(1)BOOK: The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle, by Grey Larsen. Available at your favorite music store or directly from Mel Bay Publications, #4 Industrial Drive, Pacific MO 63069. Phone: 1-800-863-5229. Order on-line at: www.melbay.com. Price: $39.95 plus shipping and applicable tax.

     This long-awaited method book and compendium of information about the history, literature, and techniques of playing music on the wooden flute and whistles is a “must have” for anyone interested in this style of music. More than that, however, this book includes advice and instruction that provide a good basic introduction to flute playing for everyone just starting to study the flute.

      Larsen’s concise and accurate descriptions and advice on breathing, embouchure formation, tuning, technique development, musical style and phrasing will be valuable to all flutists, whether on modern silver flute or traditional instruments. With clear instructions, excellent music examples and outstanding illustrations, Bloomington, Indiana flutist and folk musician Grey Larsen presents a fine overview of traditional Irish music and a very helpful introduction on how to develop a good embouchure and tone and the fingerings for simple system flute, as well as material on tonguing, breathing and phrasing.

      Of special focus, of course, are the intricacies of adding the many types of ornaments (cuts, strikes, slides, rolls, and crans, etc.) and the techniques of melodic variation that make up the essence of this style. (Anyone who has started to learn a few Celtic songs or dances from a tune book quickly learns how bland these pieces sound with just the outlines of the rhythm and melody bereft of the player’s individual interpretation and personal style that comes from judicious use of ornaments.) An accompanying compact disk includes performance of 98 musical examples and excepts found through the book.

     Perhaps the most valuable portion of this 480-page manual is that devoted to musical illustrations and recordings. Larsen has written 49 original studies and examples of how to apply ornamentation to characteristic melodic situations. (Each of these studies also is demonstrated by a recording on a second CD.) The next section includes 37 complete written-out versions of well-known jig, slip jigs, reels, and hornpipes chosen to illustrate particular ornaments, styles, and interpretations, which Larsen performs convincingly on the second CD. Larsen also provides a detailed analysis of the technical and musical aspects of each tune used as example. Finally, he has included 27 transcriptions from recordings by famous and influential flute and tin whistle players from 1925- 2001.

      The Appendices contain useful material on how to adapt Irish music to the Boehm system flute, fingering charts, an extensive bibliography for further reading and study, and a discography of important recordings and by influential performers. (Be sure to remember to click on the index of each CD to get access to the useful software and links included on the disks.) All-in-all, this brilliant new release is informative to read, a pleasure to hear, delightful to play through, and inspiring to ponder. It is sure to become a standard method and reference work in the U.S. (You will find more resources on Irish flute playing and information on Grey Larsen at his website: www.GreyLarsen.com.). (J.E.P.)

(2) CD: Short and Sweet - works for Piccolo,performed by Nan Raphael, former piccolo soloist with the U. S. Army Field Band, and Alfred Clark, piano. Available directly from the performer: email - solopikolo@aol.com, or phone: (202) 546-1587. Price: $15.00, plus $1.50 shipping.

     This CD is an exceptional treat not only because of the elegant playing of Raphael but also because it adds to the handful of recordings devoted to the literature of the piccolo. As the title indicates, this release focuses on shorter and lighter works of the repertoire which feature the melodious character of the instrument. This is not to say this recording is devoid of dazzling technique and display of the brilliance of the piccolo; however, it is Raphael’s clear and sumptuous tone in the middle and lower register, which is the hallmark of this CD.

      The seventeen works presented are not likely to be familiar even to piccolo aficionados but teachers and players will be glad to learn of them and the development of the literature of the piccolo. Included are a wide variety of works ranging from the late 19th century to the present, with arrangements (such as Shostakovich’s “Polka” from the Golden Age Ballet), recently composed works by Laurance Trott and Ricky Lombardo, suites of dances, soaring “new age” works by Steven Tung, humorous “characteristic” pieces from the concert in park era, 19th century themes and variations, and, finally, Laufer’s hilarious spoof, the Scars and Scrapes Forever. (J.E.P.)