F natural

Uilleann Pipes
1

Now I’m trying to learn my favorite tune,The Ace and Deuce of Pipering.
How should I play the F natural note in the second part? Use the key?Lift the index finger and halfcover the hole(this is very hard)?
Please give me some advice.

2

I play a few songs using the Fnat key… especially on the first octave. I do an air that I play an E fingering and lift the chanter… it works well in the second octave. I tried it on B, C and wide bore D chanters and get the same results.

3

This is a somewhat tricky note to execute without the use of a key, but you should learn how to do it anyway. Not all chanters work the same way with regard to this note, so your mileage may very with what I’m about to suggest.

No matter which solution you end up using, it’s EXTREMELY important that your hands are relaxed while holding the chanter. “Death Grip” will prohibit you from playing with fluidity and grace. Your fingers should curl around the chanter in a relaxed and natural manner. Keep the tension for working the bag and bellows in your upper arms and shoulders and don’t allow it to creep into your forearms, wrists, and fingers.

Start with the chanter on your thigh, and try to do these three things as simultaneously as possible:

  1. Pinch the bag a little to ensure that you will overblow the reed

  2. Extend or curl the middle finger of your bottom hand slightly so that it shades the hole slightly. Specifically, try to extend the finger at the second joint from your finger tip, not the knuckle. I keep all other fingers on the chanter for this note.

  3. Lift the chanter.

Now, if your chanter is like mine it should play an octave f natural.

This is not easy and you have to keep your hands relaxed for this to work.

It is the best way I’ve found to get that sick sounding blue fnat in the second part of Ace and Deuce.

4

I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion about the proper way to hold a chanter, with special emphsis on relaxing the hand and holding the chanter naturally. It occured to me that some readers of this forum may like to see a GREAT example of how NOT to hold a chanter.

Go to this link for a fine picture of a person holding the chanter the WRONG way. There may be a connection between him wanting to sell his pipes and the exhausted look on his fingers.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=898709236 (copy and paste)


My jaw dropped about an inch when I first saw it.

Lorenzo

5

Poor guy, why didn’t he ask for help?

I hope whoever buys it doesn’t follow the example of the previous owner.

6

I was going to comment about that… for fear of being accused of slagging this guy I overlooked it.
He stated in the description that renowned piper Jerry O’Sullivan is a good friend of his.

7

Maybe it’s from his early playing. We all started somewhere, though let’s hope that if we started off with the death grip, we moved out of it quickly.

Dionys