I set out to write a negative review of this book. That in and of itself was a little surprising to me, because I am SO happy with the three Mountain Ocarinas I've purchased (so far) and the self learning curriculum.
Well, digging out the book to look it over while writing, I can't write the review I thought I would.
Okay, I set myself up for disappointment by ordering this book without knowing what was inside. That's my fault. Shortly after placing my order I used the "Ask Cliff" feature on the website and he almost immediately published the contents pages for all to see...at least I could swear they weren't there before....
There are only a handful of the many hymns that I wanted to learn in this book, along with quite a few that are "foreign" to me. Let's face it, there are countless churches on this earth, and while there are a few very famous hymns...we're definitely not all going to have the same favorites.
After putting this book aside and beginning the self learning course I realized that many of the hymns I was singing on Sundays were written in the same key as most of the songs in the curriculum...so I started transcribing the soprano notes by hand onto blank paper. When I opened "Favorite Hymns" a few minutes ago I was chagrined to see that I'd wasted a bit of effort, since here are "I Need Thee Every Hour" and "Sweet Hour of Prayer" all laid out for me.
But the real clincher, what made me ecstatic that I had indeed purchased this book came when I realized that the tune of one of the hymns, which I didn't think I'd ever heard of, was oddly familiar to me. "Morning Has Broken" is not one of the 300+ hymns in the hymnal used by my church. I recognized the tune as the melody from the Clannad song "Mystery Game".
Okay maybe I'm nuts.
Buy this book if you want to play enough of the hymns listed in the table of contents on your Ocarina to justify it to yourself. Then play the rest just for fun!
