I am approaching 1 year of regular practice and playing on my Brad Angus Concert D Chanter. A few months ago I asked Brad to make me a set of drones for it. I also have a Vignoles 1/2 set but could never get the set to play well… but I am working on that. When I ordered the drones Brad tried to convince me that I might be happier if I got a full set in the long run. But decided to just get the drones.
Many years ago I also had a flat B Wooff practice set but I did not have adequate instruction, did not practice, and never got anywhere with it. I sold it. I have been kicking myself ever since because it sounded soooooo good for what I could play. So I contacted Geoff about another chanter or half set. He quickly replied that it may be too long for him to get to it and suggested his apprentice. He also suggested that I might be happier, in the long run to get a 3/4 or full set.
But here is the thing. I am not so big on the regulator part of this instrument. I love the way the chanter sounds all by itself. Sometimes I also like the sound of the drones to go with it. But the regulators always sound like they are forced into a tune… to me. I play a little piano. And cords there seem to add a lot to any tune but I dont get the same feel from the regulators cords. They also add more weight, more air supply requirements, more bulk, more cost, and more skill. Although they do look really pretty.
Anyone else feel that way?
Any really experienced players who do not use regulators?
As I mature into playing the pipes will I end up wanting regulators?
This is only my opinion, but of course you can get along very happily with a half-set. And there are tons of times when pipers don’t use regulators, especially in sessions, groups, etc. Plus they’re a whole 'nother set of things that can go wrong, leak, have reed issues, etc.
But after you’ve played pipes for a while, especially as you get deeper and deeper into them, I suspect you’ll feel the call. I’ve been hearing regulators in my head as I play for about two years now and it’s like a phantom pain or something.
You don’t have to get the whole kit at once. Although it is good to let a maker know you’re planning to eventually. I got my chanter first, then the drones a couple years later, and now two years later am moving on to a full set. This timeline has served me well – in addition to lots of practice time, by now I almost get the basics of reeds, drone behavior, where things can leak, etc. (If I’d been handed a full set five years ago I still probably wouldn’t be playing the regs!)
So. Discuss it with your pipemaker, of course, but learning to play a full set is usually a process. Having one made can be, too (though if it was me, I would ask about ordering my chanter with a bag/tied-in mainstock (instead of a practice bag) because it might be more cost-efficient – I am so NOT going to mess with tying things in!).
Finally, many many people are happy with 3/4 sets. They’re really a very, very sensible option. But of course I have to go for the extra value meal …
And there are tons of times when pipers don’t use regulators, especially in sessions, groups,
I am not sure you can generalise that too much. A lot of essential piping subtlety gets lost in group playing and regulators can be a nice distraction while playing with others, they can also add some extra texture to the sound. I used to play an awful lot of regulators when I played in a regular duet setting (not necessarily on the CD though. Maybe I did on the live CD with the group,I haven’t actually listened to that.) I noticed sometime ago when Tommy Keane and Jacqui were in Friel’s Tommy sat on the regs almost constantly, filling out the sound quite nicely (there were five or six of us playing, I played the whistle).
Fair point, and conceded. I definitely don’t travel in the same circles as yourself and Tommy Keane! But it was the subtlety angle I was driving at – it seems like most of the pipers I’ve seen save the regs for solo turns or very small groups (unless they’re amusing themselves). I’ve always figured it was because the sound & rhythm are so easily lost in the general din of larger gatherings.
Long time listener, first time post-responder - (I do enjoy your blog, good work)
I didn’t really get regulators either when I first started listening to the pipes but then again I didn’t know what I was hearing most of the time, still don’t really. Now, some regulator playing I still don’t find enjoyable to listen to… I like when the regulators do not overpower the chanter or drones, just compliment them.
I knew I was hooked on regulators when I found myself sitting in the car before work for longer than I’d care to admit listening to the first 10 seconds of Seamus Ennis playing Lady Carbury / The Mason’s Apron (From The Return from Fingal album) over and over because it knocked my socks off how he starts the tune and builds it up in the first bar with with a b and g (I don’t know chords, just the notes) on the regulators and how such a little thing could add so much punch to the tune. Looking that last line over, I know that doesn’t make sense, but if you listen to it you’ll hear it.
And on the filling out the sound - Another recording I enjoy very much is Willie Clancy playing the air “The Bold Trainer O’” (On the Gold ring album) He starts off playing the chanter on its own, then just one note on a regulator for a bit that leaves you hanging for more (And the tension builds…) - and just when you feel you can’t take it any longer (Cathy, perhaps I feel the phantom pains as well?) he turns the drones on and it just knocks you over… that beautiful wall of sound hits you like a restraining order from an ex-girlfriend. I think the effect of the drones kicking in is heightened by the tension the one regulator note helped build. A bit later in the tune he uses the regulators and it’s not distracting or an unpleasant surprise… just pure joy for the listener. Once again, a pitiful attempt at describing the beauty I hear in that one recording I will never tire of hearing.
I have regulators, am a beginner and I use them once in a blue moon when playing sloooooow airs but it’s baby steps at this point for me. I don’t want to put the donkey ahead of the cart… but I still have fun with them, as in my case, it’s just one Ass hauling another around regardless of who’s in front.
I think you will, but of course I can’t be sure because I don’t know you. I got a fourth regulator that plays just the note E, not because I really needed it (I can easily be without it.. actually being without it is easier than being with it) but because I felt I would like to be able to use that note on the regs. It’s nice to have it there for the times I feel I want to use it. But if you don’t feel like you’d want to play the regs and you don’t want to spend money on them now, wait until you really want to use them. Then there is good reason to get them. If I remember right, Mick Coyne doesn’t use his regs at all on the Piper’s Choice vol 3 DVD from NPU.
I am SUCH a sucker for a single regulator notes. Those knock me over every time!
IIRC, Brian MacNamara’s “Bright Lady” was my gateway drug. Mick O’Brien’s “May Morning Dew” wasn’t far behind. Speaking of Mr. O’Brien and interesting regulator use, especially for sustains, I like this one:
I get the impression that there are a lot of Uilleann pipe learners who feel that to be a good or complete piper, you have to have regs.
One listen of Tommy Reck’s ‘Stone in the Field’ record will straight away tell you, no you do not need regs to be good piper. Nice to have, fancy to look at, make a set of pipes appear less wimpy, but when it comes to the art of piping, they add far less than their appearance would suggest. This from myself who likes regs, am learning to play them, but protest vehemently when anyone suggests that to be considered a good piper, or a complete piper, you must have regs.
In fact, I reckon that if you take any piper worth their salt and listened to them pipe a tune, you wouldn’t even notice the absence of regs until they played a chord causing you to remember that, ‘oh, yeah, regulators, ok, that’s nice, carry on’. I mean, does anyone consider the tunes of Paddy Moloney to be any less pipering because he rarely plays a reg?
So I say, if regs don’t do it for you, carry on and don’t let anyone tell you you are not a complete piper without them. Learn instead to carry them away with your chanter work alone. When you can do that, you are a piper.
I was thinking along the same lines and was about to post something similar.
Have a listen to Pat Mitchell’s Uilleann Pipes,
a superb album using just C chanter and the two smaller drones (is there no bass going or is it just low in the mix? causing the auditory illusion of no bass going?)
One listen of Tommy Reck’s ‘Stone in the Field’ record will straight away tell you, no you do not need regs to be good piper
It’s probably good to bear in mind Tommy didn’t have his pipes going very well for that recording so he just couldn’t use his regulators. He was in fact a very fine regulator player, once he had them going.
There was one occasion, 1989 probably, where Tommy was listening to me play for a while. At some point Geoff Wooff handed him the Harrington, with the suggestion he may as well join. Which he did with a big smile on his face. The Harrington was probably the first really going set he had played in years, possibly decades. At that point his own Kenna set had been reeded by Alain Froment and Tommy was deeply uncomfortable with it (in fact some days later a friend put a Neillidh Mulligan reed in Tommy’s chanter and he was flying it.
Anyhow, once he was tackled up with the Harry, Tommy took off and was all over the regulators, vamping away like there was no tomorrow. I remember playing the Standing Abbey, second time around Tommy played the tune just about completely in triplets while vamping in and out on the regs. Quite stunning.
It’s a matter of making do with what you have, when they’re not working, you’re fine without. When they’re going well and are at your disposal, you may not want to stay away from them.
Yes, that’s very true and I would love to hear Reck playing with regulators. Stone in the Field however goes to show that Reck was (and anyone can be) just as much an accomplished piper without regulators and as such shows that the bulk of what goes in to being a piper is all in the chanter.
In the end I guess it’s like a pizza - you can’t have a pizza without a dough base (chanter) and tomato paste (drones) but while pepperoni isn’t essential, it can certainly make a difference.
Two points
Like Ronan Browne advocates, all the great pipers know listening is just as important as playing.
Just shows how not having a correctly set up set of pipes can stifle a player
Just shows how not having a correctly set up set of pipes can stifle a player
In fairness it was probably just a new reed he wasn’t familiar with. And as I remember now, the bag had been replaced and the stock was tied in at an angle different from what he was used to. I played the set for well over an hour and I didn’t think it was particularly troublesome.
As for his regulator playing, here he is as he played in 1957. Very tasty:
The thought of grappling with regs for me is a step too far for my current playing ability, which is in an unclassified void somewhere between beginner and intermediate. I enjoy my drones very much, and do eventually want to take my set up to a 3/4, but I know it will add an extra level of pain, not only physically, and audibly, but setup wise too.
I really hate to hear nice piping interrupted by the honking of an angry motorist, which is what some reg playing can sound like. I would hazard to guess this comes from to the setup being wrong.
How hard is it to get that Chanter, Drones, Regs to balance right? Is there a sweet spot between the three that can be defined in decibel levels?
Example: if your chanter is X loud, the regs should be Y and the drones Z.
Edit- Thank you for the Tommy Reck audio Mr Gumby. Very nice indeed.
How hard is it to get that Chanter, Drones, Regs to balance right? Is there a sweet spot between the three that can be defined in decibel levels?
Example: if your chanter is X loud, the regs should be Y and the drones Z.
Not hard at all ( but then I’ve done it once or twice before and just about to do it for the 209th time)…
The problem for some people is this; when you start with a practice set you have all the Wind and one reed. Because beginers can tend to be a little clumsy with that Wind and reedmakers sometimes give a beginer a tough reed for their practice set. This strong reed gives a loud sound and uses a nice amount of pressure.
Stage two; the beginner now gets some drones which are either adjusted to balance with the strong chanter reed or the chanter reed is re-set, re scraped etc etc… it ends up being the simpler job to give the new half set owner some strong drone reeds…
Stage three; beginner is advancing and orders a regulator or two or three… but by this time the advancing beginner is now used to the big sound of those drones and chanter… BUT is there any extra air supply or strength to balance those new regulators to the rest of the set ? At this point the whole thing needs a re-think… I know because I do it every time.
I get some nice new chanter reeds and have them playing , “oh these are nice and strong, they will play in well” , then I turn on the new drones " ah, perhaps those chanter reeds need a bit more work… hmmm".
So, what you get is, the pressure needed to run your chanter reed but at a greatly increased airflow, as if someone has put a hole in your bag… getting that to be within your physical capabilities is the first step and usually calls for a nice light chanter reed unless you a powerfull individual.
Then when it is all within a pressure range that you can manage , you can start listening to the volume balances.
I like my own set to play using just the pressure of my little finger on the bag…
