G’day all,
Heather Clarke..The New Aproach to Uilleann Piping..
I’ve had this book for a number of years now and have heard that she was only 16 years of age when she wrote it…
Could anyone please confirm that this is the case ??
What an achievement by her if this is true…
And I’m dying to know more about Heather Clarke, period. In a fit of awe at her concision and precision, I googled her name and came up with the now-deceased wife of an Irish pro golfer named Darren Clarke, but … ?
I seem to recall seeing a video (or was it a photo?) of her, in her wedding dress, playing a full set of pipes… surely I didn’t imagine that? 
can’t recall where it was, sadly, but I think it may have been mentioned on this board. I don’t believe I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting her, myself… she was certainly young when she wrote that tutor, I am not sure how young.
(Pretty sure that’s not the same person Cathy)
Bill
Hi Bill
Here is the thread in question.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=32653&highlight=
David
According to this interview with Brian Howard she was 16 when she wrote it.
http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/inart432.htm
Personally I thought she was 15 when she wrote it, but seems that she was 16.
Cathy – I’ve been compiling information gradually on women pipers. It’s a pet project that I’d like to write some articles about eventually. Meanwhile, here’s what I’ve got so far on Heather Clarke:
Heather Clarke
Originally from Eyrecourt, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. In 1981 she won two prizes at the CCE Fleadh: first place in uilleann piping, and a prize for slow airs, both in the under 11 category. She also won second prize for uilleann piping at the Granard Harp festival that same year. She must have won again at the fleadh in another year (see below), but I have not yet found the records for it. My records indicate that she also wrote an article about James Lyons for An Piobaire, but for some reason I’ve had trouble trying to download it from the NPU site. There are several photos of her also available in the NPU online archive.
An extensive review and description of her piping tutor in Treoir, written by Tomás MacLochlainn, gives some idea of her background. Here’s an excerpt that gives some idea of her competence, her experience, and her preferences:
“…Although living in an area once renowned for famous pipers, there were none alive when as a young child the author learned in isolation to play the pipes and played tunes before ever having a lesson or a session with a piper. Such lessons and sessions, when available, necessitated lengthy trips, often inconvenient and expensive in terms of both time and money.
…The author, although unpretentious, is recognised as an uilleann piper of exceptional ability and brilliance, having that distinguishing flair for creativity in presenting music in what is regarded as the true Irish traditional style. Although having won four All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann championships, two in Slógadh Náisiúnta, with a prestigious Gradam award and played the uilleann pipes with an orchestra, with groups, for both listening and dancing, at concerts and for radio and television, the author prefers to play by the fireside along [sic] or with a small group of enthusiasts.
Besides possessing a rich and abundant knowledge of Irish traditional music, the uilleann pipes, and the techniques employed in teaching music, the author has researched the manner and the style of presenting the tutor and tape combination to suit the user. …”
I think it’s very telling that MacLochlainn thought it necessary to conceal Ms. Clarke’s gender by calling her “the author” throughout. There is no hint anywhere in the review that the tutor was put together by a woman.
I hope someday to find copies of those radio and TV concerts – it would be wonderful to hear what she sounded like in those days. Not to mention that it would be great to her her play today! I’d also love it if an interview with her made it into An Piobaire – given that her tutor is still in use, I’m sure lots of pipers would be interested in hearing about her piping, both past and present.
Cheers,
KAD
I’ve just got a reply NPU and they said yes, she was just 16 when she wrote the tutor…what a gal !!!
Hi Kara,
I have some cassette tapes of Heather playing in 1988 in Miltown. Unfortunately there’s this other obnoxious, self-obsessed and frankly crappy piper playing along on a lot of the tunes.
She was very gracious and generous, and didn’t mind being pestered to explain movements.
Ah well. As Seamus Connolly says: “Sure, we’ll all be good when we’re big.”
Thank you guys!!! Absolutely fascinating. As a beginner piper I’ve been so happy with her tutor’s straightforwardness and simplicity, and as a professional writer I’ve been very impressed by her precision.
Now that I know how young she was at the time, I’m in awe!
Many, many gratitudes, KAD … and the link with the photos of Heather in her wedding dress are terrific. I wish I could be like that when I grow up – although since I’m probably about her age there’s no hope there.
The way the young can just absorb this stuff and excel at it are wonders of the world to me.
Very strange about the “veiling” as regards her name and gender; what is that about? Is the “gentleman piper” image that strong even now? Or is it actually worse outside Ireland? As evidenced by Heather as early as 1981 female pipers can obviously win at even the national level, so …
I’m surprised at how pipers like Heather, Louise Mulcahy and Emer Mayock don’t get as much notoriety as I think their playing deserves – everything I’ve heard from them I’ve found impressive in its own right and comparable to other “bigger” names.
Maybe it’s the marketing? Louise, until recently, played mostly with her father and sister, and Emer was doing AfroCelt stuff so maybe they weren’t as visible on the traditional solo piper scene?
Or again, it sounds like she’s done plenty of playing at home, so …
Aaah, this is probably all my newbie naivete, though I have been listening pretty hard to piping of many stripes for close to 10 years now. Not as a piper (I’m a flute player), so I’m not really qualified to judge I suppose – although now that I’ve taken the wicked things up I certainly have sufficient background to have no illusions about my playing at this point! 
Once more, thank you all so much. Sorry for the ramble; just pondering on a snowy day when I really should be doing some work … or, oh dear, practicing. The Clarke tutor and I seem to be stuck on Lesson 12. Something about those staccato triplets … 
Meanwhile, hope Heather and family are well and happy, as are you all.
This has been a great post and I’ve learnt some nice things about Heather…thanks everyone…
I think it was Brian Howard who said that she put her name as H.J.Clarke because she did’nt think that anyone would buy the book if they knew that it was written by a girl !!
Also,in the NPU reply to my letter,they said that Heather is now a Doctor and has a practice in Ireland somewhere…
Bye for now…
Hey, me too!! Well, actually Main St., Ballinasloe.
Well, if Heather herself wanted her first name to be concealed, then I guess she might have asked the author of the review not to give her away. I’m not sure what attitudes were in Ireland back then, but it’s certainly true that nowadays in the States, people seem more surprised to see female uilleann pipers than they seem to be elsewhere. I’ve been to pipers’ club meetings in England and Ireland, and the gender imbalance seemed smaller or less remarkable in those places. In fact, in Manchester, when I said I was interested in meeting some of the female club members because women pipers are such a minority, I got a very surprised and blank stare as an initial response. Fully half their members are female, and their fall tionol was the first place I ever participated in a piping class that had more female students than male. There were also a couple of young women in the NPU classes I attended.
As for winning prizes as early as 1981, the female trend goes back farther than that! Mhaire Ni Ghrada and Mary Mitchell (both from Cork) were trading first and second place consistently at the fleadhs in the late 70s, and several women won piping prizes in the early 20th century, thanks in part to the influence of the Cork Pipers Club, long and justly famous for its fostering of female uilleann pipers.
As for why the brilliant women pipers seem less visible or prominent in the piping world, that’s a very good question. It’s hard to generalize or discuss intelligently without bringing up controversial and (I hope) outmoded assumptions about gender, culture, and biology. So I will merely observe that nowadays, the way most people hear about terrific pipers is through new CD releases, concert tours, or tionol instruction (or word of mouth based on the above; I suppose youtube is another way). There have been lamentably few female pipers releasing solo CDs and touring. Only Becky Taylor and Debbie Quigley come to mind for solo CDs. When will Mhaire Ni Ghrada record a CD? And why doesn’t/didn’t Cherish the Ladies have a female piper, I often wonder?
On the other hand, it’s certainly within reach of tionol organizers to invite these brilliant female pipers as guest instructors… 
KAD
Hey, KAD –
Thank you so much for your most informative (and informed!) response! I’ve always figured any imbalance was just because guys like the way their forearms look while piping 
Thanks also for the Becky Taylor and Debbie Quigley tips; I’ll see if I can get myself copies. Needless to say I’m so busy just trying to squeeze a decent sound out of the danged things that most of the time gender wonders are the farthest thing from my mind … but good piping is good piping and beyond that, it would be fun to see if I can notice (or, more likely in my case, dream up 
) any uniquenesses in approach.
Maybe Heather chose to appear as H.J. because she was 16? When I told my fella about that he said “That’s the perfect age to write about it; you’re not all mucked up with conflicting opinions and experiences. You just say ‘This is what I know and this is how I do it.’”
One more, thank you, and sorry for the rambling. It’s just such an interesting topic to ramble around, plus I’m a sucker for idle speculation (especially the idle part).
Be safe, and muchas gracias!
P.S. Still idle, still speculating (it’s raining and I’m putting off going out to feed the animals) … Women. Money for CD Production. Confidence/Emotional Wherewithal to Put Oneself Forward As Would Be Required For A Successful Recording/Release … DNA or Upbringing? … Or Both? Hm.
A couple of the better known women pipers from the early 20th century:
From O’Neill’s Irish Minstrels and Musicians, Chapter XXII
PIPERS OF DISTINCTION LIVING IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
http://billhaneman.ie/IMM/IMM-XXII.html
Still a whiff of paternalism, “pretty little Irish piper” indeed.
Very good articles and photos. Thanks for posting it Bill.
I edited the post to include a link to the full chapter in O’Neill’s.
p.s. Check out “fair Molly’s” Ennis-length fingers!
This is soooo cool; I’m so clueless on piping history in general, so this a boon there, too. Thank you, thank you!
Bill, you beat me to the draw (and not for the first time!), I was about to put up a post drawing attention to these, but wisely read the whole thread first (should that be “Wisely”?).
I’m curious about the author’s fondness for the “buxom colleen half his age” snared by Denis Delaney.
Thanks again Bill. This is great reading.
Perhaps she stayed home, served tea and played bodhrán?
[Thread revival. - Mod]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2GhzqaDDDE&feature=player_embedded