Book and CD: Ireland's Best Slow Airs

tinwfun · Post by **tinwfun** » Fri Feb 15, 2002 8:44 pm

I am thinking about buying the Book and CD of "Ireland's Best Slow Airs". If you already had this book and CD, what is your opion on this book and CD. Could you also give the title of the tunes in this book?

joeln · Post by **joeln** » Sat Feb 16, 2002 8:42 am

Well, the tunes are played on whistle, pipes, harp and fiddle so anything not on whistle was a lot less useful to me. As a beginner I'm still not able to translate what I hear in another instrument to the whistle very well. Particularly the harp which seems to add chords/embellishments that confuse the melody line. Some really good tunes though. 110 titles is too many for me to list - Joel

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Sat Feb 16, 2002 2:16 pm

For slow airs, I highly recommend this book. The tunes are the classics that get played on pro cd's, like The Chieftains. They're all set in D whistle-friendly keys, as I recall. If you read music, the printed notes will help sort out confusion. These airs are often very difficult to learn from printed music. You really need to hear them. The combination of listening and looking at the notes is a great way to go.

Off the top of my head (I'm too sorry to run upstairs to find the book), some tunes are Eanach Dhuin, Have You Been to Carrick, Blind Mary, Dark Woman of the Glenn, The Mirmaid, Lament for Limerick, Carrickfergus, Roisin Dubh, Nora Crionna, Brian Boru's March, Sean O'Dwyer of the Valley, numerous O'Carolan's, melodies to English-language songs. (I gave English versions of the titles. Often, they are in Irish.)

I went through the cd's one time with the book open and checked the pages with the coolest sounding tunes to learn first. I recognized some melodies from recordings that I didn't know the names of. I found some really nices surprises in tunes that I had wanted to learn for a long time, but forgot where I'd heard them.

Make sure and get the cd's for the book.
Tony

mamakash · Post by **mamakash** » Sat Feb 16, 2002 4:39 pm

An excellent set. There are plently of songs to learn and you won't find the CD boring, since the songs are played with several instuments. It's also challanging(but certainly not difficult) to play these songs with a whistle. You'll hear a tune played on a bagpipe, for instance, and then if you're a whistle player, you'll try to replicate the feel of the song on your instument. Some songs are a bit harder(tunes suited more for a fiddle) as they have some accedental sharps or flats, and a few notes fall below a D. However, nearly all of the tunes are suited for the whistle.

CDon · Post by **CDon** » Sat Feb 16, 2002 8:01 pm

You can get a complete listing of the songs if you go to the Mel Bay website at http://www.melbay.com/ then navigate through the chain of buttons and/or links consisting of: Products/All Products by Category/Tinwhistle/Ireland's Best Slow Airs/Contents... whew!

Lots of other whistle books there as well.

christina · Post by **christina** » Sun Feb 17, 2002 5:36 am

i've just ordered this book but without the cd.....are the songs really difficult????i'm afraid i cannot manage to play them.....

they 'll arrive in a day or two!!!

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Sun Feb 17, 2002 11:47 am

Are the songs difficult? The odds you play them the way God intended just by going from the printed notes are not good. Even following the book while listening to the cd is confusing. These melodies tend to have a kind of free-form rhythm. Some notes are sustained and other shortened at the player's discretion. I've heard versions by different artists that had only a vague resemblence to each other. You really learn them by hearing how they go and use the book just to keep you on the road.

A couple of summers ago, John Palmer, another C&Fer, invited me to join him on stage for a church fundraiser. We put together a set list, largely from McCullough's book for convenience (we live about 80 miles apart and only practiced next to each other the day of the performance). I emailed the print version and an mp3 sound file of one of the slow airs (it seamed straight forward to me...). John tried it out but advised me I wasn't following the rhythm on the page. I think I change the tune a bit every time I play it. We decided to not do those except as solos.

Order the cd's. I didn't get a lot of use from the book until the cd's arrived.
Tony

bob baksi · Post by **bob baksi** » Mon Feb 18, 2002 1:01 pm

Tony H's comments above accurately reflect my own assessment.
In addition, I don't think anyone else has mentioned the issue of suggested chordal accompaniment. I have about 4 Mel Bay books, some have CHORDS, some don't. The Slow Airs does not. Maybe that's partly understandable for some Airs that aren't intended to be accompanied. I prefer, however, having suggested chords so I can sit at a keyboard and play melody line against chordal accompaniment. If I am left to "Make up" the chords from what is melodically implied by the key signature and melody line, I'm not sure I'm dealing with the tune as its sounds were intended to be grouped by its evolutionary composer family. For those tunes on Slow Airs CD that are chordally accompanied, one can try to hear & guess the chords, but the process would be a lot easier (and for me more enjoyable) ifd the chords were given.

hillfolk22 · Post by **hillfolk22** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 8:23 am

Hello Folks,

I agree with Bob.

I was disappointed to find no chords provided on this song book.

I am also releaved to know that the other songbooks do have the chords.

Other than that it is a fine book to learn airs from.

Laura

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 11:16 am

I have the book & CD, and put the CD onto minidisc so I can listen while travelling.

I'd recommend the CD/Book set to anyone wanting to learn some slow airs. I've got about 7 or 8 learnt so far, and they're my favourite tunes to play. True, some are whistle difficult, but some have just one of two accidentals which give the opportunity to practise half-holing at a manageable speed.

Christina, unfortunately I think you'll have difficulty learning some of the tunes straight off the page. Some are reasonably OK (the Planxty style is usually OK), but others you really need to hear. Look at Roisin Dubh, even the time signature changes around.

WhistlingGypsy · Post by **WhistlingGypsy** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 11:35 am

Just a quick plug here for a great online store that carries this and several other good Irish Music learning tools.

I have purchased several items from http://www.simplyirish.com and Ashley Wootton (I think he is the owner) has always been prompt and ensured good customer satisfaction - even with returns. a pleasure to do business with.

Well worth a look.

LeeMarsh · Post by **LeeMarsh** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 12:21 pm

Excellent book and CD combination. This is my most used book. Tony and other have pointed many of its strengths.

It may serve you to remember that while jigs, reels, hornpipes come from of tradition of playing for dancers; therefor, rhythm and timing are major priorities. Slow airs are more from Sean Nos singing traditions; songs to be sung solo without accompanyment. The timing varied from singer to singer, and to some extent from verse to verse. Over the verses, four single sylable words are not sung the same as a four sylable single word. A song of romance and loss may have spritely begining verses, painfull or angry middle, and nostalgic endings depending on how the story unfolds. The song of the jilted maid sounds different sung by the maid's brother, mother, sister, or in her own voice. Just as the voice will reflect these, where and how you chose to ornament each verse may reflect these differences.

As someone above mentioned, some times the same tune performed on two different CD's sound very different reflecting the recording artist's arrangement and setting and viewpoint.

One of the reasons I'm learning whistle is to replace a deteriating singing voice. For me, playing a form that is based on voice instead of dance, makes it much easier to play by ear and feel, than simply by notes on the page. This approach to the whistle also filters my opinions on airs so I tend to play them as I would have sung them.

From my point of view, playing an air with the same consistency and rhythms demanded of the reel or jig, is like dancing on throat and heart of the singer.

For you its simply about however you ...

_________________

Enjoy Your Music, Lee Marsh 

[ This Message was edited by: LeeMarsh on 2002-02-19 13:27 ]