Customer Reviews

Celtic Music for Flute (Book/Audio CD)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jessica Walsh's "Celtic Music for Flute" is a great book to come back to when reading and playing Irish traditional music. The book has over 40 traditional songs all written out plus Walsh's variations, ready to be played. The book also comes with an audio CD of the traditional songs played by Walsh herself.

If I had to give a rating for her audio cd, I'd give it an honest 4 out of 5 stars. Why not 5 out of 5? Well, although Walsh is an excellent flutist, I felt like she played most of the irish tunes with too much lament. Even the songs that were not exactly laments sounded depressingly so after continuious listenings. In the end if you're looking for a great music book on traditional irish music, Walsh's book is the one. And if you love laments, then you'll love Walsh's take on it. And even if you're not a lamentable person like me, you'll still enjoy Walsh's music just because she's really good at it.

I played the flute for five years while in school, grades 5-9. I quit in the 10th grade and sold my flute. Ten years later I realize I have a strong passion to play again. Even in my dreams the desire was strong, night after night of dreaming of beautiful music played on the flute. For Christmas 2003, my husband gives me one along with a beginner book of sheet music. I could still play. The notes surprisingly were still embedded in my brain. I immediately wanted music on a more intermediate level thus ordered "Celtic Music for Flute". The point is, this book has fulfilled my desire of playing beautiful music. I highly recommend this book.

I love this book! I played the flute in 5th grade and then switched to Clarinet through the rest of school. As an adult I had a strong passion to learn to play the flute. Then at Christmastime, I heard a friend of mine play and it was so beautiful, I was determined to learn. I bought a flute and beginning book and finger chart and this Celtic book. It is my favorite. I love the songs and the cd that comes with it is helpful and beautiful to listen on it's own as well. This is my favorite book to play from. Let me add that although I have used this book as a beginner, it would be great for a seasoned player as well.

This is an excellent collection of Celtic tunes and melodies for flute, fife or whistle. Well thought out including a nice description of each song.

The companion CD should provide helpful insights into the music for both the beginner and seasoned player alike.

The author also provides a careful review of the flutes she uses with a detailed description of her collection of individual instruments. There is also a good amount of additional resource information included.

Having played the flute for over fifteen years, I picked up this book to give myself a bit of variation and time away from the usual marches and movements. Immediately I was impressed by both the music selections included and the accompanying CD. The music is quite lovely, the melodies haunting, and the CD is fantastic in showcasing just how the songs should basically sound. Jessica Walsh does tend to slow down a few tunes, as a reviewer mentioned below, but regardless it is a nice compilation and worth the money.

Title says it all - this book is full of songs that are fun and easy to play and they sound great - especially if you can find a guitar player, and maybe even a drummer for the full celtic music experience.

Most of the songs lay out a traditional theme followed by one or more variations added by the author. Based on celtic music performances I've heard, this - theme & variations - seems to be the traditional way of performing these songs.

The accompanying CD has better sound and performance quality than one often gets in this kind of thing.

The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is just a minor nitpick - I'd like to see at least a few songs scored for duets or trios with some instrumental variations, for example parts for guitar or alto flute (in G).

I really enjoy playing this music and I think if I can find someone to play with me, this could be a lot of fun. The CD is nice to listen too and does give a good idea of how the songs go, however I wish it had an option to play with alone with the guitar as accompiment rather than only having the option to play along with Ms. Walsh on the CD. I have other books which have a piano accompiment on CD and those are a lot more fun to play along with because it is a solo. I thought I was purchasing something along that lines and was disapointed when it turned out otherwise. Really a shame because I would have bought a lot more of Ms. Walsh's arrangements if only there was an an accompiment only option on the CD because I really like the music.

As far as the music goes...5 stars.

The cd is the only reason I gave this review 4 stars.

There isn't any lead-in time when songs play on the cd, so it is difficult to play along with Ms. Walsh in the first bar.

But that really doesn't take away from how much I am enjoying this book/audio cd.

I ordered this for my daughter that's 13. It was a great way to give her something to play on her flute and at the same time to teach her a little about her heritage. It's a great collection.

I'm a player of 10 years, and this was my first time playing Irish/Celtic music. The song selections are great and the accompanying CD brings them to life. I found the notation a little bland, but I added my own ornaments here and there and it sounded very nice. There are several songs on the CD that don't have any accompaniment (guitar), and that was a little bit of a bummer.

I definitely recommend!