While the wooden simple-system flute is traditionally used in playing Irish music, a growing number of folk players have adopted the silver flute as a viable alternative. Here for the first time, The Complete Irish Flute Book presents the silver or Boehm flutist with a method for learning authentic Irish ornamentation! This thorough guide provides detailed fingering charts, exercises, and technical essays for learning to execute ornaments in the in the Irish style. Through a wealth of hornpipes, reels, jigs, set dances, and slow airs and songs. This book focuses not only on musical accuracy, but stylistic authenticity as well. The companion CD contains 26 of the 101 tunes from the book.
This comprehensive method includes: extensive historical notes, a comparison of handand finger positions for wooden and silver flutes, embouchure and breath support in thefolk and classical traditions, plus an introduction to dance music, performance practice,and ornamentation used by traditional players. These include slides, cuts ortips (single grace notes from above or below respectively), double and tripple gracenotes, and short and long rolls. The material is sequentially presented along withextensive alternate fingering charts to facilitate correct performance practice. Includesunornamented "standard" tunes side-by-side with ornamented variants with pianoaccompaniment.The companion CD contains 26 pieces from Mel Bay's Complete Irish Flute Book.Works are presented in both traditional and non-traditional settings with each piececlosely following the transcriptions in the companion book. Players will find this CDextremely helpful in learning to play ornaments in the Irish style.Attention simple-system flutists: players of keyless or multiple-keyed wooden fluteswill find a more compatible approach for learning to play in the Irish style in MelBay's Complete Irish Whistle Book. Why? Whistle fingerings closely parallel fingeringsfor simple-system flutes. Also, the selection of repertoire in the whistle book isconfined to the keys of D, G and A- all traditional keys for traditional flute players.
