Niall Vallaly Cd Rom?

[juhu]

Hi , i'm new to this forum , and relatively new to concertina, having played melodeons for a few years.

I am looking for a good introduction to irish playing and wondered if anyone has tried this cd rom out by Niall Vallely?

Any other suggestions on good irish tutor books, cd's etc.

Sorry if this topic has already been discussed and i didn't see it.

Cheers, lookin forward to alot of learning. Julian.

[fkohl]

I found the Vallely tutor very helpful when I started with the concertina a couple years ago. It contains a beginners section with airs, jigs, and reels played slowly, and then played with ornamentation. There is also an advanced section with additional jigs and reels.

 

I also found John Williams "Irish Concertina" DVD most helpful. I actually started learning to play with this one as it got me through the first rough week of figuring things out.

 

As for tutor books, the "The Angle Concertina" by Frank Edgley is excellent and comes with a companion CD.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Fred K.

[Ken_Coles]

Some reviews of the MadforTrad CD tutor are collected here and some (admittedly dated) notes on other materials are on the learning page.

 

Ken

[Roger Digby]

I contributed a brief review for PICA. It's at http://www.concertina.org/pica/index.htm

Personally, I believe your ears are the best teacher. Whatever route you take I hope it goes well for you.

Best wishes.

Roger

[geoffwright]

I found the madfortrad cd excellent - apart from the pictures being a bit shadowy on his hands, when you want to watch his fingers.

 

I learned the most about cross-fingering from listening to Mary Macnamara and working out what could be done in one direction (she uses very little ornamentation and doesn't need much slowing down).

A slower down is always useful to listen carefully to ornamentation on cds.

 

Workshops are still the best way to gain confidence - especially a longer workshop like Noel Hills.