Is there a fingering chart for the Uillean pipes available on the net?
Thanks,
David
Uillean no.. Uilleann, yes
http://www.uilleann.org/
http://www.uilleann.org/The-Pipes-Chanter-Fingerings.html
This one works in Netscape:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2916/chart.html
Doesn’t ours Tony? 
It’s just pictures after all - the sound files are optional to click and listen too of course. If there are compatability troubles, I’ll see what I can do.
All the best!
Brian~
Don’t start out on this chart, it will only confuse you, and many of the fingerings may not work on your chanter. Use a basic diatonic chart (i.e. D major scale) with the C natural crossfingering.
Bill
The A fingering on this chart is abnormal (by modern standards); I’d suggest the one finger A for starters (the three finger A provides a useful tone color variation). The C natural given in the first octave may not be the best one for your chanter, there is a two-hole version that is more common. The C natural in the second octave is also not standard., and I’d suggest that the two finger B will work in the second octave as well as the first.
Bill
Agreed. It’s been a long while since I last looked at this chart. The fingering for A is better suited for the second octave… or some variation of it.
Here are some other published versions - I add comments here and there.
Take “X” to mean -closed- tonehole and “O” to mean -open-, starting with the back d at the top… I will put a dividing line “_” between back d and the front toneholes, and between the top and bottom hands. I indicate the bottom of the chanter as though it were a “lowest tonehole”
Leo Rowsome’s tutor, the “Stacatto Scale of D”:
D E F# G A B C# d e f# g a b c# d'' Cnatural, 1st octave (legato):
X X X X X X X O X X X X X X X X
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
X X X X X X O X X X X X X O O O
X X X X X O X X X X X X O X X X
X X X X O O X X X X X O O X X X
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
X X X O X X X X X X O X X X X O
X X O O X X X X X O O X X X O O
X O X X X X X X O X X X X X X X
X O X X X X X X O X X X X X X X
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
O X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
(Leo Rowsome does not give a ‘stacatto’ C natural fingering)
One thing worth remembering is that although Leo gives “stacatto” fingering (by which I suppose he also means “closed” fingering) for the second octave above G, in reality it is not possible to completely stop the chanter between second octave notes without some sort of “venting” or “leading in”. Thus I myself would probably refer to this fingering chart as “closed” fingering, meaning “minimum number of fingers off” to sound the note in tune. Note that the second octave fingering is basically the same as the first octave, bearing in mind the above limitation.
In the Seamas Ennis Tutor “The Master’s Touch”, the fingering given is the same as above with the exception of the back d, for which Ennis gives this fingering as already noted:
d
O
_
O
X
X
_
X
X
X
X
_
X
It’s been my experience that many recently-made chanters are designed for the following two-finger C natural instead, so try them both and see which works best for you:
C natural
X
_
O
X
X
_
X
O
X
X
_
X
The ‘preferred’ C natural approach is somewhat more complex, involving two fingers of the bottom hand as given in the Rowsome and Ennis charts, combined with a lift of the chanter off the knee and “half holing” the C-sharp tonehole. This complex motion takes awhile to learn but gives the lovely “wailing C” you hear from many great pipers.
Bill
Thanks everybody.
I had been holding the chanter upside down and putting the reed in the wrong end.
Now I am thoroughly confused.
But I shall persevere.
Isn’t that what pipers do?
… that, and some consume vast quantities of alcoholic beverages until they pass out. 