1 comments about Red, White, And the Blues Harmonica.

1. My granddaughter loved her harmonica. It arrived on time. Thank you!

No comments about The Body as a Harp: Sound and Acupun (Star to Cell Series Book III) (From star to cell : a sound structure for the twenty-first century).

No comments about Chanukah Music For All Harps.

1 comments about Baroque Music for the Harp.

1. Where to start, where to start... I've played piano for 30 years now, and lever harp for about two months, and was able to jump right into this book. The arrangements are delightful - in particular, I've been working on Handel's Hornpipe from Water Music, and the Spring and Summer arrangements from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. She's done a beautiful job with the arrangements, and I've found them easily adaptible to my 22-string harp. The fingerings seem pretty sound (I've changed a few to fit my piano fingers), the print layout/font is easy-to-read, and the keys are relatively simple - mostly C, G, D. Lever changes seem to be placed will in-advance of the accidental, for the most part.
   
   That being said, this isn't a beginner's book. It requires some theory and an ability to read bass and treble clef simultaneously (if you've had piano, you shouldn't find it too difficult).
   
   I will definitely purchase more of Friou's books in the future. I already own her exercises for agility and speed, and have found them very helpful!

No comments about Mel Bay Treasures of the Celtic Harp.

2 comments about Jazz Harp (Book & CD).

1. Richard Hunter is an excellent harmonica player and his contributions to the harmonica community are well received. Jazz Harp was published in 1980, it comes complete 6 cuts which are used with practical examples through out the book - BUT, the cuts are on Vinal, so be warned. This book is written for BOTH chromatic & diatonic harmonica.

   Richard starts with a light practical primer on Jazz theory, enough to get going, followed by chapters using a number of popular pieces of music over a wide range of 11 Jazz artists & their style - ordered by difficulty, and discusses how to approach them on the harmonica. Each music example is transcribed in music notation and harmonica tab. Each example finishes with additional discographys, so Richard has done his homework. Its a good practical approach to getting up and running with Jazz styles on the harmonica. The last part of the book covers a number of points regarding playing techniques on the harmonica including a quick description of how to "overbend" the diatonic harmonica to get some missing notes. There is an Exercises chapter which can also be used in part as a reference to chords & scales. Its music notation with tab for diatonic harmonica. And at the ending is an interview of Toots Theilsman, arguably the best Chromatic Harp Jazz player to date. Its a nice touch.

   I'd recommend purchasing additional good music theory book &jazz theory book for seriously indepth music theory studies. Richard also recommends finding teachers, and asks that you find the tracks given in each chapter so that you can follow his explicit references.

   This is a good book, well written and presented. If you are starting to learn Jazz on the harmonica: this is the one.




2. Bought this book expecting a purely jazz oriented instructional book and was very disappointed. Not only that, I was unhappy with the way the book was written, a lot of fluff and not a lot of meat. Audio quality of the cd was extremely poor, and the tracks were not even numbered. What a pain when you want to hear an example over and over without having to go through the boring narratives!

3 comments about Mel Bay Celtic Music for Folk Harp.

1. This harp book reveals a little of what excellent advanced masters of the harp, like Riley and McMichael, can etude.
   Makes great listening, if you can figure it out. Otherwise you have to buy their CDs!



2. this book provided a jolt to the memory of old irish tunes, great fun



3. Celtic Music for Folk Harp is my favorite book to play from! The notation is clear and easy to read, and the information about each tune is interesting and helpful in getting the right feel for each song. It contains many beautiful tunes, and I especially like how they are grouped together by skill levels--ranging from moderate to advanced. I was a beginning harpist looking for new material when I purchased the book, and wondered if I was getting beyond my level too soon. However, the moderate level songs were not too hard to start out with and once you master them, it's easy to move on to the next level, so don't be intimidated by the skill levels! This book has helped me improve my playing and allowed me to add several new songs to my repertoire. I highly recommend it for all beginning to intermediate harpists looking for some lovely tunes to play.

No comments about Mel Bay Presents Gospel Harp.

No comments about The King's Delight: a Collection of Early Music, Arranged for Lap Harp.

1 comments about Mel Bay Classic Chicago Blues Harp #1, Level 2 (Book/CD Set) (Blues Harp, 1) (Blues Harp, 1).

1. I have bought beginning harmonica books and watch harp players on you tube for the last 3 years. One of the instructors on you tube recommended Dave's website and he had all of his books online to review. He even has short audio files to listen to before you make a decision to buy. I recommend all of his books. It is like having a music instructor. If you wants to know all of the ins and outs of reading music, learning rhythm, and all of the playing techniques these books are for you. Keep in mind that Dave has 3 levels, so you will need to buy all of his series to progress. Amazon did a great job, they shipped quicker than advertised, they got the order right, and I will buy from them in the future.