Best self-instruction book(s)?

[MichaelRS]

I know that an in-person instructor is the ideal. But the ideal aside for the moment....

What publication(s) would you recommend as a, very basic, simple, self-instruction book for the beginner on the Irish flute?

[Julia Delaney]

I would recommend that you not learn anything from a book. Instead, invest in The Amazing Slowdowner ($45) and listen carefully to good fluters, playing slowly, so that you can learn from real people playing real music -- not dots on a page.
But if you must, then I'd recommend June McCormack's Flute Tutor: http://www.draiochtmusic.com/fliuit

A comprehensive Irish Traditional Flute Tutor
• With 2 Companion CDs (76 tracks in total)
• Detailed Ornamentation Exercises from Beginner to Advanced Stages
• Ornaments covered include Cuts, Long Rolls, Short Rolls, Elongated Cuts, Bounces, D crans, Short cran on high D and DED Cuts
• There are 64 tunes complete with breathing and ornamentation guides

It's my favorite, anyway, if you have to go this route. Everybody will now list every possible flute tutor, but especially for a beginner, this is the best. Second best is Fintan Vallely's Timber: The Flute Tutor -- available on eBay for about $15.

[an seanduine]

June has two volumes. Both Excellent. But, I would also urge you to get a slow-downer program as well. The Amazing Slow Downer is excellent, but you can download BestPractice for free, and it has looping, and pitch adjustment just like the high priced spread.
June doesn't play some of the more advanced pieces slowly, and the software gives you a chance to see where she actually adds more than shows in the transcriptions. . . .
And will stand you in good stead as you branch out and learn by ear from other sources. to "Julia's" recommendation.

Bob

[rama]

i third julia's recommendations. june and fintan are excellent tutors and superb exponents of traditional style

[plunk111]

There are many old threads on this topic, but I'll mention it again. Grey Larsen's "The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle" is my flute bible. It comes with two CDs, too...

Pat

[Julia Delaney]

Grey Larsen's "The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle"


(Never trust a man with a stupid hat.)

[Liney Bear]

When I started ITM in the mid-nineties, I got by beautifully with Hammy's book and Vallely's tutor.

Never got the slow downer, but I'd expect it to be of a lot more value than the Testament of Grey.

[plunk111]

Why buy a slow-downer when QuickTime does pitch-corrected reduced speed for free?

[TC]

Just one more quick plug for the Fliuit tutorial. What I've found most useful as a beginner/intermediate are detailed explanations not only of ornaments themselves, but where to fit them in tunes. Also there are options given for nearly every tune for variation and added fun!

[Flexismart]

Plunk - you must mean QuickTime Pro - the standard version doesn't have the slow down option.

As to the original question, there is no text that will teach you "the buzz", only plenty of practice, listening, and the right instrument.
Try to isolate the sound that you like and work slowly to reach the tone.

There are plenty of software programs that help out. SoundStudio for Macs is one I use all the time to isolate/edit phrases,
but Audacity is free and offers plenty of options and a pretty easy learning curve to take advantage of the effects.

Books I'd recommend are:
The Dance Music of Willie Clancy by Pat Mitchell
Breandan Breatnach's 5 volumes of Irish Dance Music
O'Neill's (not the Krassen edited one)
The Bulmer Sharpley 4 volume collection (if you can find them)

These are not flute specific, but are, for the most part, tunes in flute friendly keys.

[peter20p]

Not really a tutorial, but very helpfull : the two books with Mike Rafferty tunes by Lesl Harker. it gives indications of breathing rests and ornamentation.

Audacity is a good (free) tool to analyze what a player is actually playing.

[JohnB]

I would also recommend June McCormack's Flute Tutor as the best available, I would get this and then a slow downer.

The basic Quicktime programme has some controls for slowing down stuff - under the window menu select "show AV controls" (on a Mac).

There are lots of sources for tunes (dots /ABC) online like the session.

I found this is a useful site for hearing tunes played on the flute - http://irishflute.podbean.com/

To get started you only need to buy June McCormack's Flute Tutor - IMHO

[tucson_whistler]

i like Mr. Larsen's book! especially the appendix at the end where he has very meticulously transcribed tunes from lots of famous flute players (including Kevin Crawford, my favorite : )

Fluit is good; i'm enjoying reading Mr. Hamilton's book right now, i also like Oil for the Chain by Shannon Heaton. the tutor is not great, but the cd is.

She also has a tune of the month website that is really nice; she plays the tunes slow once through then speeds them up for you.

http://tuneofthemonth.posterous.com/

cheers,
eric

[plunk111]

Plunk - you must mean QuickTime Pro - the standard version doesn't have the slow down option.

I just have a standard version, but I AM running on a Mac. It has a "Playback Speed" adjustment that keeps the pitch constant.

Pat

[Fifthtry]

Two hopefully relevant suggestions:

1. I'm a self-taught intermediate. There is no correct answer; we all learn differently and we all have different lives into which we try to fit music. To say "you should learn by ear" cannot be the universal answer. If you have unlimited time and wish to make music a part of your DNA, then yes. But that's not everyone. If you don't have unlimited time and/or wish only to be a casual weekend warrior, there's nothing wrong with learning from a book. We're all different with different needs/wants/learning styles. I happened to find Grey Larson's book much more in tune with me than June McCormack's; it's all relative.

2. Windows Media Player also has a slow down feature. See here: http://www.essential-music-practice.com ... player.pdf

Hope that helps.

John