( 1 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Apr 17 2007
I bought this after completing The NEW Nine-Note Recorder Method: Easy Music for Beginners (an excellent book) and Penny Gardner's follow up book, "Beyond the Nine-Note Recorder." So I thought I would be ready for "Folk Songs of Many Nations." However, I found this book overly complicated and the arrangements a bit busy. You're thrown right into 2/2, 6/8, 2/4 and 5/4 time signatures, with complex rhythms, and accompaniments that go off in all directions. The companion CD is hard to play along with because (1.) several songs are packed into each track in rapid succession, (2.) you get almost no countoff, and (3.) only the accompaniment is played, so you don't have a model for how your part is supposed to sound. Also, the songs are not what most of my generation would consider folk music, but rather English, Russian, and French country dances. All of that said, however, once I painfully worked my way through each song, I did rather enjoy playing along with the CD and now that I am more than halfway through the book, I'm feeling rather acomplished. Tip: Listen to the CD and jot down the timecode for where each song starts next to each song in the book so you can find particular songs later.
