Complete Irish Tin Whistle Kindle Edition

I just got this book today. I'm a near intermediate level whistler and an advanced fiddler. Right away I enjoyed the lovely tunes...on my fiddle. I found them a little tough on the whistle. Even though this book goes through an intro-to-whistle section, and does a very nice job of distinguishing different types of jigs and ornaments, it then does a drastic leap to what are most definitely intermediate and advanced tunes. In fact, trying to read some of the pieces posed a challenge for me on the fiddle, and I am a seasoned session player and I definitely know my way around trad tunes. I have also read music all my life (and for the last 15 years have read every manner of Celtic and Old-Time music) so I wasn't expecting the stumbling block. Maybe it was all the slurs, ornaments, dotted 8ths and 16ths (where they choose ornaments for you), that kept the pages looking a bit busy for me.If you are a beginner I definitely do not recommend this is as your first book. For first-timers with some reading skills I recommend Bill Och's Clark Tin Whistle Book and I seem to remember that to the "Fun with Tin Whistle" one is good too. Both are Mel Bay. If you are flat-out new to music and reading then even adults should start with "Tinwhistle for Beginner" books and children's whistle books. Starting with Twinkle and Mary and Hot Cross Buns is a good thing; you want tune familiarity to learn note association with reading and finger placement. Get your reading to a comfortable place.If you are fairly skilled and your trad knowledge base is dominated by pub tunes (stuff like Whiskey In the Jar, Spanish Lady, Spancill Hill, Cockles and Mussels, Irish Washerwoman etc) and you are looking for a broader repertoire with more obscure tunes, this is your book. The tunes are great. They did a nice job with tune selection and right away I was happy to have new tunes to fall in love with that are in my genre, even if for now I'm fiddling them more than whistling them.The reason this book didn't get 5 stars is not because of its quality, which is very good. It has more to do with the confusion of introducing the instrument and then proceeding to intermediate-advanced material. If it had just skipped the intro-to-whistle stuff and gone straight into a "here are continuing Irish Whistle tunes for the more advanced player" kinda thing, I think it may prevent some strife in a newbie's attempt to tackle it.I love the Mally Session Tune books because it gives notes and chords and doesn't target an instrument. No pages of introduction; it just kicks right off. It's just a series that assumes you know how to play your instrument/read music and will find your way easily enough. (Also I do love that there are virtually no ornaments; leaving them out of written music actually helps me put them IN as I'm moved to do so). I would treat this book in the same manner; get it if you know what you're doing. I almost feel like this book has a better angle as an archive; tunes the authors loved so well they put it in book-and-note form teaching form. I'd almost rather they leave out (most of) the ornaments and just present the tunes.Hope this helps!

Background: I have a lot of musical training, vocal as well as many of the woodwinds, mainly clarinet.While picking up and playing a tin whistle may seem "easy" for a musician, playing it correctly and authentically is another story, and this book provides just that, especially in that it explains the ornamentation techniques that give the music played on the Tin Whistle its unique character, with the slides, cuts, etc.In addition, the authors do a great job explaining various types of Irish Music (jigs, reels, hornpipes, etc.), and the book has a great selection of songs. The fingering charts are very helpful for learning the notes and the ornaments.I'd give the book 5 stars, but I am disappointed that the publisher enclosed the wrong CD: it has guitar music instead of the Tin Whistle contents listed in the book. The label on the CD seems correct, but I listened to it and it's all guitar, and the track info detected by iTunes shows it's definitely the wrong music. Hopefully Mel Bay will send me the right CD.PROS: good selection and variety of songs; music theory (as needed for such a book), types of whistles, ornamentation, styles all explained well, nice epilogueCONS: wrong CD enclosed

It is a good break down on how to play the whistle, but for those that do not know how to read sheet music. It may be a little hard to understand.

It's a good book, you do need to be able to read music and it teaches the basics of ornamentation. Not all the tunes in the book are on the CD which is a little disappointing that's why I only gave it 4stars, but now you can go onto You tube and get the tunes there from other players so it's not so bad.The notation is clear and well set out and generally you get the basic music score first and then the more complicated one with ornaments on the opposite page which is a good idea.If you don't read music then it isn't for you, if you do then it's a good addition to your collection. Just keep whistling.

Manuale esaustivo e chiaro, se si conosce l'inglese, che dimostra che suonare decentemente il tin whistle... è difficile!!! Sapere leggere la musica aiuta molto ad accelerare i tempi di apprendimento. Gli esempi sono chiari e il CD, sebbene abbia una track list ordinata in base a un criterio misterioso, è molto utile per capire dove si deve arrivare. Consigliato a tutti, apprendisti ed esperti (contiene peraltro un gran numero di pezzi annotati con i diversi abbellimenti e legature).