The Great Big Book Of Children's Songs (Big Note Songbook) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a good selection of songs. Some of the songs are traditional, but many are more recent songs from musicals, TV and movies. I remember a lot of these songs from watching Sesame Street growing up. The accompaniment varies in difficulty. The book is hard to keep open on a music stand.

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Product Description:
76 classics for kids, including: ABC-DEF-GHI * Beauty and the Beast * Bein' Green * The Brady Bunch * "C" Is for Cookie * The Candy Man * Casper the Friendly Ghost * Everything Is Beautiful * I'm Popeye the Sailor Man * Kum Ba Yah * Let's Go Fly a Kite * The Marvelous Toy * Puff the Magic Dragon * Rubber Duckie * A Spoonful of Sugar * Take Me Out to the Ballgame * Under the Sea * Won't You Be My Neighbor? * and more.

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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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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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Celtic Dreams: 18 Irish Folk Songs (Easy Piano Songbook) Review

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(More customer reviews)Great collection. Easily adaptable to other intruments. Would have prefered to have the lyrics with the music rather than at the end.

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Product Description:
18 traditional Irish tunes made lush, yet easy to play: Bendemeer's Stream * The Croppy Boy * Danny Boy * Down by the Salley Gardens * The Galway Piper * Garryowen * The Irish Washerwoman * Kitty of Coleraine * The Lark in the Clear Air * Let Erin Remember the Days of Old * Molly Brannigan * Molly Malone (Cockles and Mussels) * The Parting Glass * The Rising of the Moon * Rory O'Moore * 'Tis the Last Rose of Summer * The Wearing of the Green * The Wild Rover. Includes a special section with complete lyrics for each song.

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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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Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook (Music Pro Guides) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am teaching myself acoustic bass and found this book, in combination with the CD's -- available separately -- to be a great learning tool. The book and the CDs aren't strictly designed as a package, but there is probably about 80% overlap between the songs on the CDs and those in this volume. The performances on the CDs are very good, by the way. Anyhow, the combination provides many hours of useful and enjoyable practice, especially if you are almost ready to play along with others.

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This collection features over 100 all-time folk favorites in the spirit of the school it is named for. The Old Town School of Folk Music opened its doors in December 1957 to teach "good folk music," and its students learn such tunes as: Bill Bailey * Buffalo Gals * City of New Orleans * Cripple Creek * Erie Canal * House of the Rising Sun * Just a Closer Walk with Thee * Oh Susanah * Old Time Religion * Shine on Harvest Moon * Wildwood Flower * and more. Also includes a nice introduction, photos of past students, and provides how-tos on reading tablature, tuning a guitar, fingerpicking, and more.

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Golden Encyclopedia Of Folk Music (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook) Review

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(More customer reviews)Great folk song collection.Large print, music and lyrics are very easy to read.Also, the melody lines are relatively simple, good for beginner to intermediate musicians.

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Product Description:
A giant collection of more than 180 classic folk songs including songs of true love, unrequited and false love, the domestic scene, spirituals, ramblers and gamblers, workers, songs of the west, jolly reunions, international songs and singing the blues.

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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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