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The Irish Flute Book by Fintan Vallely Reviews

4.8 Rating 48 Reviews
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A Complete Guide to Learning the Irish Flute by Fintan Vallely 
 
A unique visual and descriptive 'method' for all levels of learning and playing on the keyed and unkeyed 'Irish' or wooden flutes. Tried and tested, this is a greatly expanded and improved update of the very first Irish flute tutor, Timber, which was published in 1986. Its 136 pages are packed with background information and suitable for players at all levels, from the most basic to the most advanced.
The tutor also serves as a guide to understanding the principles of Irish traditional music and will prove useful to any aspiring traditional player. With 105 notated tunes and two companion CDs with 180 tracks of tuition, ornamentation and music examples, Irish music lovers will find this book a valuable resource. Vallely's method is also perfectly suited to the tin whistle.
Fintan Vallely is a musician and writer on traditional music and recipient of Gradam Ceoil's Lifetime Achievement Award 2023.
He published the first ground-breaking tutor for Irish flute in 1986 and for many years has taught flute at the renowned Willie Clancy summer school in Co. Clare and at seasonal schools and workshops internationally. He has recorded on flute with guitarist Mark Simos and in song with Tim Lyons.
As a critic and educator, he has written for The Irish Times and Sunday Tribune through the 1990s and has lectured on traditional music in Irish and UK universities since 1995. He is editor of the widely praised and award-winning Companion to Irish Traditional Music (1999, 2011) the encyclopaedia of Irish traditional music, and has other books on song, music and musicians — among them biographies of Antrim flute player John Kennedy and Leitrim fiddler Ben Lennon.
Over the years, Vallely has done extensive research on both the bodhrán and flute in Ireland and he brings that invaluable store of knowledge and insight to this new edition.
Read an extract from Fintan's book by clicking here
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Posted 6 years ago
I received the book well before the flute so I had lots of time to read the beginning chapters and I loved his style of writing. It seemed so fluid and musical with some wry humour that made the reading very enjoyable. My problems started with the first example which was Winnie Hayes Jig which was not a very inspiring first tune. This tune has repeated notes but on the CD it is played with ornamentation which is not explained. If the author had said and demonstrated "this is how it sounds as written" but it is played like this and gave an audio example of both it would make learning easier especially for someone who does not have access to a teacher or to other flutists. I am sure I will appreciate the book more once I learn a few basic finger techniques. Also when introducing these techniques they should be followed by a demonstration of a tune using that particular technique and no other. As each technique is learned and demonstrated in such a manner then the author should follow it up with a version using them all so that the learner can see how they can be applied in one tune. Probably a good instruction book if the learner has a teacher. Perhaps in the future I can give a different review based on experience. For now I am a rank beginner and the book hasn't really helped so far so I just play the tunes I remember from my childhood and my mother's old 78's which she brought from Ireland to Canada. I learned more from a you tube video on cuts and rolls and tips in 5 minutes than I did from the book.
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Posted 7 years ago
The service is fast and trouble free; they have even beaten Amazon to the USA on one occasion. If I ever get to Ireland, I am making a beeline to their store.
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Posted 7 years ago
A wonderful instrument! I also bought the book on how to play. I am a classical concert flutist and I am hoping to learn the Irish flute. It's going to be a challenge for me, but the book will help!
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Posted 7 years ago
Very helpful book to guide you along your learning trip of the traditional Irish Flute. It starts easy but gets progressively more complicated. Hard to follow if you do not read western notation music. It has some introduction to that and if you are dedicated you can actually learn to read and follow along. The important part is the recorded samples that you can listen to when reading the notes, so even if you dislike reading you can go the aural way and train your ear to understand the notes and play along. This is what makes this book an indispensable tool to learn the flute.
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Posted 7 years ago
High quality service and product.
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Posted 8 years ago
Service, instrument, shipping from it's best. Looking forward to buy my next instruments here. Thank you very much!
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Posted 8 years ago
Everything arrived, practice has begun in earnest! Thank-you for your help. All the best, Claire.
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Posted 8 years ago