Customer Reviews

40 O'Carolan Tunes for All Harps (Midmarch Arts Books)

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40 O'Carolan Tunes for All Harps by Sylvia Woods.

If you have Sylvia's Teach Yourself Book, or are planning to get it, then this book is a natural to follow. The arrangements of 40 of O'Carolan's more popular harp tunes are on two levels so that the book can be used by players of different proficiencies. I was fortunate to have had access to Sylvia's books early in my learning to play the harp and I still play many of the pieces in this book on a regular basis.. Although Turlough O'Carolan lived in another era (1670-1738) he wrote much of the music played by Irish musicians today. The favorites in this book will delight you!

Sylvia Wood's book on 40 Carolan pieces is an excellent book for harpers of any skill level. The book gives easy and advanced versions for each piece. Fingering suggestions are also given. The melodies themselves are beautiful. Carolan pieces are subtle and tricky, but are worth every moment to master.

This is a great book, with every tune arranged two ways: One for the beginner (that's me) and one for advanced players. I like to learn the easy version of each tune and then try the more difficult one afterward.

Even though I can't yet play most of the advanced stuff, I have fun trying it out and I am constantly learning - I can go back and forth between the two versions, incorporating additional harmonies or rhythms as I am able to pick them out, which helps me gain a more in-depth knowledge of the instrument and the music. Furthermore, the easy arrangements do not stray too far beyond the 29 strings of my folk harp.

I also recommend Sylvia Woods' book of Christmas music, which is set up the same way and kept me happily occupied throughout this year's holiday season.

Delightful collection of the classic Irish harpist. I found the arrangements quite useful to work with - an "easy" version and an advanced version of each song, along with suggested harp fingerings and chords in case the artist wishes to do his/her own left-hand arrangement. Many familiar and popular songs from O'Carolan's repertoire were included in this book. Lastly, the wire-binding format facilitated the placement of the book on the music stand. So many collections are bound with glue and makes placement of the music sheets upon the stand a difficult task at best. Kudos to Sylvia Woods for a job well done.