Silver Swan, Sumer is icumen in, Tourdion, Tristan's Lament, When Phoebus first did Daphne Love, When That I was and a Little Tiny Boy, The Willow Song, Winder Wie Ist.

The back cover describes them as "easy to play" and certainly they all seem to be in the range of diligent advanced beginners, once they've mastered most of the notes on a descant/soprano recorder. For me, several of the pieces only came alive once I heard them played by some professional musicians. I think it is possible a beginner might overlook the potential of some of the pieces in this book if he were working through this book on his own. And "easy to play" should be qualified by "provided you are patient, ready to deal with some unusual time signatures (3/2) and prepared to practice lots, particularly some pretty hairy-looking 16th note runs in such songs as "Tristan's Lament"".

The book lacks an introduction and contains virtually nothing about the songs, and no words to them either.
The book is somewhat progressive in form, starting with 3 and 4 liners of mostly quarter and eighth notes, but progressing to full pagers and more of 16th notes by the end. It doesn't waste space, but doesn't crowd either.

There is not much overlap between this book and other recorder collections. Perhaps about a half dozen or so of its songs (for example Greensleeves, Pastime with Good company, Sumer is icumen in) can be found in other widely available recorder collections.

I've had this book for about 10 years and it continues to surprise and impress. There are several great Dowland pieces, several early music classics (Greensleeves, Sumer is icumen in, Pastime with Good Company, Now is the Month of Maying, The Parson's Farewell and a rocking duet version of Edi Beo), and many less well-known but beautiful pieces such as Blow Thy Horn Hunter, Fortune my Foe, How Should I Your True Love Know, Never Weather-Beaten Sail, The Sick Tune, When That I was and a Little Tiny Boy, The Willow Song, Winder Wie ist, The Oil of Barley, Tristan's Lament, and Narrenaufzug). It is clearly the product of a lot of careful selection by someone with a vast knowledge of the early music repertoire, a great ear for great tunes, and a real gift for arranging them in a beginner-friendly form.

The only hazard to this book is that some of the pieces sound so nice an advanced beginner might start thinking he's better than he really is.And if you ever get a chance to play these pieces with some professional or semi-professional musicians, go for it, as in the right hands a couple of guitars, a cello, and a couple of violins can do incredible things with this book.

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Product Description:
This outstanding collection of recorder solos spans the years from the 10th to the 16th century. Contains 47 famous airs and dances including The King Of Denmark Galliard and The Willow Song. They are easy to play and are suitable for class use as well as home enjoyment.

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Playing the Recorder - Alto (Recorder Method) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a good method book for the Alto recorder. It has a large assortment of music from many periods and teaches some of the fundamentals of music theory well. My only gripe was that even in the beginning most of the music was unfamiliar, which made it harder for me to learn to read music. Also, the fingering guide is interspersed throughout the book and there is no one chart to which I could refer. I suppose that it is easy enough to print a chart out on the internet, but including a fingering chart would have been nice.

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An elementary method with a large collection of easy-to-play pieces by Florence White and Anni Bergman.

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Pokemon 2.B.A. Master: Recorder Fun! Pack Review

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(More customer reviews)These books are a great way for kids (and even adults of all ages) to learn how to play the recorder. It's easier than a flute but just as entertaining. You can learn simple songs in no time then as you get more advanced you can work on more difficult music.

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Product Description:
Kids will love this fantastic book/instrument pack! It includes our durable, high-quality recorder, plus easy arrangements of seven songs from this super hot show featuring the adorable pocket monsters: 2.B.A. Master ¥ PokŽmon Theme ¥ PokŽRAP ¥ The Time Has Come (PikachuÕs Goodbye) ¥ Together Forever ¥ What Kind of PokŽmon Are You? ¥ You Can Do It (If You Really Try). Includes complete instructions and a fingering chart in our famous E-Z Play¨ notation.

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Recorder Fun! Teach Yourself the Easy Way! Review

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(More customer reviews)This book quickly gets the reader to play simple but imprssive enough music to get this person confident in one's abilities and interested enough to continue.
It also does a good job in easing a beginner into reading basic musical notation by starting with a more simply and intuitive version of it.
My only complaint is that the difficulty of the exersize passages picks up very sharply about half way through with no excersizes suggested that will get one's skill up to par. Playing earlier passages over and over simply does not do it. As a result, I had to look for the excersize information elsewhere.

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Product Description:
This book/CD pack will have you playing 40 great songs on recorder in no time! The book includes all the information you will need to get started, plus an easy-to-use finger chart, and the demonstration/play-along CD features professional accompaniments to make you sound like a pro! Songs include: All Through The Night * Amazing Grace * Carnival Of Venice * Cockles And Mussels * The Coventry Carol * La Cucaracha * A Mozart Melody * Simple Gifts * Zum Gali, Gali * more.

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Basic Recorder Lessons: Omnibus Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)I am about to start teaching adult recorder classes and have looked through many instructions books.This is the best that I have found so far for the adult student. Actually, this omnibus edition is a compilation of the three books in the series (for C instruments), along with supplementary tunes--so it is especially useful for a teacher. (At least 2 levels of the student books can be purchased individually for less of an initial cost.)
Features that I especially appreciate are:
--the larger than typical music which makes for very easy reading (along with very clear and attractive layout)
--the duets for student and teacher at the beginning which allow the students to start right off making real music
--the very well-thought-out pedagogy that would be more attractive to adults than are many others
--the wide variety and high quality of the pieces selected.
I recommend this book highly and am only disappointed that there does not seem to be an equivalent book for the F instruments.

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An exceptionally clear and easy modular approach to playing the recorder and understanding music. Designed to be used either in a student/teacher situation or by students on their own. There are round, solos, duets; country dances, playing tips and more!

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The Kid's Collection - Recorder Fun! 3-Book Bonus Pack Review

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(More customer reviews)I was pleasantly surprised by this set of books after not finding anything for kids at the local music store.The fingering charts are good, and the format is excellent for teaching children to read music.Many of the songs are from kids morning shows, which gets them excited to learn.A recorder was included.

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Product Description:
Easy arrangements of over 50 great songs, including: Dora the Explorer Theme Song, The Farmer in the Dell, London Bridge, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Oh! Susanna, SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song, This Old Man, and many more.

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Harry Potter For Recorder (Recorder & Book) (Music Is Fun) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a fun product for students of the recorder. The music is easy to play and gives a nice review at the beginning. Our recorder is red which my son loves! There are also pictures from the movies inside the book. He is currently taking recorder in school and this is a fun way for him to practice!

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Product Description:
Book & Recorder. Written for easy recorder, this book and recorder pack gives you everything you need to start playing today! The book features big, easy-to-read notes, a beginner's guide to playing the recorder, and a clear, simple introduction to reading music. Also includes: Parts of the Recorder, Care of the Recorder, Holding & Playing The Recorder; a review on "notes", "rests", "treble clefs" and a complete fingering chart.Seven themes from the first four Harry Potter movies are included. Titles: Double Trouble * Fawkes the Phoenix * Harry's Wondrous World * Hedwig's Theme * Hogwarts Forever! * Hogwarts' March * Nimbus 2000. Also includes photos.

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Baroque And Folk Tunes For Recorder: An Unusual Collection of Music Arranged for the Recorder, containing over Fifty Pieces from Over 300 Years of Music Review

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(More customer reviews)At first glance, some might find the intro to this recorder collection rather offputting, The author (of the introduction) describes most of the recorder players he knows as defeatist, lacking in motivation, and the real reason why the recorder is often seen as the "Rodney Dangerfield" of instruments. But read more closely it is clear he is trying to defend the recorder and encourage players to stick to their guns, or at least their fipples.

This 64-page collection contains 57 solo pieces and an illustration of a bird. All seem arranged for the soprano (or tenor) and also include chords for guitar. Some could be played on the alto and one or two (such as the Corrente) might even sound better that way, given what it would take to hit its high notes on a soprano. Most of the pieces are classical. There is also some folk or traditional and even some ragtime.

Most of the pieces are full-page songs, well within the range of a diligent, advanced beginner who's mastered most notes. The collection bills itself as "unusual", and that's fair insofar as most of its pieces do not seem to appear in other recorder collections, and because it is such an eclectic mix. There's lots of good stuff here. Several pieces bring out the recorder at its most soulful (or most melancholy). I have found the arrangements of Muffat's Siciliana, Pergolesi's Siciliana, and Mozart's Andante Graziosa particularly beautiful, and there are also enjoyable arrangements of Borodin's Polovtsian Dance, "Those were the Days" and Joplin's "The Entertainer", although my music teacher performed a fair amount of surgery on that last piece. Overall, the author seems to have broad musical tastes, a very good ear for music that sounds well on the recorder, and a knack for making it beginner-friendly.

A couple of things could have been done better. The binding on my copy was poor and it fell apart almost immediately. The binding doesn't seem designed to accommodate what presumably will be this booklet's primary function - being laid flat on a music stand. There's no note chart either, which would have been handy (at least handier than that bird picture) for players suddenly stumped for a note on some far-off mountain top or desert without a method book at hand, especially when the book is otherwise so well suited to advanced beginners. There's almost nothing about the pieces in the booklet.

These shortcomings do not outweigh this book's great value as a rich collection of very carefully chosen, beautiful recorder pieces. Strongly recommended.

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A wonderful selection of pieces arranged for the recorder that will delight players at any level. Includes music by Bach, Purcell, Haydn, Brahms, Shostakovich, Joplin, and a variety of folk sources.

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