Frank Edgley's Handbook of Tunes and Methods for Irish Traditional Music

[gcoover]

Frank Edgley's excellent tutor for playing ITM on Anglo concertina, first published in 2001, is now back in print!

 

A cleaned-up version of his original self-published book, it has 105 pages and now features 48 scannable QR codes instead of the original CD's.

 

It is available through Red Cow Music in the UK, Smythe's Accordion Center in the US, and it is also on Amazon - 30 USD / 24 GBP / 28 Euro. 

 

I've attached the Table of Contents so you can see which tunes Frank teaches in what he calls a "Modified Chris Droney Style".

 

One of the most important features of his book is his fairly extensive discussion on ornaments/embellishments.

 

It's been a pleasure working with Frank on this, and we're already talking of re-releasing his other tunebooks.

 

Gary

EDGLEY-TOC.pdf

Edited January 13, 2024 by gcoover

[gtotani]

Thank you very much for your effort to revive the discontinued book, Gary 

 

This book by Frank was out of print when I started learning concertina.

Of course, Easy Anglo 1-2-3 has been a very very good introductory book and I recommend it to everyone, but I have been longing for this Edgley's book. 

This book is already on sale  on amazon and I have ordered one. A very good Christmas present for myself. 

 

Totani

[Dan Worrall]

Well done Gary and Frank for getting this very useful book published! I’ve had my copy of the original for years. A simple and graceful approach worthy of the old masters of the Clare (and Canadian!) countryside.

[Dan Worrall]

Just received my copy. Beautifully re-published; a great improvement in look and feel to the original, which was printed in the dot matrix printer days. Still the best single manual for learning Irish style Anglo in the manner of the old Clare players, in my opinion!

[xgx]

Gary, Is there a Kindle version available in the UK?

[gcoover]

Not yet - I’ll get one out in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for asking!
 

Gary

[Morgana]

I  have ordered this book from Amazon and waiting for delivery (ETA Wednesday, fingers crossed) @gcoover Thanks again for making this possible

[xgx]

No sign of the Kindle version on Amazon UK

[gcoover]

Should be on Kindle now, thanks for waiting!

 

Gary

[a4naught]

Would this book be good for an intermediate player? Or only beginner/starting out? I see that it is listed as having an extensive section on embellishments and ornaments, which would be of particular interest.

[gcoover]

Frank plays mostly in the Chris Droney style, as opposed to the Noel Hill style, but I would think his lessons on ornaments would be helpful no matter what style of Irish music you play. 

 

Gary

[Rob J]

I don't see a Kindle version on Amazon US FYI. It sounded like there should be from the earlier post. Thanks!

[gcoover]

Sorry, Rob, but Frank decided he didn't want it out on Kindle after all.

 

Gary

[David T]

I have the original books but seem to have misplaced the accompanying CDs!

[Leah Velleman]

On 8/25/2024 at 5:30 PM, a4naught said:

Would this book be good for an intermediate player? Or only beginner/starting out? I see that it is listed as having an extensive section on embellishments and ornaments, which would be of particular interest.

Like Gary says, it's basically in the Chris Droney style. But it adds some tricks that make it easier to play at faster tempos than Droney did, and with more ornaments.

 

(Basically, Edgley's trick is to switch rows a bit more often than Droney, though still way less often than Noel Hill — and the book talks about when he does it and why.)

 

If you've started out playing on one row, then yeah, this is an intermediate version of that. If not, it might not be very relevant to you.

Edited October 2, 2024 by Leah Velleman

[Leah Velleman]

(...er, that makes it sound like Edgley is "more advanced" than Droney somehow. I don't think that's true at all. It's just that Droney's genius was his absolutely brilliant sense of rhythm, which you can't learn from a book.)

[a4naught]

Thanks. For those of us not steeped in the various styles of play and theories, the details about what "the Droney" style means are what I was looking for, in part. I didn't take your note as any criticism of relative "advanced" playing comparison.

[backfortyjordi]

I know this is an old thread, but I'm just wondering before ordering. Is this book written out in just standard notation, or is it tab?