June McCormack flute book

[JeffS]

I just saw a video of her playing and immediately ordered her flute tutorial. She's a lovely style.

Anyone have this book? Any critiques here?

[piperman07]

I just received this book myself, it seems to be nicely laid out, and has some good exercises.
I haven had much time with it yet, but I think that it is going to be a good tutor on learning one way of playing the ornaments and such in ITRAD music.

Cheers,
Steve

[crookedtune]

I have it, and recommend it highly. It gives very clear instruction in the various rolls, cuts, taps and crans. She has a good selection of tunes, and presents them in a clear, understandable way. I haven't spent as much time with it as I should, because I'm always trying to learn the tunes that get played at my session. Fortunately, there's some overlap!

[Ballygo]

Its a good book , but nothing about embouchure or grip which is so important. I guess this is aimed at people who have those skills already , and want to develop the ornamentation. But it is a good addition to the tutor world.

Ballygo

[ElaineT]

I have the set. It has a little bit of written information on ornamentation at the start, assuming the player is already comfortable on the instrument. The bulk of the book is a precise transcription of a single, ornamented setting for each tune. The two CDs that come with the set are lovely and in some ways more useful than the book. If I remember correctly, she plays each tune once slow and once fast.

[gorjuswrex]

I have the book. I’m sorry to say I haven’t used it. Time and other distractions like work. I agree with Elaine’s comments. From the blurb on June’s website I thought it was going to deal with things like style, variations and have quite a bit for advanced players. For example I was hoping it was going to look at hornpipes in more depth. HP rhythm etc. It does have some good HP’s well played though. I’d place it as a book aimed at starters and intermediate’s rather than advanced players. Still some usefull bits for most.

[Maeloc]

I got both books and as a beginner I found the first one is a great help; ornaments are described in a very concise and easy to follow way (a relief after Grey Larsen's book which is great but very hard to follow if you have little time to practice). I really like her style of playing and the songs I've tried until now; very well chosen songs that sound great even if played slow

Its a good book , but nothing about embouchure or grip which is so important. I guess this is aimed at people who have those skills already , and want to develop the ornamentation. But it is a good addition to the tutor world.

I missed that too, that's the only flaw I can find. Fortunately there's enough info in the forum to keep me going

[StephenR]

I have the book. I got it mainly just for her tunes and style rather than actually learning exercises. I found her notation to be simple and very well arranged for flute. There are some subtle ornaments that she uses that I choose to ignore, but its a book well worth having for nearly any flute player.

[drewr]

I got both books and as a beginner I found the first one is a great help...

What are your thoughts/reviews of her second flute tutorial book?

[flutefry]

I just received the second book. It's like the first in that in contains tunes marked with possible ornamentation and breathing spots, and the CD includes the same exercises for ornaments. The tunes I know are quite different from the session versions common around here. So while having both books doubles the examples available, conceptually I didn't find anything in the second book that wasn't in the first.

Hugh

[Maeloc]

I got both books and as a beginner I found the first one is a great help...

What are your thoughts/reviews of her second flute tutorial book?

There's no much to add to Flutefry's post; the book is aimed at Intermediate & advanced players "to help develop repertoire, ornamentation and breathing"; the appendix on ornaments is exactly the same; in what respect to the tunes, I suppose they are more demanding than the ones in the first book, but I'm afraid we need the help of a more expert member on this; there are no polkas nor single jigs and half of the tunes are reels.