Hi Guys,
Just wanted to post a reminder on the board here about the first quarterly Salt Lake Piping Club meeting and tionól that will take place January 24th. The day is going to be geared primarily towards beginning pipers though we will have more than one more established piper present as well and certainly won’t be leaving them out.
More information can be found at:
http://www.saltlakepipers.com/Events-Meetings.html
I look forward to meeting everyone able to make it! Slán go foill-
Brian~
Hey Brian-
A ‘drop circle’ on the map - what’s that for? Out of tune pipes?
Congratulations and enjoy the first of what I’m sure will be many enjoyable meetings!
Brian C
Brian,
Look again - it’s a CROP circle! 
I figured it was an easy way for the Crystal People to find us and join the session afterwards. If that isn’t it - I’m sure there’s SOME Pagan ritual we can complete out there during the course of the day…
I’ve gotten tentative confirmation of a party with (most) of the Chieftains the night before our tionól here in Salt Lake! Apparently Paddy won’t come out as he hates cigarette smoke something fierce, but there is much talk that the rest of the boys will be heading over to the Piper Down after their concert that night.
Anyone in the area may want to stop by. How many of us are going to the concert anyway??
Bri~
It has been confirmed -
The Chieftains will be doing a radio interview the day of their concert January 23rd (Friday) between 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm.
THIS WILL BE FREE!!!
KRCL 90.9 ( http://www.krcl.org ) will also carry a live stream for any interested in listening in. Mark Contor of the Fret and Fiddle show will be beginning the interview and then the floor will open to audience members.
Anyone interested in coming out to meet the guys, learn interesting facts, ask them direct questions and almost certainly play a few tunes together should DO SO.
The after concert party at the pub is still being hashed out as I understand it.
If you’re interested in coming out to the radio event, please contact me through the website and/or email for your FREE ticket.
All the best!
Brian~
Hey Brian,
Has the band made an open invite for local musicians to join them on stage for the last set of the evening?
And a CROP circle? Pagan rituals? Nice - right outside the doors of the Church! Ha!
Have fun at the show and the 1st meeting.
BrianC
So far as I know Brian, the option for locals to join the band for their encore number at the concert is still standing. I played with them a couple of years ago out in Denver. I remember they were very adamant about making sure we had tickets first though before they’d let us in for sound check.
The free show/interview they’re doing before hand is a completely different thing however. A real chance to get one on one with the guys and ask them any questions one may wish. As it’s a radio broadcast, I will be shocked to the point of near death if they don’t offer to play SOME tunes!
B~
I was on the phone yesterday with Seth Gallagher and was told he wasn’t certain what sort of things to expect from Paddy’s new chanter reed in Utah’s climate/altitude - so he’s sending out a second chanter/reed to be ‘played in’ before the concert on Friday.
Firstly, I’ve never noticed any difference in the playability of a reed due to altitude myself - certainly humidity and temperature can create wild swings in temperment but I haven’t noticed altitude. (I’ve played from sea-level to over 9,000 feet.
My biggest questions are first - is two days really enough time to properly play in a reed for it’s climate? I always thought this required months of playing. And secondly, what sort if issues would altitude present to a reed? Air density is of course slightly less at higher elevations. I also know that sircraft have no difficulties flying from heavy dense air to much thinner air around 35,000 - 40,000 feet; and performing very well in either. If a plane weighing several thousand pounds has no troubles making this transition from more to less density - what effects would the change from say one or two thousand to three or four thousand have on a reeds playability?
At any rate I’ll have a Gallagher chanter to play for a couple of days!
Thanks all…
Brian~
In a former life (well, not really but it seems that way), I used to fly airplanes. Believe me, there are indeed noticable differences in performance of both the wing and engine in climes and altitudes with less dense air…especially when the ambient air temp is warm. Aeroplanes do not climb as rapidly in less dense air nor do they achieve the airspeeds possible in more dense air. We don’t note it in commercial aviation as much as they are not operating as close to their envelope as many noncommercial aricraft would. One thing you could take note of however, is the length of takeoffs and the angle of ascent after takeoff in less dense air and at altitude. Them runways in Denver and SLC are way longer that they are here in the east and the planes lubmer down them for many sets of distance markers before becoming airborne. This is something a “pilot” one would notice. Anyways…I would expect that less dense air may indeed somehow affect the sound wave that would be generated by anything creating a sound. Sound travels a given speed. But, is the instrument creating the sound affected by the density of particles of which are set in motion to create that sound wave? Does it sound different when this is the case?
I may be way off-base here, but I suspect airplanes don’t take on or let go of moisture in quite the same way reed material does. I would guess that differences in air density would also affect the rate at which a reed let go or absorbed moisture.
djm
Good points.
I hadn’t thought of how density would affect the rate of absorbtion or saturation of a given material. That being said, can anyone give an idea what direct affect the change in altitude would have on tone?
(assuming the relative humidity and temperature remain fairly constant…)
I think what Seth might mean is to climatized the reed for a couple of days…get everything set up on the reed so it plays in the climate. Playing in a reed is another thing.
Hey, that’s one reason I switched from flying planes to windsurfing. I don’t have to worry about the length of the runway anymore, landing/taking off with wings like on the Moony…now I simply adjust the shape and tension on the sail’s Restricted Air Foil! Kinda like shaving and putting on a bridle.
Antaine writes:
“Bad Spellers of the World, UNTIE!
East Coast Dyslexic Culb”
Antaine, did you mean “lysDexic” club? 
djm
Speaking from personal experience, it took about a week for the reeds that Seth supplied to me to start showing signs of altitude sickness" e.g., they became very sharp, and the bottom D was gurgling with the slightest of pressure.
He later made another reed which he said was “very strong” in New York. After a week to ten days here in Denver, it was playing quite nicely, with good response between the octaves.
The humidity around that time (I kept a close eye on it during those first days) was between 26% and 29% relative. This is somewhat higher humidity than outside, as I keep my pipes in the basement rec-room area, where it’s about 5-10 higher humidity than the rest of the house.
By the way, I recall asking Paddy a few years’ ago (when he was lamenting about the dry Colorado climate) that he might consider sending a spare reed to me ahead of an appearance here. He never took me up on it, but on the other hand, his pipes never seemed to go way out of whack, either. THAT said, the first time I got to go on stage with the Chieftains (3 or 4 years ago) Paddy emphasized to the local musicians that joined them that they’d be playing at 447.
Hope that helps.
BrianC
I do remember the ‘447’ comments he’s made in the past - though I have heard that this was also the case when he’d play back east as well - at sea level.
I wonder if it had to do more with his individual chanter setup rather than his reed going wonky. Paddy isn’t known to be one who messes around much with his reeds at all from what I’ve been told. I can only imagine the differences between his older Rowsome stick and his new Gallagher would be noteable as well.
Anyway, the chanter has arrived, and I’ll be playing it as much as possible tomorrow and Friday morning. Here’s to hoping either it or his current stick will work fine (and in tune!)
B~
Man, that takes me back about 20 years…
Is there really an Irish pub in SLC these days? The guy at the tranny shop in July was named Dennis O’Reilly and he didn’t have a clue.
Royce
(Of course the shop was full of LDS church literature in the reading area so maybe it wasn’t a priority…)
Air density does indeed have a fairly dramatic effect on pitch of pipes. I once heard a set of GHBs powered by helium…a bit sharp, even for the most progressive of grade one bands. Another similar effect can happen when playing a practice chanter - drink a can of fizzy juice and burp into the mouthpiece, and the dip in pitch is quite audible (when you’re not laughing).
I seem to recall I saw a formula for working out the pitch change relative to air density on RMMB a while back. I’m sure Google knows.
Cheers,
Calum
I played a graduation party for a buddy years ago and we emptied a helium baloon into my GHB. It shot the tone up about 4 notes sharp. As it ran out of helium, you could hear the tone flatten bit by bit. I was almost laughing too hard to play. I also played on a high mountain in Japan. 10,000 feet they told me. Breathing wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but the sound was thin and given more to squeaking.
Marc