Are there many books about uilleann pipes? Not tutorials, but histories of the pipes, players etc. Which are the best, which are in print?
Thanks
Andrew
O’Neill’s “Irish Minstrels and Musicians” (1913) is your best bet for anecdotes, history, etc.
It’s available from Ossian USA still
Bill
For ancient history your best bet is “The Early History of Piping in Ireland” by Seán Donnelly, available from NPU. For essays on UP history check out the two CDs of the Sean Reid Society available from NPU.
djm
Check out back issues of “An Piobaire” & the “Pipers Review”, lots of articles there about uilleann pipes and pipers.
PJ Curtis’ fine book “Notes from the heart” has a nice chapter concerning Johnny Doran. Feldman’s Book “The northern fiddler” (hard to find & expensive) has some interesting stuff here & there between the covers regarding pipes, as has Caoimhín MacAoidh’s “Between the jigs & reels”.
Nice article about Willie Clarke at http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/w_clarke.htm
Also the article on fiddler Junior Crehan a great friend of Willie Clancy & Johnny Doran at http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/crehan.htm
Irish Folk Music Studies / Éigse Cheol Tíre has articles about Piper Jackson and The Kerry pipers
Do you have to be a member of NPU to order the Sean Reid CD’s???
You don’t have to be a member to order from NPU.
You do get discounts if you are a member on some things.
Steve
So, there’s no standard book on the pipes and their history? Part of the reason that I’m asking is that I’m a small publisher and I’m always interested in publishing or reprinting books in subjects that I have an interest in.
Andrew
Andrew, there are lots of books on pipes, but the majority of them are on Scottish warpipes, or bagpipes in general. There are also books in French and Italian on bagpipes. There’s just not a whole lot written scpecifically about UPs.
djm
Sorry, when I wrote ‘pipes’ I meant uilleann pipes specifically.
Also, there is a ton of misinformation out there. A correct historical publication with details on the instrument and its development, pipers past and the music would be excellent. Seán Donnelly’s writings are the best and the most historically accurate. O’Neill’s Minstrels and Musician’s is a beautiful piece of history itself and might be a publication you would like to re-publish. I think it’s currently out of print.
Patrick.
Just about everything by O’Neill is out of print with the exception of his 1850 and 1001 tune collections (Mel Bay). I’m sure there’d be interest in accessing the rest of his stuff. I just spent an unhealthy amount on eBay for his Irish Minstrels and Musicians.
djm
djm,
what size is Irish Minstrels and Musicians? Page count, approximate dimension? Does it have illustrations and/or notation?
8.25" high
5.79" wide
1" deep
497 pages not counting extra blank pages f & b.
“Profusely illustrated” (and proud of it) with B&W drawings, photos, notation.
Republished 1987:
Celtic Music
24 Mercer Row, Louth,
Lincolnshire, England
Reprinted by The Moxon Press Ltd.
ISBN 0 946987 04 1
How about Francis O’Neill’s “Irish Folk Music, a Fascinating Hobby”. Long out of print and currently available used on Amazon for $749.00!
Also, The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. I belive out of print, would be of more practical use to many of us.
Editing:
“As I said in a previous post, IMM is currently available from Ossian USA.”
What I guess I meant was it was recently available, I bought it less than a month ago. It was product number 00648-BK in their catalog, 42.00 USD, but it seems to have disappeared from their product listing. Maybe I bought the last copy? Worth contacting them about I think.
Bill
Thanks for the replies. I’ll consider reprinting O’Neill’s “Irish Minstrels and Musicians” and O’Neill’s “Irish Folk Music, a Fascinating Hobby”, since they’re in the public domain. “The Dance Music of Willie Clancy” would still be in copyright, so I would have to get the rights for it. It might not be too difficult to find out who has the rights, but a book of music would need to be spiral bound or open flat, which would cause difficulties with my printing and distribution methods.
How many people on the list would be interested in buying either or both of the above?
Incidentally, there’s a bibliography of O’Neill here:-
http://www2.redhawk.org:8080/irish/oneill/1850/Bibliography.html
The same site has ABC transcriptions of Music of Ireland (“1850”), Dance Music of Ireland (“1001”) and Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody
Does anyone have or could anyone make decent quality photocopies of either book (O’Neill’s “Irish Minstrels and Musicians” and O’Neill’s “Irish Folk Music, a Fascinating Hobby”)? I can pay for the cost of the copying and postage. Please PM me if you can do this.
If everything works out and I publish the books they would be available worldwide through all of the amazons and the other major Internet retailers, plus through any interested retailers.
Best Wishes
Andrew
There’s a reprint out on eBAY:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6972672711&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
Dont bid on the eBay item without checking with Ossian USA; Current retail on IMM is $42 USD. They confirmed last friday that they had 6 copies coming in soon, of which four were already spoken for. They may be able to get more copies, it’s worth asking.
Bill
But they are not available where you stated, so what’s the point?