The Baroque Ukulele (Book/CD Package) - A Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Songbook

This book is fanservice for followers of Tony Mizen's "From Lute to Uke" book. However, there are better books around the same price range, and even free tabs/tutorials you can find online on classical pieces for the ukulele that are going to be better than this book.To be fair, the tabs are decent - it is the glowing fanboy reviews which vastly differ from reality that really disappointed me. My review title "are you kidding" is exactly what went through my head as I flipped through the book for the first time when it came in the mail. Now, one month later, as I came back to Amazon's review space to see others' opinions before writing my own, I thought the exact same thing again! Are you frigging kidding me?1. Many people sing praises to the CD, but the whole entire thing just sounds mundane and uninspiring. Even my favorite Bach piece, Air on G, sounds just so-so and loses much of its charm. The uke has its limitations, but there are other arrangements in other beginner songbooks that are arranged with such creativity and ingenuity that it motives and inspires you to learn. Not so with this book.2.This brings me to the pieces themselves. I have Tony's other book, From Lute to Uke. I had a lot more fun playing those unfamiliar medieval pieces and enjoyed the tune more than on this book. The selection of classical pieces range from okay, of-course, to what's-this. I was disappointed that some of my other favorite baroque pieces were absent (no, not Canon). Amazon does not provide song list - I recommend visiting other stores, such as fleamarketukulele, Elderly, and other websites which actually provide a complete song list. Lesson learned.3. The arrangements are mediocre. The impression I got is that Tony just took 4 instruments out of the original composition and mapped them on each string of the ukulele. (I think the book's introduction says this but don't quote me). This method, which does not really cater to the specific qualities of the ukulele, creates what I said are mundane and uninspiring sounds. Listening to the CD, I have ZERO desire to learn ANY of the pieces. Out of the 4 uke books I've bought, this one is the least touched because of this - I simply do not enjoy the sounds that I make - and I do not believe I will enjoy it even when/if I play as well as the CD recording. The author needs to use more creativity and put more thoughts into these.4. Lack of instructions - Comparing this book to "Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele", published by Mel Bay, this book really is just a "songbook". Which I guess I should have set my expectations straight. BUT! There are 27 pieces in the Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele book. Each piece comes with complete chord charts above the measures to indicate the correct/recommended fingering. There is a page or two of notes on playing following each piece as well, giving special instructions on difficult parts. These two books being in the same price range, the Fingerstyle book just offers so much more value, at least to me.Of course, there are specific fingering/chords, some obvious and others not so much, in this book. I highly recommend you make notes yourself. However, this could take hours to do for each piece, something that the author probably knows like the back of his hands and would perhaps take no more than an hour to add into the book, neglected to do so. - This being a beginner/intermediate-level book, I would expect at least some notes/instructions to be included for each piece (there are some general instructions on reading musical notations at the beginning)The bottomline of this book being simply a songbook - offers less value, not so interesting arrangements. You should either have amazing pieces and offer no help on playing - for experts and dedicated players, or have simple/mediocre arrangements but with instructions for beginners to practice. This book is the later, without such said help that other books offer.I'd recommend the author's first book - From Lute to Uke though, because the lute pieces sound rather at home on the uke.

You need to be special to want to play baroque/classical music on a uke. But it works well and I love it!

The Baroque Ukulele (Book/CD Package) - A Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Songbook I've been playing my ukulele for about 2 years now. One of the best life choices I've ever made. For the last year, I've been enjoying playing songs from Tony Mizen's previous song book 'Lute to Uke'. I've spent many delightful hours playing songs from this book. Let me put this another way, I love playing these songs; its like a time machine back 1500's.I heard that Tony Mizen in conjunction with Jim Beloff (who I think the world of for his contributions to the Ukulele world) was coming up with a follow-up songbook "The Baroque Ukulele". I purchased the songbook as soon as it came out. Tony Mizen has another hit! Over the last month I've been having a delightful time working on Corelli's Gavotte and Pachelbel's Canon.These days, my practice sessions start by playing scales, then working on songs from the Baroque book, then I play some of my favorite songs from Tony's Lute book. If I have time then I play some modern 'strumming' songs.I highly recommend Tony Mizen's new "The Baroque Ukulele" songbook. It has earned a key place in my practice schedule and has open me up to a whole new era of music.

I really like Tony Mizen's ukulele books, The Baroque Ukulele and From Lute to Uke. The pieces are lovely to listen to on the CD and fun to play. And I mean fun! No teeth gritting and frustration. They just roll along off your fingers. In The Baroque Ukulele, he gives a nice introduction on the evolution of baroque music and interesting information on each of the pieces. The book includes a CD of Tony playing on a Fluke ukulele--it's amazing what a ukulele can sound like in the right hands! The basic arrangements are easy enough to play at a slow, basic level. However, ornaments were added to melody notes in Baroque music. Adding in those little notes and trills make the music really sing. The most famous piece in the book is the theme from Masterpiece Theater, Rondeau from Symphonies de Fanfares by Jean-Joseph Mouret. The other pieces will become familiar after listening to the CD over and over as you fall asleep at night to pleasant Baroque dreams.

I really like this book. The songs are lovely, short and not too difficult for me to tackle learning and playing them.The accompanying CD is lovely and a great aid to my learning and becoming familiar with the songs.

This book is a joy to own. It is noted in easy tab form. The CD with it is a joy even if your playing will take some time to get to that performance level. Good to have the music so you can hear what you are aiming for. A variety of composers but the selections should be well known to those who listen to Baroque music. How fantastic to see so many favorite pieces transposed to be playable by uke people. You don't have to be classically trained to put your fingers on a uke and work through these compositions. The CD will help with rhythm, dynamics, etc. I highly recommend it even if you're not going to give a concert. It's a good vehicle to improve your skills.

A nice collection of arrangements of popular pieces which should be in every ambitious uke player's collection. Some of the pieces are too complex to fully transfer to the 4-string, so some of the arrangements work better than others, but the intermediate fingerstyle player will find selections here that she or he will play many times.

Truly excellent arrangements for ukulele. I listen to the CD often, it makes wonderful background music. I also love Tony Mizen's 'From Lute to Uke'

Arrived early! Love the book!

I brought the Lute to Uke book and love it. Enjoy listening and playing music of this time and although the arrangements can be challenging especially for the novice player they are well written and easy to follow.

So glad I found this book, as a bass player and trombone player for most of my life I needed a new challenge so decided to learn the ukulele at aged 52. Anyone playing the uke and want to expand their technique should really buy it! Highly recommended.

Arrived in good time. Nice shiny cover! CD helpful and I love the beautiful baroque tunes. My husband enjoys listening to me play them as well! I'm not a natural musician, but found the tabs easy to follow on the whole.

The book contains the music I am interested in......perhaps a bit advanced for me but it encourages me to have a go.