The Irish Fiddle Book: The Art of Traditional Fiddle-Playing

Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: I have purchased a number of Irish fiddle materials over the last four years. I have played guitar for over 30 years and thought that I would try Irish fiddle. Of all the books and materials I have purchased, this is simply the best. The tunes are challenging, yet playable, (if you put some time in} even for a beginner. Mr. Cranitch's playing on the accompanying cassette is excellent, and the cassette makes for good listening on it's own. I would assume that an intermediate to accomplished violinist who wants to play Irish fiddle would find this book less challenging, but I am confident that he or she would enjoy it. For someone with no knowledge of the violin, it will be very challenging, and maybe discouraging. But, once you have the ability to play in tune in first position, and are comfortable and relaxed with your bowing, this is the book to buy.

Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: I have purchased a number of Irish fiddle materials over the last four years. I have played guitar for over 30 years and thought that I would try Irish fiddle. Of all the books and materials I have purchased, this is simply the best. The tunes are challenging, yet playable, (if you put some time in} even for a beginner. Mr. Cranitch's playing on the accompanying cassette is excellent, and the cassette makes for good listening on it's own. I would assume that an intermediate to accomplished violinist who wants to play Irish fiddle would find this book less challenging, but I am confident that he or she would enjoy it. For someone with no knowledge of the violin, it will be very challenging, and maybe discouraging. But, once you have the ability to play in tune in first position, and are comfortable and relaxed with your bowing, this is the book to buy.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Learning Tool
Review: I understand there is a CD or audio cassette with this book. Is it available through you?

Martha Bishop [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Shouldn't the cds come with the book?
Review: I've seen this book at music stores but was reluctent to purchase it because it seemed a little expensive and also didn't include the cds. Maybe it's good not to rely too much on the cds with books like these but I have to admit I feel they are essential. It's like having a teacher giving you a run-through of not only how it sounds but also the feeling of how to play it. I see the top seller on amazon is the Peter Cooper book which I bought but was a little disapointed at what I thought was a bit of an uninspired interpretation of the tunes. I suppose that the fact that its on mel bay and is called the complete irish fiddle player gets it alot of attention but I wasn't all that crazy about it. What I do like is the Kevin Burke 20 Irish fiddle tunes on Homespun and my favorite right now is Ireland's Best Fiddle Tunes by Paul McNevin (Waltons Publishing) which has 110 fiddle tunes and 2 cds. Evidentally you can get this with or without the cds but I got the cd edition of course and it was about 30 bucks. I probably should apologize for getting off track of the book in review but I really need to have the cd or I'm not really interested. Oh, the McNevin book also has the guitar chords. This is the one to get, in my opinion. It doesn't look like amazon has it but I see now that although it's Waltons, an Irish publisher, it's evidentally being distributed through Mel Bay. McNevin also has a guide to learning the Irish fiddle for about the same price but I haven't checked that out.

Rating:
Summary: A necessary addition to your collection
Review: If you're interested in learning Irish fiddling you can't go wrong buying this book. Matt Cranitch is a true Irish fiddler and his book and tape set reflect his vast knowledge of the form. There is a section in this book for new fiddlers, but I wouldn't recommend it for absolute beginners because the pace of the book is rapid and the initial tunes are fairly difficult to play. However, if you've been playing Old Time or any other type of fiddling for awhile, you'll have no trouble.

Matt Cranitch excells at explaining and intorducing bowing and rhythmic styles as well as ornamentation. The last section of the book features 100 tunes so you'll have new stuff to play for a long time. The main section is broken down into chapters based on the type of tune--jig, reel etc., and each chapter introduces a new technical aspect for you to master. The section on slow airs is lovely, but I wish Matt would have provided some tips on vibrato rather than refer his readers to a teacher.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly. I also recommend that you buy Mel Bay's Complete Irish Fiddle Player by Peter Cooper, which is another excellent book. The two together should provide you with a good grounding in Irish fiddle.

Rating:
Summary: Great, Comprehensive Reference
Review: So you want to learn the Irish fiddle, eh? First find yourself a great teacher and start learning these tunes by ear! Second, pick up a copy of this book and the two CDs that go along with it--if you want to learn a tune on your own this book is a wonderful resource. All of the tunes (from reels to hornpipes to airs and everything in between) are written out with little more than the melody, so that you can personalize each one with ornamentation and bowing. Therefore, this book has a more authentic feel to it than many of the other books out there that seem to leave nothing to the imagination. Aditionally, the CDs offer a great sense of appropriate ornamentation and rhythm for many of the tunes. They are essential to truly making the most out of this book.
This book does offer an overview of basic fiddle technique and starts off with chapters on each seperate style of tune. The back section simply contains a wealth of tunes written out in standard musical notation. Honestly, I would recommend this book as a companion to lessons with a teacher, rather than a subsitute for them, in order to master the technical aspects of fiddle playing. But for most people this book will make a wonderfully comprehensive resource for building up your knowledge of very authentic Irish fiddle tunes. It is truly the best of its kind that I have ever used.