Just my idle curiosity - for those who play UPs at high elevations, do you find that the sound of your UPs changes versus playing at lower elevations? Do you have to pump more to maintain air pressure? I am not referring to the effects of different levels of humidity, but just of elevation.
Thx,
djm
Below Sea Level. I have to work like stink to get the pipes to work… Also sea weed clags up the reed 
Floating Tional… Underwater Tional 
DJM 
Uilliam
Uilliam, as I said, just idle curiousity. Does the decreased air pressure at higher elevations affect playing the UPs to any signifcant extent? No need to fesh yersel.
djm
I have played atop Ben Lomond which is 3195ft..974m above sea level.Didnae notice any difference apart frae the view?? 
Uilliam
Mine sound nicer downstairs than in me bedroom, although the view upstairs is better 
I’ve had that ‘phenomenon’ when you belch a lager/fizzy pop gas eructation down a low whistle and the pitch drops a good 1/4 tone.
Alan
The humour this side of the pond is braw indeed.Ben and Maw should team up…
Ant and Dec of the pipe world!!
Uilliam
The elevation on top of Ben Nevis isn’t enough that you’d notice a difference in sound given the fact you’ve just hoiked your pipes up a mountainside. Certainly you’d notice a difference in the middle of, say, the Rockies.
Cheers,
Calum
Maybe we have Uilliam and maybe we’re just waiting for the right tv break any offers out there 
Thats what ghillies are for.. :roll:
Is it because of the echo?
Slan Go Foill
Uilliam
djm, this may not be what you’re looking for… but Ian Mackenzie’s reeds are made in Australia atop the Blue Mountains and they usually play in Miami (sea level) with the same bridal settings they came with. Also, the seasons there are reversed to Northern Hemisphere.
Hmmm! So the Northern Polarity and the Southern Polarity have absolutely no effect on the pipes.I’ve never really thought about it until now 
Uilliam
Uilliam, you can’t seriously call those wee bumps mountians. More like foothills. I was referring to real mountians. Denver is a mile high, and there are places higher still. Those are the types of elevations I was thinking of.
You may be able to fool ghillies into thinking your pipes are guns, but sherpas are a little harder to fool.
djm
I played my uilleann pipes while living near the Great Sand Dunes Nat’l Monument (Alamosa, Colorado). The elevation there is 7600 ft. el., about 1600 ft higher than Denver where some of our other C&Fers live. I had to thin the reed down for the dryness, but it worked fine. Tim Britton came through there too, playing for public schools through a grant funded by an endowment for the arts. I talked to him later about climate, etc., and neither of us had a concern with the elevation–just humidity.
I spoke to Liam O’Flynn briefly after a concert in Flagstaff, Arizona (around 7,000 ft.). He said that noticed that even his whistles acted differently at that altitude. The main problem was (lack of) humidity–17%!-- but he said the pipes were definately acting oddly. He played some interesting and ingenious variations to avoid notes that were giving him trouble (back D, E). It appeared so effortless and seemless that a non-piper would never have guessed he was having trouble. Mr. O’Flynn is a consumate musician and performer (and quite the gentleman to waste his time talking to the likes of me).
No E
Lorenzo, Larry, that’s exactly the type of input I was interested in. Thanks very much.
Agree about Mr. O’Flynn. His work gets dumped on a lot because he tends to favour new age-y accompaniement, but beneath it all is total control, skill and taste.
djm
We have pipers out here that get on just fine. And DJM, for the record, it isn’t the air pressure, it’s the air density that thins the higher you go. If I read it right, this was the thrust of your original post though right? Barometric pressure and relative humidity are each independant. For my own part, I haven’t seen or heard much that leads me to believe that we’re on another planet as far as piping is concerned. Is it different up here? (meaning the 4,500-7,000 average range) Sure it is. But will pipes just magically stop playing in one city and then start in another because you’ve dropped 1,000 feet? I wouldn’t bet on it. Chances are theres a different culprit at work - though what that may be can certainly vary widely.
Briin, you’re right, of course. Air density. I was simply curious about what effect it might have on the way the reed lips open and close, if more pressure from the bag/bellows was required, etc.
Thx,
djm
Again, I don’t think so. A plane will take longer to get off the ground at a higher elevation or in a high temperature (called ‘density altitude’) because there aren’t as many air molecules in those situations to provide lift. I can see why this affects a large heavy object like an airfoil, but when you’re looking at something as small as a reed, I would expect the effects, while still there, to be much smaller as well. Again, I haven’t really noticed much difference at all from high to low or coast to caost.
The pressure, or rather the number of molecules of air needed to sound a reed is the same regardless of altitude I would think. It’s just a matter of having to pump a little bit more air into the bag perhaps. But the same number of molecules of air will need to pass the lips to get a sound. I think you’ll find a greater change in playability due to temperature and relative humidity than altitude, but every reed is different.
Have you travelled much with your set(s)? I know a lot of well know players / makers have sworn off the Rocky Mountain area because of a claim that the altitude completely wonked out their reeds. I’m not certain how much weight I would give this argument though as I’ve also heard that reed making is a super-art and that only very few people can do it with any success. I’ve made several so far, and every one - including the very first - have worked. I just am more skeptical now about these types of “piping stereotypes” like altitude, humidity and reed making etc. etc.
There usually is some truth to the stereotypes, but I think a lot of it gets blown WAY out of proportion. I wonder…how many pipers also fish? 