Bl**dy, bas***d reed.....

Uilleann Pipes
1

Feck! Feck! Feck!

Calm down, Jon! OK, breathe deeply…

I got my practice set 5 weeks ago yesterday so you can tell I’m just about due a dose of the reality of pipering, I guess I’ve been living on borrowed time. Sure enough, I noticed that over the last little while it was getting harder to play the top notes of the second octave. This morning I couldn’t get above the high G no matter how hard I pumped the bag.

No probs, I thought - I’ll do me some reed-tweaking!

So I read the maker’s comments (Charles Roberts) and the excellently detailed online stuff by Pat Sky and had a bit of a go. I closed the lips of the reed a bit and it played great - got it in one, I was so impressed. Left it down for a couple of hours and… disaster! Wouldn’t play low notes at all!

Panic ensued! I’d love to tell you what I did then but I’ve tried so many different permutations of opening and closing the the reed and raising and lowering the bridle that I honestly think I’m very lucky to have it working at all!!! There have been moments when it hasn’t been playable but I’m very relieved to tell you it it is now. I’ve got a nice solid, no gurgle low D again and I can go all the way to the top D without having to lean against a wall to give the bag the necessary extra squeeze! I’m guessing it’s just about right in the pressure dept (it’s actually easier than it ever has been in 2nd octave) and the intonation seems ok too.

Of course it could all go to shite by the time I play it again in the morning, but my only quibble now is B’. The B in the 2nd octave has a very strange harmonic gurgle on it. I thought at first it was due to my sloppy closing of fingerholes with my right hand but now I don’t think that’s it, although it doesn’t happen every time. It gurgles but it’s not B it’s gurgling, it’s another note, over the top of the B.

Any clues, folks? Is it a common occurrence, or have I ballsed it up in a new and unique way? Should I place my order for a new reed A.S.A.P.?

Thanks in fretful anticipation

j.i.

2

For the moment I think you don’t need to play the B in second octave ! Don’t touch this reed now , before to get another one ! It’s the best .

3

My B does that if I don’t play it X|X00XXXx (ie the “proper” fingering)

If I leave the G finger open (X|X000XXx) it gurgles…

4

Sounds like you have a good reed. I wouldn’t worry yet too much about your top B. 5 weeks is not very long to have a reed, so I’d suggest leave it as is and play it as is and you may find that after another few weeks that the reed will begin to sound better. Don’t get too impatient with trying to tweak reeds as it’s far too easy to go that little bit too far and stuff it up all together. If you’re only quibble is the top B then sounds like you’ve got a reed that many would just about kill for.

Cheers,

DavidG

5

Secondhand by the way - so I don’t know how old this reed is.

Just thought I should add that bit of info.

j.i.

6

Hi J.I.,

You shouldn’t worry about it too much. After 5 weeks of playing you will have trouble with playing the 2nd octave anyway. Take things nice and slowly and don’t worry too much about tuning etc. It takes years to be able to play these yokes half way decently at all so jsut take one step at a time… one technique at a time etc etc.

Is there an experienced piper anywhere near you that could give you a hand? They might be able to set the reed up decently for you. The NPU videos are great if you haven’t those.

Happy New Year,

Patrick.

7

JI, yes this is a common occurance..which is why they tell you “don’t feck with the reed!”…

Always good to have a second or a third reed first before you start fecking with one of them…that’s why I’ve decided to start making my own..

Wecome to one of the maddening parts of piping.

-gary

8

JI, congratulations on your skillful mastery of the piper’s vocabulary and correct usage of same. You are well on your way!

Play your reed in for at least 20 minutes to warm it up before making changes - ignoring any weirdnesses it may display on first playing. You may have been overpressuring the reed in your early learning attempts, and this is the reed’s way of shortening your life in recompense.

Enjoy!

djm

9

Also, don’t forget what time of the year it is, and it is highly likely that your reed is reacting to changes in humidity…like drying out. A vast amount of patience…something I will always need to work on…is perhaps the most valuable thing you can learn for yourself, when taking on the Uilleann Pipes.

Patience, Grasshopper, patience. :smiley:

10

Joe nails it.

Consider what the weather was like 5 weeks ago, compared to more recently.

I predict that WITHOUT any tinkering with the reed, that it’ll come back.

11

High B? I’m lucky if my reed hits high B on a good day. Some days it sings, others, well others it just won’t go past A without a lot of gracing. My solution is to not play tunes with B in them.

:wink:

-Patrick

12

I know a piper who puts the kettle on the gas ring in his kitchen ten minutes before he starts playing on a summers night to get some moister in to the lovely dry English evening air on a summers night,works a treat. :wink:
I’ just fall a sleep with all that lovely music. :sleep:

13

It doesn’t happen often, but Central Florida will dry out occasionally during the winter months, during these times, I will put the kettle on about a 1/2 an hour prior to picking up the pipes…this way, the first three strokes of the bellows sends much needed moisture to the reeds and I don’t have to wait too long to play with ease and ear comfort.

14

Joseph it sure helps the reeds from drying out to much,anyone with central heating should also try it out by putting a container of water on the radiator ten-to-fifteen minutes before playing, but if possible try to avoid rooms with central heating,if you have a gas ring on your cooker in your kitchen just light a couple of rings before playing, there should be enough moisture from the flame it self, kitchens are good places for playing pipes I find, getting some moisture into the air of the room while playing will help the reeds from hardening and closeing down,just try it out and give us your verdict. :wink:
all the best for the new year guys. :party:

15

It’s been a busy day today entertaining some visitors from Romania but the reed seemed pretty good duuring a brief tootle earlier - I think I got away with it after all!

Thanks for all your imput. I certainly think getting a spare reed would be a sound idea before I get too adventurous and try to tweak it again.

But hey… I’m a born messer - can’t help but fiddle with things, whether I know what I’m doing or not!

j.i.

16

Mr. D’Arcy as usual is correct. Find a teacher to help you with reed adjustments - you cannot do this alone because you and your reed and your chanter all must come to some kind of agreement in order to make music together. A piper who has been through the negotiation process is invaluable to a beginner.

Even the most isolated pipers who made any sort of a reputation for themselves as performers of the music and the instrument still sought expert advice early and often.

Do not mess with the reed unnecessarily. Since you live in England, I doubt that the weather is much of a problem for you but you need to take care that the RELATIVE humidity (the actual moisture in the air versus its saturation capacity determined by temperature and barometric pressure) in your dwelling does not dip below 50%.

It shouldn’t be difficult to overcome if it gets below 45-50%, just put a pot of water on the stove and play in your kitchen if necessary. Use a hygrometer to judge the RH - they aren’t hard to come by, any decent hardware store should have a few laying around.

About 80% of the difficulties you will encounter will be due to your inexperience with the chanter and with the reed. Don’t feel bad about that, it’s NORMAL, everyone struggles with that initially. Just take the time to try to figure out how your chanter and reed want to be played [this can take a year or two or more of daily practice] and you’ll figure it out if you just keep listening to yourself and to lots of recordings. It’s not difficult but it is time consuming.

Practice in the dark helps A LOT, too. Shut down your eyes and listen.

Remember that many of the most notable pre-famine or contemporary pipers were blind. I think that fact is very very important to remember as an illustration of the essential nature of LISTENING to the music happening around you. Patsy Touhy didn’t have tapes or records or CDs. Nor did Garrett Barry, Edmund Keating Hyland, William Kennedy, Turlough McSweeney, James Early, Bernard Delaney, Paddy Conneely, Maurice O’Farrell or even Leo Rowsome until his teens…You could say Leo learned to play pipes entirely independent of any sort of recording technology as a boy in a musical household. Just like the other gents I mentioned. And they all became titans not because of their fingers but because of their ability to listen in a focused, disciplined manner. You will only become as good as your ears permit you. All the dexterity in the world is useless if you cannot listen to yourself in a critical manner.

Best wishes,

Patrick.

P.S. Practice. Don’t waste a lot of time on fora like this one. Face to face tuition, disciplined, focused, daily practice, and an abiding love of Irish Traditional Music will get you farther than 99.9% of the “advice” you get on this forum or others like it.