“Is it recommended to play uilleann pipes before regular bagpipes? Would that be a better step for a beginner?”
Well, if you consider the video that comment was posted to..
actually, I thought the fellows playing was pretty amazing..
unless I was duped by ‘pipe-syncing’
That’ll be 1:22 I’ll probably never get back. . .
Bob
Link, please?
I know folks are largely trad-minded here & what-not, but quote honestly, it’s
like cold water on my face to hear someone disparage this fellows playing
each to his own in this Uilleann world, truly I guess..
The YouTube piece sounds like “Noel McCarthy’s” which appears on track 7 of Jerry O’Sullivan’s recording, “The Gift”. There’s a fair amount of diversity presented on that cd.
Uilleann pipes are good at what they are good at and little else. The blues on the pipes didn’t convince me, but the piper does have some skill. Also, the chanter sounded too sharp in the upper octave.
Uilleann pipes are one of the more versatile incarnations of the species; and as such must be compelled to plow new furrows. imho. 
Thank god fer irregular bagpipes.
If a fellow can play the pipes, he deserves to, and this guy clearly has put in some hours. It’s certainly not my favorite bit of playing I’ve ever seen, and I don’t care much for the context, but good on him for doing it, and pushing boundaries. I see music an introspective art as much as anything, and as long as he’s finding fulfillment in his playing, I don’t think it matters much if anyone else doesn’t.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYc_rfNwhSI&list=TLWP4E7yvpHMM
I took a peek at his channel, and turned this up. Not bad at all!
Lol, I thought you meant the guy who said the comment
Davy Spillane has been recording 12bar blues on the pipes for some time. Check out Lansdowne Blues on Atlantic Bridge or Litton Lane on Out of the Air.
I recall hearing him play Peter Green’s Oh Well somewhere too.
This has nothing to do with being trad minded or what not. It is what it is, the man plays like anyone who has been at it for a year or two and probably getting there without much tuition. And fair play to him for that. But once you have tackled the basics of getting sound out of the instrument the time comes someone has to take you aside and say a few words about the rhythmic niceties of music, articulation, phrasing and all that. In my own case, when I reached that point, someone told me ‘we know you can play all the notes. Now start playing music’. It seems that hasn’t happened yet to the man in the video. It is what it is, someone barely out of the beginner’s phase playing away and enjoying what he’s doing and as such, it’s fine: it can only improve from there on. But at this point, watching videos of him practicing is not something I’d willingly spend my time on. Sorry.
It is what it is, someone barely out of the beginner’s phase playing away
man, maybe I need to get out more..
I wonder are there many Uilleann pipers who really love the pipes but dont like Irish music ?
RORY
Seriously, do you think it’s an unfair assessment? Based on the video I linked above (Hag at the churn, Out of the ocean, Banish Misfortune) as well as that ‘blues’ video the playing is almost completely open, there’s one attempt at a bcd triplet but no other (tight) triplets, he does a few rolls (but no short ones), articulation and rhythm are sketchy, no cuts on C, no cleanly executed cranns. That pretty much would place anyone going into workshops or summerschools in an intermediate A class. It’s pretty much the stage where the worst struggle with bagcontrol, octaves etc is behind you and the learning of anything but the most basic technique has just gotten under way. It’s the point where you start cleaning up and refining what you have while starting to broaden you palette of technique.
boy, talk about yer thread creep…