High A and B

Uilleann Pipes
1

Hey everyone,

Just recently my chanter has been acting up. All notes play fine except high A and B - the A breaks and the B is impossible to get to and the bottle D has started to gurgle a bit. I’ve tried adjusting the bridle to make the reed easier, but it doesn’t seem to help. What else should I try and what might be the issue?

Thanks,
Andy

2

You might be on the wrong track. Try opening the lips a little. That should give a more stable bottom D.

What technique do you use to get hi A And B? What fingers do you open?

3

PJ,

I use an open fingering for both high A and B minus my pinkie because I have a hard time achieving these without the other two open (moving up the scale). Is it harder to achieve the A and B if the bridle is too loose or too high up or down the reed?

Andy

4

How long have you been playing the uilleann pipes?

Usually for hi A or B, you play a very quick hi G and once you have the hi A or B, you can close the G finger and use the normal A or B fingering.

If the reed is too closed it is possible to jump straight to hi A and B without playing the fast G but then other notes will suffer, like a gurgling bottom D or unbalanced octaves.

So the best thing to do would be to open the reed a little. It might make the hi A Nd B harder to get, but you’ll have to learn the proper technique and fingering.

5

Thanks for the tip PJ. I’ll try to practice with the reed a little more open. I’m just getting back into piping after a while of not playing.

Andy