Dionna, played by John McSherry on Youtube video

Uilleann Pipes
21

You hit the nail on the head Irishpiper.

Nice tune in my opinion and I would like to learn it…that’s all. Simple.

No comments on anything of importance. Don’t care what kinda pipes or anything else.

I do not have change for a hundred :slight_smile:

Cheers! Richard

22

I should be starting lessons with mcsherry soon, ill see if he can fork some sheet music over :slight_smile:

23

I learned this tune by ear a few years ago after hearing it on ‘At First Light’. As a musical illiterate, I can’t help you with notation. But I do think it’s worth mentioning that this song’s appeal relies greatly upon the chord changes in the accompaniment. It doesn’t work with the drones, and the melody alone lacks interest without the dissonances and resolutions created by the chords. For those who dislike synthesizers, I can imagine harp working well.

24

I don’t play it myself, but I do like that album, and McSherry’s playing in general. Richard, have you thought about trying to learn it by ear? The youtube video you point to has a somewhat different setting to the album, to my ear at least. You could think of it as a slow air - he probably never quite plays it the same way twice (e.g., he appeared to drop the octave in one passage towards the end, on a hard bottom E - kind of a nice effect, and maybe it was deliberate).

As Chadd remarks, it is a fairly simple tune (slow, repetitive), which means that to make it interesting you really have to work hard with chanter-colouring (Sherry uses lots of vibrato, lots of sliding, and lifts the chanter a lot). So simple = really hard, as with many things in life.

But the video is quite high-quality, and you can almost “read” the fingering off the screen. I think an hour or two spent watching it with one hand on the video controls (and the other two on the chanter :wink: could really help you knock out the bones, and the rest will come with practise, and repeat listening.

Good luck with it!

-F

25

Good to hear from you Frank.

Thanks for all the input.

I am certain that I could learn it by ear easily, but I am just being lazy.

I have learned most of my tunes by ear, but sometimes I just take the notation route for times sake.

I will probably purchase McSherry’s CD anyway. I really do like his piping style.

Cheers! Richard