Waltons "110 Best" Series -- Any Good?

[Guyon]

I was looking at some titles in this 110 series, in part because they offer both accompanying CD's as well as guitar chords for each song. I was especially interested in:

Ireland's Best Tin Whistle Tunes, 1 and 2 - contain chords
Ireland's Best Session Tunes, 1 and 2 - contain chords
Ireland's Best Tin Whistle Tunes for Children - contains chords
Ireland's Best Slow Airs

http://www.waltonsmusic.com/110bestiris ... ction.html
http://www.waltonsmusic.com/110bestiris ... tion2.html

Can anyone recommend any of these titles? They're barely affordable (~$15 to $20) without CDs, but the price shoots up (~$30 to $40) with the CD sets. A little steep so I'm wondering if they're worth the cash in terms of the tune selections. I imagine I could find many of the tunes on YouTube or elsewhere if I needed a listen.

Would I be better off just looking at the tables of contents on Amazon (you can "Look Inside" most, if not all, of them) and then finding the tunes online?

[Clive Brown]

Guyon,

I have 110 Tinwhistle Tunes (1), and 110 Session Tunes (1). I am more than happy with them and would recommend both !

Clive

[Folk312]

I bought '110 Ireland's Best Tin Whistle Tunes' when I started playing the whistle (almost two years ago) and it is still my main tunebook. What I really like about it, is that the increments in difficulty are small. So you keep progressing with the same book (that's why I stopped using Bill Ochs' book. From one page to the other it became two difficult for me at the time).

What I'm using at the moment, that I can also reccommend, is Grey Larsen's tunecollection. You can buy it online for $3.49. You get the transcriptions and text in PDF file and the recordings, as MP3 file.

I really like his whistle playing and the tunes are fun.
http://www.greylarsen.com/store/catalog ... ucts_id=56

[NicoMoreno]

I, sadly, have the Slow Airs one. I can't speak for the rest, but that particular book should be avoided, in my opinion. The versions written out in the book bear little to no resemblance to the way they are sung by sean nos players or played by traditional musicians.

But I suppose the standard advice for learning slow airs should be mentioned here, anyway: Learn from singers.

[Infernaltootler]

110 tunebook 1 is a way to start because the tunes get harder, but they muddle them up so they are not in 'sets' which means you don't know which three tunes would go well together.

The second one is in sets.

Both of mine are well thumbed and I like going back to them now I can play a bit better and find I can play the tunes listed more easily these days.

[Blaydo]

Would I be better off just looking at the tables of contents on Amazon (you can "Look Inside" most, if not all, of them) and then finding the tunes online?

The thing is that the Walton books with "Tin Whistle" in the title are played with just whistle and guitar. The whistle playing is excellent and you'll learn a lot from listening to it. Much better than listening to people on youtube and IMO a much nicer style whistle playing than other tutor books regularly mentioned here.

The other Walton books are played on other instruments, which is fine if you already have your own style of playing but I think at the start you should listen to actual whistle players. I don't see much point in you buying these other non whistle books anyway as you may as well just source session tunes online. But those tin whistle ones I highly recommend, I'm still using them 5 years on.

Theres an even better Waltons book you didn't mention and that's "The Irish Tin Whistle" by Clare McKenna, again the same style, I think she plays in "Ireland's Best Tin Whistle Tunes part 1" also.

Anyway I'll send you private message with more info shortly....

[Guyon]

Thanks to all for providing some feedback. I really appreciate it.
Sounds to me like the books are worthwhile with the exception of the Slow Airs book.

[Adrian]

My experience is similar to some of the other posters here. I found the two volumes of 110 Whistle Tunes to be most helpful. But other volumes including 110 Carolan Tunes were also good investments but I found 110 Slow Airs to be the least helpful.

[squidgirl]

I also used the 110 Best Tin Whistle Tunes (vol. 1) as my main tunebook for my first couple of years -- although I had collected a number to choose from, I liked this one the best, and I feel it served me very well. I found that the tunes progressed in difficulty in a smooth and manageable way for me, and I enjoyed listening to the the CD, even when playing a tune a gazillion times to get it fixed in my head. Like other posters have mentioned, hearing the tunes played on a whistle instead of other instruments was a great help in learning to play them on the whistle myself. Also, having notation which exactly matched the recording on the CD was very comforting to me when I was first starting out, and inexperienced at adjusting between the version I had recordings of vs. the various abc versions I found on the web. Finally, it is great fun having convenient recordings of the tunes I'm learning to play along with (slowed down as necessary).

I'm not sure why, but I enjoyed the CDs of volume 1 more than those of volume 2. But volume 2 has some low whistle examples, in case one happens to be interested in that. Volume 1 is all high D.

If it of interest to anyone out there, the beginners section of volume 1 has whistle tab as well as standard notation for the tunes.

[johnmcochran]

Anyone know who might carry "110 Best Tin Whistle Tunes" online State-side? I don't see it on Amazon or House of Musical Traditions. Looks like it's out of stock over Whistle & Drum.

[Steve Bliven]

Anyone know who might carry "110 Best Tin Whistle Tunes" online State-side? I don't see it on Amazon or House of Musical Traditions. Looks like it's out of stock over Whistle & Drum.

Amazon has it, and refers to several other places where you can get it cheaper.
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keyword ... ndex=books
[[edit: for some reason the URL doesn't connect but it's there on Amazon under Best Tin Whistle Tunes. If you copy/paste address it will take you there.]]

Best wishes.

Steve

[ Fixed URL. - Mod. ]
[[Thanks. S.O.B.]]

[squidgirl]

Elderly Instruments carries them, and is a very reputable & well-established internet music resource. I buy from them often.

http://elderly.com/books/cats/430.htm

[Mason]

Can anyone recommend a good collection of airs? I've really been wanting to learn a few since hearing Vinnie Kilduff on his GenBb:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgxu0cclU9M

In other news, my visits to the above link probably account for 30% of the view count! I never get tired of hearing him play that song...

[DrPhill]

I have one by O'Canainn. I find it useful for learning the basic melody of an air, as I do not have the confidence/competence to figure out the notes by ear, especially as there are keys other than D . Once I have the basic melody I tend to forget about the book.

What is the tune in the Vinnie Kilduff link? I enjoyed it immensely. He is quite good, is he not ?

[Mason]

I have one by O'Canainn. I find it useful for learning the basic melody of an air, as I do not have the confidence/competence to figure out the notes by ear, especially as there are keys other than D . Once I have the basic melody I tend to forget about the book.

What is the tune in the Vinnie Kilduff link? I enjoyed it immensely. He is quite good, is he not ?

Thanks for the tip. Regarding the tune name, Jerry wrote him and posted the answer here:

http://tinyurl.com/2b88d64