Backstitching

Uilleann Pipes
21

Jerry O’Sullivan gave us a few good points on backstitching at the Pipers’ Gathering.

Firstly the rhythm: LONG-short-short-LONG was what he used.

Secondly, he used two techniques - Left hand and right hand. When playing a note with the left hand (the LONG notes in the rhythm) - for instance back d, C#, B or A - the stitch notes were G and F#. When playing a right handed note (G, F# or E), the stitch notes were C# and A.

Putting it all together and using the LONG-short-short-LONG rhythm this gave a tidy little exercise descending the scale from back d to E :

(Upper hand)
d-G-F#-d
C#-G-F#-C#
B-G-F#-B
A-G-F#-A

(Lower hand)
G-C#-A-G
F#-C#-A-F#
E-C#-A-E

Jerry finished with a cran on hard bottom D but also using the back-stitch notes:

D-C#-D-A-D

He had a few interesting variations which were completely lost on me. I was struggling to write it all down and he can play faster than I can think. I must buy a dictaphone.

22

For me, essential to good piping are two triplets a-c-a and G-F-E. Touhey uses these ‘movements’ for everything it seems.

On the top hand, a-c-a staccato triplets, g roll with a-c-a gracings (or g trill with double a gracing), backstitching with top hand c-a for the back stitch.

On the bottom hand, g-f for the cran and g-f for a top-hand note when backstitching.

Joe Shannon was told by Charlie Mack that Touhey was always moving the top hand while playing. It seems like it was niftily always moving in a consistent fashion. One of earliest triplets learned in Ireland for a student - f-g-a - Touhey does not do at all.

Liam O’Flynn uses both triplets heavily - a-c-a and G-F-E.