… and the world stood still. (At least for me it did!)
This is absolutely marvelous. Thank you so much! And the pipes sound darned nice, too!
Am laughing at the rest of this thread. 4 years later … and I still haven’t mastered Chapter 12. 
!
Zombie thread! I just noticed it was four years old.
Still, couldn’t read this with a straight face… “While neither big nor brawny this versatile Irish colleen can handle with ease a full-size instrument.” And not just the pipes… Ooh, er…matron!
Anyone else enjoy Heathers playing on the tutor?
Her ‘Kid On the Mountain’ is very nice, among others.
In regard to May McCarthy, Dennis Brooks had a clipping of a 1968 article from an Irish Newspaper,
that showed May as vigorous Woman of advanced years, still playing that set of Pipes shown in O’Neill’s I.M.&M.
I also remember Paddy O’Neill of San Francisco (RIP 1980) telling me about how she was a judge at a competition Paddy attended,
in Cork City circa 1918, and that Paddy was awarded a prize in GHB Piping (he did not play the Irish pipes until he got to San Francisco).
Just before they were going to hand Paddy this award, there was a man who shouted out from the crowd
"Why don’t you play “The Peeler and the Goat” ?
Well, in honor of this request, May McCarthy and the other 2 judges asked Paddy if he knew the Tune, and he replied that he did know it,
so the 3 judges asked him to play the tune,which he did.
Now…
If You have ever read the words of this song, you would realize that it was a satire about the Police arresting a Goat,
the conversation that passed between these 2 parties, and the Goat’s witty replies, making the Police look stupid.
In this case, the Black and Tans waited until the crowd broke up, then cornered Paddy and gave him a severe beating.
In relating this story to me, Paddy said he did not mean it to reflect badly on the judges, who did not know they were putting him in danger,
and certainly, he said, “If the Crowd had still been there, it would have been a different ending all together”.
Piobairi na mBan Abu !!!
Sean Folsom
A fine musician Heather Clarke, regarding female uilleann pipers there is also Catherine Ashcroft http://videos.matchdoctor.com/64427/Catherine_Ashcroft_-_Uilleann_Pipes.html
Other good pipers are Eiblish Donaghue, Becky Taylor, Emer Mayock, Lucy DeLoz, not sure if Lucy is still piping these days, she is also a very good fiddler, as is Sorcha Ní Mhuiri http://www.tonykearns.net/pages/set8-1.htm
her good pipers are Eiblish Donaghue, Becky Taylor, Emer Mayock, Lucy DeLoz, not sure if Lucy is still piping these days, she is also a very good fiddler, as is Sorcha Ní Mhuiri
There are a lot more ofcourse, you left out the obvious Maire Ni, Debbie Q, Sheila Friel, Marion McCarthy and there are stacks of young women playing and playing well.
Was only yesterday talking briefly to Siobhan Hogan (see the CD ‘The Blue Eyed Rascal’ she made with her sister) who was busking in Galway:
Brrrr. My, that looks cold. And Oscar and Eduard are frozen stiff!
Brrrr. My, that looks cold.
At 6-7 Celsius it wasn’t too bad, lovely sunshine. Best day of the week. You should see it today
Mhaire and Debbie were mentioned earlier in this thread by KAD Peter, true there are lots more including Emily over the border. No women playing the uilleann pipes over here in Sweden or Denmark though. Used to to be a piper in Finland, met her in Miltown, but I think she’s given up the pipes. In Germany there is the lady who worked for Rogge, I think she’s still piping, There’s Grace Lemon, Cambridge, England, taught by Dr. Lucy DeLap (not Deloz), Fiona Docherty in Mayo I think. Jeanette Lambert, Wicklow. In Armagh there’s Sinead Lennon, Claire Byrne, Vivian Murphy. Betty Nevin a pupil of Leo’s, Dublin. 
I met this piper in Listowel and fell in love.
RORY
She’s the one who got me hooked.
Love that photo of Siobhan, too!
P.S. Wee brag … my sweetheart took that picture of Louise at this year’s Northeast Tionol. 
If we’re naming names then KAD modestly forget to mention one Kara Doyle. Faaabulous.
My plan to become a recluse is working…
Well, we all hope you change your plan.
RORY
i’m sure i saw some footage on youtube of heather playing with the guy who makes ceol pipes in achill but i’ve just looked and can’t find it
I think you should call that a “dark horse strategy.” Kind of a stealth thing. Me, I’m going to be the pipe lady. Sort of like the cat lady only with lots of squalling, mangy pipes hanging around and creeping people out.
If only the humane societies and animal shelters of the world were full to capacity of unwanted sets of uilleann pipes, yowling and squeaking in cages, in desperate need of good homes… Awww… that sad, cute, little K&Q B set really needs me…
Then I could easily be the crazy pipe lady as well.
The mange on the bags could be dreadful, and are pipers housebroken?