Mel Bays Complete Irish Tin Whistle Book [Sheet music]

Mizzy McCaskill; Dona Gilliam (Author)

Book Description

Series: Complete | Publication Date: June 1, 2004

An extremely well-written, thorough study into contemporary and traditional tinwhistle music and performance. Included are chapters on fundamentals, ornamentation and more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mizzy McCaskill received her Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College and her Master's and Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Kentucky, Lexington. She is a specialist in curriculum design and has written numerous publications concerning folk flutes, the modern Boehm flute, and flute pedagogy. She performs and records as both a flutist and vocalist in folk and classical genres. Flutist and composer Dona Gilliam received her Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA and her masters in Music Composition from the University of Kentucky, Lexington where she also received her Juris Doctorate of Law degree. Dona performs and composes in both folk and classical genres. She is currently Assistant Professor of Music at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. With Mizzy McCaskill, she has co-authored more than two dozen Mel Bay books addressing the flute, tinwhistle, fife, and clarinet.

Product Details

• Sheet music: 144 pages
• Publisher: Mel Bay Publications, Inc. (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786665866
• ISBN-13: 978-0786665860
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,155,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great buy, August 15, 2005

By 

J.E.H. (Ut, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mel Bays Complete Irish Tin Whistle Book (Sheet music)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, wrong accompanying CD, May 30, 2010

By 

A. Langley - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mel Bays Complete Irish Tin Whistle Book (Sheet music)

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 epilogue

CONS: wrong CD enclosed