As a new student of Uilleann Pipes, I read alot, ordered CD’s, DVD’s, online tutorials, etc…but what a difference an Instructor makes!
I live in North Carolina so I sought out Pat Sky who is not only a great piper - but such a gentleman. The personal one on one lesson is something you can not get out of any of the above methods I listed.
After he looked over pipes and tweeked the reed - we sat down he taught me Sean Bui (sp?). No music given out - just follow the leader!
Wow. It was al litlte stressful at first but Pat was patient and I learned a fun little tune. I can’t wait until my next lesson !
My advice to all new Pipers - "Get thee to an Instructor! "
You’ll learn so much about the Pipes that can’t be written down.
Good for you, MP. It has been repeated a thousand times on these threads, and is emphasized in the FAQs, but it can never be said too often - Get in front of a real, live teacher - for regular lessons or just at tionolí when you can, but you need some one-on-one, especially at the beginning.
This can just save you so much time, and prevent so many errors in your learning, that I believe it to be indispensible. There may be the one or two blessed geniuses who can take on learning the pipes all by themselves, but they are the exception rather than the rule. A teacher is always the best choice.
In light of these revelations, is there anyone in Central Minnesota who teaches or could be monetarily incentivized to teach? I can cook good too. Legal advice/services is probably not on the table, but I will always negotiate.
I would come down to the Cities if there are instructors down there as well, but I can only do so on Tuesdays, Fridays, and the week-end. I know (read: I have been told) that the GNIPC meets on Monday evenings, and I am totally screwed in that regard (read: I can’t come down on Monday evenings).
Send a PM to our own tommykleen. He teaches, and if there’s a local piper I’d want to sound like (other than myself ), it’s him.
The Monday meetings of the “Hawthorn Branch” of the GNIPC aren’t all that good for really serious learning, IMHO. It’s almost more of a social club, although there’s nothing wrong with that. I think one-on-one is a better bet.
You’re lucky to have Pat around - few people in the US have been at the pipes so long, and known so many of the greats in the music. Nice piper, too. I took a lesson from Pat at a tionol, learned a couple tunes - was a blast.
Definitely give Tommy a PM. If you’re lucky he’ll bake you up a nice Bundt cake. He always has fresh cake at our lessons.
Since you can’t make the Monday meet-ups, let one of us know if you can make it down some other time for some tunes and I’m sure we can find a place to get together and play The Eagle’s Whistle for an hour or two. Afterall, it’s the GNIPC Official Anthem.
I’ll comment as a student who has had two lessons with Pat using Skype - I think it works great! It’s very close to being there in person. I can see and talk to Pat in realtime, and he can see and hear me play. I’ve been using self-study tutors, but the progress I’ve made with Pat after only two lessons has been much faster than I was doing on my own. I will definitely be taking more lessons.
I got the chance to sit down and tinker around with an experienced piper (in relative terms - according to him) over this last weekend. It was invaluable. We didn’t have a lesson type of thing but goddamn I learned a boatload. So, to reiterate the topic of this thread – get thee to another piper! Or something like that.
And I drove through a veritable blizzard to get to his residence. And I have now run out of things to say but I have consumed so much coffee in the last two hours I think my hair has begun to uproot itself. I need a haircut anyway.
