The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor (Oak Classic Pennywhistles)

Good grief, where do I start. Perhaps by saying that having spent an hour looking through this and trying to make sense of the jumble, this publication is now up for the 'Worst Publication. Ever' award. There is no 'look inside' feature on any of L. E. McCullough's books. I wondered why, and now I know. So, I shall post my own photographs here. Firstly about the printed book itself. First published in 1976, it has had just one later edition published, in 1987. The result is something that feels extremely dated. It needs a massive editorial overhaul. The music itself is all facsimile reproductions, which are not easy to read. The author has used a rather thick pen to make very intricate little symbols everywhere and as a result it's a very complex image to try to interpret. The sharp symbols are so thickly drawn, there is no space at all in the middle. If you are unable to read music, you will struggle massively with this. In fact, so deep is the deep end that McCullough throws you in, you would have to be an advanced notation reader. The layout is just horrible. Titles for pages, such as 'Rolls' have been creatively (!) inserted in the middle of pages (see picture 1). There are staves where there are little breaks and shifts in the lines (see picture 2). There are tunes that are placed high enough up on the page to add further notation, but instead two bars are transferred over to the next page (pictures 3 & 4). The author has been given free reign to not only pen in the music, but also to add his own illustrations, such as how to hold the whistle (picture 5). Yes, the illustration is sufficient, just about, but we are 29 years post publication edition, and there is good reason to update. There are also typos galore. But this is the minor stuff. Alongside this very dated print is a CD to match. On the back cover we learn that 'previously available as a hard-to-find cassette, this edition includes a CD'. Yes, but a CD burnt straight from that very hard-to-find, and probably very old, cassette tape. The quality is atrocious. There are cuts and warbling in the recording itself so that it's difficult to identify what is a double tongued note and what is not. There is a CD track listing at the very back of the book, which I only just found. Nowhere during the exercises or the tunes does the book inform you right there of where you're at on the CD. To say this is complicated would be an understatement. You have to scan through the text on a page to get an idea of what you're about to listen to (picture 6). Sometimes McCullough repeats things, sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he says he's going to repeat them, and then he doesn't. The speed at which the examples of ornamentation are given are extremely fast. The quality of the recording is so bad, it's not crystal clear what he is doing. Then the student is plunged into the first piece. What a ridiculous thing. The pieces are beyond fast. Right from the first tune, you are an advanced player, no question about it. I'm at the intermediate/advanced stage of the Mary Bergin whistle course, and I've not a hope in hell with this. The pieces are so fast. I've been listening and loving Irish music (and playing it, on other instruments) for 25 years. You won't find Irish tin whistle played faster than it is on this course. It's so fast, it loses the beauty of any melody. It's also much too fast to dance to, which is the whole point of this music. When you can no longer physically dance because the tempo is out of whack, it's just showing off in my opinion. L. E. McCullough may well be respected and some people will get on great with this, but if you are anything less than an advanced player, you will need to do the following to get anywhere close to taking something from this book away with you:• a very thorough understanding of reading music• supplementary material to get even a little closer to making use of the ornamentation he whizzes through.• exceptional listening skills• computer software to slow down the material by at least 50%• a thorough knowledge of every piece played, as the melody is lost in the speed.Bearing in mind the poor quality of the recording, any slowing down of the tracks using software (which always decreases quality somewhat) will leave you probably with not much to work with. As you no doubt can tell, I'm more than disappointed with this purchase. I feel well and truly hoodwinked. Take stock of what another reviewer here said about the misleading title. There is no way on earth that this is a complete tutor course. The book would be better entitled 'FOR The Complete Irish Tin Whistler'. For a publishing house as big as Hal Leonard, who generally have a good reputation and have published some cracking music books down the years, why is this book not up for review? I find it quite staggering. If we're supposed to love it for its old-timey, facsimile feel, then give us that indication before we buy it! Last, but not least, while McCullough may be a respected whistle player in some corners (he certainly can play fast!), it's worth taking stock of some user reviews on the Internet. Particularly, the good people over at TheSession website, which is the world's largest online gathering of Irish and trad music players and enthusiasts. There are multiple threads of people complaining that McCullough's style is different to everything they've heard and enjoyed in live Irish session playing. I can certainly understand where this line of thought comes from. Too much tonguing to the point of staccato playing, and the flow of the music is disguised. This book needs a massive editorial overhaul and a complete re-examination of both the misleading title and the very poor CD offering.If you are a beginner to intermediate player, I would strongly advise against this book. You will come away with a feeling only that you are not good enough. What a bad way to begin! I'm really rather angry, because this kind of book really does go some way to not only discourage the student from engaging with the instrument, but also to lose some of the love of the whistle itself. It shouldn't be THIS fast! It's dance music, not Guinness World Record!

This book is not really for a beginner but there are plenty of introductory books around. It provides detailed information on ornamentation in Irish music and lots of tunes to practise on. The book pretty well lives up to its claim of being complete - if you master all the exercises you will be an impressive whistler indeed. Needless to say, this won't take place overnight but,if you've already mastered the basics it doesn't take too much practice to see an improvement.It can be fun ornamenting non-Irish tunes with the knowledge gained from this book.Strongly recommended for serious whistlers aiming to progress their skills beyond the basics.

I bought this book in the belief that I could learn the tin whistle from scratch with it, but it assumes a great deal of musical ability and is quite unsuited to a beginner However, it is probably very valuable for the more sophisticated player.

L.E.McCullough's Tin Whistle tutor is an excellent guide to the tin whistle. It gives detailsof all the ornamentation of tin whistle tunes and is the first time I have seen ornamentationso described.

LOVE IT

good set best book