How to Play Dizi, the Chinese Bamboo Flute: The Basic Skills

This book may be small, clocking in at only 42 pages, but don't let that be a deterant from buying it if you want to learn how to play the Dizi. It packs a lot of useful information for a beginner, such as proper posture, breathing, and fingering for playing, as well as teaching the basics of reading Jianpu, the Chinese music notation method used for Dizi pieces. It also teaches you how to choose a Dizi if you're buying from a store (I recommend the NICOSHINE ones if buying here on Amazon), and also how to clean your Dizi. In the back, it gives a small number of pieces for a beginner to practice to get their skills up. They are a mix between Chinese songs, and Western Classical music, with Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky all having famous pieces included.Ultimately, I am very satisfied with this little book, and eagerly await the "advanced skills" book that will come out. Hopefully by the time it does, I'll be at a high enough proficiency that I'll be able to use it right away!It is worth noting that there are a few formatting oddities that come from this being independently published, such as a couple of widowed lines that are immediately followed by pictures, making them hard to notice so it seems like the sentence ends abruptly in the middle. Also, the first page of the Preface starts is on the right hand side, as opposed to the left, as is traditional in publishing. But these are VERY minor quibbles that don't detract from the value of the product at all, and I heartily recommend this book!

Basic text: learning how to attach the paper flutter piece, learn how to blow, how to read musical notation, and what holes cause what notes to sound. There are holes only, not like a western flute with has keys and more notes area available.

Despite being a Western and Asian flute (mainly shinobue) player, I had a tough time absorbing some of the ideas put forth in this small book. But it did answer MOST of the questions I had, like the fingerings for the D-key and other keyed dizis. I had been exposed to the notation system (jianpu) but it took several readings to understand the solfeggi regarding the different keys (shinobue notation is similar but relates to open finger holes and also neatly coincides with standard solfege). This book is about the only title on the dizi in English that I am aware of but I haven't been able to locate book 2, as book 1 (this title) is a very recent work (2017) and may not yet exist. I appreciate that the author wrote something on this instrument in English and that the book is pretty comprehensive in scope (selecting a dizi, its care, notation, fingering charts, sample jianpu scores, and the like). The photos are better than expected and the binding should hold up well over time. Recommended for someone searching for info. Definitely very helpful, and something I refer to repeatedly.

Hard to understand

I really like that it covers all the basic and fundamental stuff. However, the music stuff can get quite confusing and you'll probably need a music teacher to guide you through. The tables and fingering charts will be quite helpful in learning to play the flute.

Want to hear the music

There is actually a lot of good information in this book. However it is also a lot shorter than I expected. Now that I have it time will tell if the price is worth it. And since someone has asked, the book seems to be written for the key of D as that is specifically what the fingering chart says in the middle.

Bought a dizi. Thought it would be easy to play. Yeah, right!Mr. Lee's instructions (bought both the Basic and Advanced) helped me make music instead of just puffing until I was dizzy. (Hint. Tighten the corners of your mouth). Get both booklets!