i’ve heard the term used and i don’t quite understand the reference. can someone please clarify this for me? thanks, o
If I recall correctly, the term originally referred to middle class gentlemen of means in the 19th century who could actually afford the things. These guys were the market for some of the four and five reg sets. The Rev. Goodman (Tunes of the Munster Pipers) could be considered an example of one of these.
djm
“real gentleman” is : who knows how to to play with pipes(highland ones) but don’t play.. “english” humour…
Scartail is proseil =loud’nproud … this is truth
In O’Neill’s Irish Minstrels and Musicians, the author’s position was that a gentleman piper was, as djm mentioned, generally someone of means; the main criterion was that the gentleman piper did not make his living at pipering however well-heeled (or not) he was.
thanks, o
In O’Neill’s is there an actual phrase of “gentlemen pipers”?
Do all the pipers on the CD “The Gentlmen Pipers” fit into that category. Wasn’t Felix Doran a traveller?
Isn’t this term a bit of an oxymoron?
In Irish Minstrels and Musicians there is. It’s a book of anecdotes and history. Don’t look for it in his Music of Ireland, the tunebook of standard use.
Doh- I just pulled out my copy of Irish Minstrels and Musicians-YES, there’s a whole chapter on gentlemen pipers with the title “Gentlemen Pipers”- can’t see the forest…
is there a style of playing associated with the gentlemen?
Wasn’t ‘Gentleman Pipers’ proposed as the name for this message forum before it actually started?
Well it’s definitely too late to call it that now.
Being as gentlemenly as is possible for an aspiring piper,
Mike
Traditionally speaking, a RICH tone… I suppose. 
Brian McNamara authographed my Walsh tunebook with"… a gentleman, though a piper…". Nice spin on the phrase, I think.
So would pipers ride Harleys or Ducs?? or Speed Triples
That seems a little exclusive… 
J.
Hmmm…I guess I’ll never make the grade as a gentleman piper 
That’s OK, they drink waaaaaaaaay too much sherry anyway.
Hey-I like a dry Fino in the evening…
Sherry? Uggh, shudder… definately don’t want to be a gentleman piper 