New Low Whistle Book - short review

[stimps]

Hi all!

I got the Low Whistle book recently, the one by Steafan Hannigan & David Ledsam (ISBN 0 9 525305 1 1), and I've got to say it's great. Comes with a CD (or at least mine did), and I'm having a lot of success with it. Perhaps something about the style of the book meshes with my particular learning style (combining ear with reading), but I'm suddenly pouncing forward in progress compared to the past couple months.

It concentrates on the low whistle and the interesting challenges it presents, but would also be really useful for soprano whistles -- in fact, I wish I'd had it around a year ago when I started learning, as it's more slanted towards rank beginners who need things spelled out a lot (including scales, how and why ornamentation happens). It also has a wide array of tunes ranging from very beginnerly to pretty dern complicated near the end.

There's also a history of the low whistle at the back, and... Chiff & Fipple is mentioned in the finding whistles/makers section, as well as the bibliography! Dale is so famous.

Anyhoo, I recommend this book to anyone who's just starting out on the low whistles, or any whistle for that matter. Even some intermediate people might enjoy it, take a look if you get a chance.

happy tootling!

stimps

[andy]

Just bought the book myself. Great book, easy to follow, clear illustrations, and some really nice songs to play, accompanying CD is also a great feature.

Great for the beginner, although a little disappointed at the minute Vibrato section!
Recommend to any beginning low D whistle player, but perhaps not to the intermediate and above.

Andy

[garycrosby]

stimps, thanks for the review! It sounds like a good book for me. I see you are from British Columbia - did you find your copy of the book in Canada or did you order it from someplace in the US?

[jmssmh]

I found the book OK but not great. I was also disappointed that the CD only covers the instruction part of the book and the first five tunes in the tune section. The book says that there is another CD for the rest of the tunes but I have not seen that available anywhere yet.

Joe

[stimps]

On 2001-08-23 11:30, garycrosby wrote:
stimps, thanks for the review! It sounds like a good book for me. I see you are from British Columbia - did you find your copy of the book in Canada or did you order it from someplace in the US?

Hi gary!

I got it at Prussin Music, a music store right near where I live. They order in just about anything that I bug them about because I'm addicted to their stock (she said, pointing to her tacoma guitar, acoustic bass, and mandolin). I don't know if they do mail order, but you could always call and ask! They're at... erm, lemme get the phone book... 3607 W. Broadway, Vancouver 1-800-668-4122. They're really wonderful people there.

take care!

stimps

[stimps]

p.s. to gary: I found out about it at the whistle shop (www.whistleshop.com), if that's any help to you too. I've ordered a lot of stuff from them and had the best service ever (yay thom!).

[NicksterNM]

My quibble is (If we are talking about the same book, I forget the authors, but it is called The Low Whistle Book, and has instruction, tunes pictures of Low Whistle "All Stars") Is that it is a small book, size wise, not nec in # of pages.
I find it dufficult to read the music.

[NicoMoreno]

Yeah, I bought the Low Whistle Book in Toronto, and for the money i paid, I am really disappointed. The instruction is great, but there aren't nearly enough tunes to get started with...

Oh well, it did help me with the roles!

Nico

[StevePower]

'Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland' is ideally suited (but not originally intended) as a follow-on tune book for the Low D, once you've mastered the basics.

So far, there are very few, if any, dedicated tune books for this instrument. (where's the icon for light-bulb on this sytem - I have an idea

Steve Power