http://www.kerrywhistles.com/movies/Dave_Williams_Tribute_05j1.wmv
A great great, clip…
Some nice pipering, not to mention flutering and fiddling. 
Becky’s pipes are made by whom?
There’s loads more where that came from on Phil Hardy’s website:
http://www.kerrywhistles.com/dl.php?group=23#
Are these tunes from McGoldrick recordings?
Serious stuff!
Patrick.
It’s really nice to take a break from things (reedmaking, fixing broken doggies and kitties, nose picking…) and kick back with Phil’s archives playing on the PC. A great resource for the newer pipers, flute and whistle blowers to watch how some of the big dogs do it… erm… play tunes that is. 
Great. Just great.
Thanks, you made my night.
Not too sure about if there from McGoldrick’s…
When are we going to see more of your clips Patrick?
Not sure what the first two tunes are. The last tune we call Trip to Pakistan in these-here parts.
Becky’s chanter looks like boxwood or holly. Make anyone? Reminds me of Rogge in a way, but doesn’t sound like it to my ears. Fab ulous off the knee lower octave sound on that chanter. You out there Beckitybeck?
t
Looks like a Hunter stick to me. Great stuff!
Anyone else having bad luck in getting to this site? 
I keep getting bounced either to an AOL address with nothing on the page (in safari), or (in netscape) back to my own home page.
Help?
KAD
It’s an old Hunter chanter in Lignum Vitae.
that lady piper sounds great, but doesn’t it look like she’s grippin the chanter a bit tight? Anyone else?
andreas
I don’t think so. If you are used to seeing a fella’s big ol’ mitts on a chanter, then a woman’s gracile digits will look quite different in comparison. This is over-generalizing/genderizing to an extent, but the principle is valid. If Becky is over gripping it certainly doesn’t come through in her playing. I think one can hear over gripping. I know I can hear it in my own playing 
I find women pipers really inspiring for some reason. I hope my daughter does too. I wouldn’t mind another piper in the kleen clan.
t
I think it’s the curled index finger on her top hand that gives that impression. Funny, I do that myself and have been working to unbend it which is helping to relax my top hand in the process, but it keeps curling again as soon as I stop paying attention and start to focus on the music. And then I noticed in pictures of Brian McNamara that he bends his top hand index finger too, so maybe it’s not such a big deal after all! The other thing Becky does that I’m working on taming a bit myself is to lift her fingers rather far off the chanter…if you compare with Willie Clancy, for example, with his fingers that stayed close you’d say she was doing too much work, but her playing doesn’t sound labored so maybe it’s not an issue. But she’s a very open-style “flutey” piper; if she was playing more staccato I think you’d see the fingers stay closer.
That’s cause you’re on a Mac and you must not have Windows Media Player installed. You can download it from the Microsoft site in their Mactopia section:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=windowsmedia
You should download it soon because Microsoft has announced that they will stop supporting Windows Media Player for the Mac.
I think any and all good young pipers inspire me, as I’m one myself.
I hate the piping doldrums
Thanks Brad. Does anybody know the name of these tunes Becky’s playing with the flute player in the pub?
KAD
I am thinking the last one is “A Trip to Pakistan”. Of course it probably has several other, seemingly unrelated, names.
t
Nothing wrong on this end with my MAC; easily seen on a UNIX machinerunning 10.4.x and a broadband connection.
The last tune is definitely “Trip To Pakistan,” which was composed by Edinburgh flute-player, Niall Kenny.
Apart from the excellent playing, it was also entertaining to watch the background activity. Folks sharing fags, a fiddler handing his fiddle off to a piper to play a tune…
Hi guys…been off board for a while with flu
Back now, and interesting to read your comments. Glad you enjoyed the playing, but before you all get too far down the analysis route I’d just like to remind everyone that the occasion for the event was the Dave Williams Tribute weekend, held at the end of October last year in Slough.
Everyone that was there was there to pay tribute to a great pipemaker - Dave Williams, but also a great man, one who loved going for a few pints and playing a few tunes with his mates, and that is exactly what we did in his honour…had a few pints and played a few tunes…
That particular clip was taken around 9pm on the Sunday evening, just before the evening concert, and after many hours of said drinking and playing that afternoon, and also the night (and morning!) before, we were having fun and he would have liked it that way.
The tunes are some of my favourite piping tunes for a concert chanter. The first two were written by piper David Lim (fantastic tunes) the 1st is ‘Edinburgh Rock’ in F#m, the 2nd ‘The Bunny’s Hat’ and the last tune in the set is indeed 'Trip to Pakistan by Niall Kenny. Tunes David and myself used to play together many years ago in the now dufunct ‘Reed Riot’ duelling pipes led band!
Can’t do anything about my index finger curling round, it just does it…seemingly despite any attempts to straighten it, but it doesn’t cause me any particular problems. That chanter is my old Hunter wide-bore in Lignum Vitae. Its got an amazing tone and bottom end off the knee quality which I can’t live without, but which comes with a price…very hard and loud reeds. Some people think that has hampered my playing over the years, in a way it has dictated my style when it comes to concert chanter playing, and left arm muscles (!) but concert chanter and flat chanter playing are two different beasts and my style changes depending on the pipes i’m playing. I can tend to overgrip the chanter especially when the reed is hard and loud and I’ve been playing for hours on end, but its not usually a problem!
Oh, and ‘that flute player’ is Mike McGoldrick!!
You guys!