Audience reaction to Uilleann pipes.

[rorybbellows]

@scampers

@CHasR

Just to go off on a tangent ,in the second sample clip above does the back D on Davys chanter break at 4.14 and at 4.20 ? if it is,it appears to done in a very controlled and on purpose manner.Sax players employ a similar technique.

RORY

I don’t think the back D is breaking here, it looks and sounds like he’s playing 3 to 4 back D’s by sliding his thumb up and down over the note hole quickly. Paddy Keenan uses this quite a bit i think.

[/quote]
Welcome to the forum Scampers.When I heard it first I thought is was far to fast to be performered with the thumb,but Davys thumb must be lightening fast after all these years. But your right,after looking at the clip again you can just catch Davys thumb moving as the camera angle changes at 4.14.

@MichaelLoos

Many seem to believe this technique was invented by either Finbar Furey or Paddy Keenan, in fact, it was already described in Crowley’s Tutor, printed in 1936.

Heres the page from Crowleys tutor,it shows a C cut between each D, is this an orniment for open playing?

RORY

[scampers]

@rorybbellows

@scampers

@CHasR

Just to go off on a tangent ,in the second sample clip above does the back D on Davys chanter break at 4.14 and at 4.20 ? if it is,it appears to done in a very controlled and on purpose manner.Sax players employ a similar technique.

RORY

I don’t think the back D is breaking here, it looks and sounds like he’s playing 3 to 4 back D’s by sliding his thumb up and down over the note hole quickly. Paddy Keenan uses this quite a bit i think.

Welcome to the forum Scampers.When I heard it first I thought is was far to fast to be performered with the thumb,but Davys thumb must be lightening fast after all these years. But your right,after looking at the clip again you can just catch Davys thumb moving as the camera angle changes at 4.14.

Thanks for the welcome Rory. The only reason i knew this was i just learned it at last summers wcss. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste but it does catch people’s attention when you use it and it’s nice to throw some wild stuff into your piping every now and again to get heads turning.

[MichaelLoos]

All ornaments in the Crowley tutor are laid out for the open scale he gives, his fingering for back D is all fingers of the right hand and left hand thumb and forefinger open, so closing the thumb will invariably produce a C note. Most ornaments are based on GHB techniques.
IMO, mostly everything in the tutor shows very clearly that Crowley himself was mainly a player of the Highland pipes, and probably not much an uilleann piper. With the fingering given, staccato playing (although mentioned) is quite impossible.
The trick for performing a good back D triplet is, moving only the end joint, rather than the hole thumb. It does require a good bit of practice, and indeed it doesn’t sound great if performed poorly.

[rorybbellows]

@scampers

The only reason i knew this was i just learned it at last summers wcss. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste but it does catch people’s attention when you use it and it’s nice to throw some wild stuff into your piping every now and again to get heads turning.

Just curious Scampers but which way were you taught to play it ,with all fingers down on the chanter or was it with some other fingering ?

RORY

[Jeff_Cullen]

Most ornaments are based on GHB techniques.

I’m a GHB player…but I don’t think I would agree with that. That’s probably a subject for a new thread…

[macwarner57]

I recently overheard someone say: “Those are called Northumbrian Smallpipes”

Also (at one session I frequent, held in a college town coffee house) saw two college girls walk in, shake their heads in disgust, throw their hands in the air, and walk straight out.

ROFL

[rgouette]

Also (at one session I frequent, held in a college town coffee house) saw two college girls walk in, shake their heads in disgust, throw their hands in the air, and walk straight out.

ahh the ol “we thought this was woman’s studies class let-down”

[magroibin]

@macwarner57

Also (at one session I frequent, held in a college town coffee house) saw two college girls walk in, shake their heads in disgust, throw their hands in the air, and walk straight out.ROFL

I suppose instead of having them called “You-lee-in” pipes, that’s when they’re better called “You-leav-in’” pipes!

[scampers]

@rorybbellows

@scampers

The only reason i knew this was i just learned it at last summers wcss. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste but it does catch people’s attention when you use it and it’s nice to throw some wild stuff into your piping every now and again to get heads turning.

Just curious Scampers but which way were you taught to play it ,with all fingers down on the chanter or was it with some other fingering ?

RORY

Hey Rory it was with all fingers on the chanter and by sliding the side of your thumb up and down on the back D. A great tune for it is the eavesdropper where there is 3 back D’s after D B B A G B ddd B G. Hope this works i’m not sure how to do all the fancy stuff ye guys do on the site .

[Cathy_Wilde]

We had a busy music weekend and my efforts were rewarded with a fair number of “what the heck are those?” questions. I was also reminded that there’s one term I really, truly despise … “Yooleans.” I’ll take “cat strangler” or “octupus wrestler” any day over “yooleans.”

[macwarner57]

@Cathy Wilde

I really, truly despise … “Yooleans.”

I always have to correct people with “No, it’s pronounced like Villan, but without the V.”

Which is why we should call them by their proper name. UNION PIPES.

zips up flamesuit

[Jager]

@macwarner57

@Cathy Wilde

I really, truly despise … “Yooleans.”

I always have to correct people with “No, it’s pronounced like Villan, but without the V.”

Which is why we should call them by their proper name. UNION PIPES.

zips up flamesuit

Or why not something more along the lines of flute naming? So as to call them something along the lines of the Taylor Perfected Pastoral Pipes, or whoever the maker in question is.