I'm giving up on the pipes!

Uilleann Pipes
1

Hi all C&F’rs

Having been in love with the pipes since I first heard the opening strains of “Cunla” from “The Well Below the Valley” I finally got round to buying a half set from Ray Sloan (on the recommendation of Dave Williams) in early 2001. As a whistle player, I had hoped that the transition to uilleann pipes wouldn’t be too onerous. Nearly 7 years have passed and I’m still a terrible piper. There are 3 reasons why I am on the brink of cashing in my chips and selling the pipes.

  1. I’m not progressing in any way satisfactorily.
  2. I’ve become much more interested in learning and playing the flute in the last 4 years, which has led to me practising the pipes less and less.
  3. I’m on the waiting list for a Patrick Olwell flute, and the cost of that flute will be about the same as the cost of a set of pipes.

It seems to make more sense to sell the pipes, bank the money in the “flute account”, and concentrate on becoming a better flute player. It breaks my heart, but I think I’ll never become even a half decent piper.

If anyone thinks they can talk me out of it, or if anyone is interested in buying a Sloan Half Set in D, I’d love to hear from you.

m.d.

2

Attend a tionól and have your set checked first before blaming yourself.
Piping can´t be that difficult when everything (reeds, seasoning, individual sizes) is O.K.

3

I just got back from the East Coast Tionol and I can attest that averyone I spoke to says the same thing that it is so invigorating to be around other pipers that your desire to play better and more often is reinvigorated. Generally alot of pipers are isolated and it can be intimidating to bring pipes to a session if your not happy with your own playing. Another piper can look at your set and suggest a lighter reed or an adjustment. I guess it all depends if you still have a desire to duplicate the sound of that piper you heard years ago. Before you give up entirely I think you should give your ability the benefit of the doubt and seek out a tionol in your area, it might be a few states away but many people travel 6-8 hours for the opportunity to attend. If nothing else there will be many flute players there with you as well, many others who can commisorate. Good Luck!

4

It’s funny, I recently travelled down that same train of thought—right before I got a C 1/2 set after laying down the pipes for a few years. If you really need to play the pipes, nothing else is going to do it for you. But, if you’re not playing them, you’re never going to be much cop at it. So…maybe hang on to the set for a few years if it gets a clean bill of health and reassess?

5

You,ve just got a bad case of seven year itch, make an appointment to see your local piping guidance counsellor and you and your pipes will hopefully sort out your probelms !!!
If not, I hope you and your pipes part amicably


RORY

6

did nobody tell you it takes 21 years?
I finished my first 7 and I will go on

cheers

7

Like most addicts, I have quit many times. That being said, piping does suck. I’ll give you $500 for your half-set.

8

well, it is a sad thing to go through; so much time and money, and no improvement is very frustrating. if you feel more comfortable on the flute, and doing a great job, then i think that is the way you should go, go where you feel more comfortable and relaxed and happy.

9

Hi!
Just wanted to point out that you’re not alone. I got my first set about the same time as you, got started and put them away a few times a year.
Eventually it got to the point that just seeing them made me feel bad as they kind of got to be a symbol of failure. So I stayed with whistles and flutes as they at least gave me the joy of actually playing music.

The thing is that there are a few very high beginner thresholds for uilleann pipes, trying to learn the pipes by yourself makes them even higher. The frustration of not knowing if you are doing something wrong or if it is the reed, climate change, leaks … can be very difficult to cope with in the beginning. Completely the opposite to a whistle that you can pick up and rip off a few tunes while you wait for the eggs to boil.

Looking back, I can see other things that I believe affected my slow start in piping, the frustration of the instrument was one factor, others were, three kids, new house and lots of overtime at work. This combination made it hard to get a consistent amount of practice and raised the expectations on the few occasions that I got to sit down with the pipes.

Then a about a year ago I decided to start all over. I got a new top notch half set from a great maker that I knew was working 100%. started to work on scales (like the exercises on www.uilleann.es) instead of tunes.
And most important, I tied to get ~15 min of practice every day, instead of one or two straight hours at the weekend.

This really paid of, the new pipes and consistent small steps of progress made it a lot more fun, lot less frustrating and ended a few weeks later in a ketchup effect as I quite rapidly could get down tunes from the Heather Clark tutor that I had worked on previously without much success.

Uilleann pipes is a wonky instrument and one has to get to know it well enough to get around the fuzziness that can appear from day to day. Once I got going and started to get the feel, I had no problem playing my old frustrating practice set. I could no longer understand why I had so much trouble with it in the beginning.

Right now I can play a dozen or so simple tunes but I feel that I will need some lessons, get to a tionol or play with others this coming year in order to progress further.

So if you decide NOT to sell your pipes, leave them alone for a bit untill you feel the urge again, have someone test them so they are working properly and give your piping a clean start.

But have in mind that if everybody wanted to play the pipes, sessions would soon be quite boring. Flutes, guitars, fiddles, banjos and even bodhrans will all ad to the dynamics if they are being played properly.


When it comes to the combination of flutes and pipes my experience is that it is very hard to combine if you are a beginner on both instruments.
I actually feel that flute is a much harder instrument to maintain a good playability on than the pipes, even if it is far less wonky. I at least had a very hard time to maintain a good embouchure and get the breathing right if I wasn’t practicing regularly. Far more so on than on the pipes. Before I felt comfortable playing a hand full of tunes on the flute even though I mostly played whistles when playing with others. But after getting into piping, equal less flute practice, I found that my embouchure got unfocused, and I often tended to run out of breath on tunes I use to be able to play well before.

In the end I decided to give up on flutes, at least until I can play the pipes well (~19 more years). I have now sold the two flutes that I played the most in order to fund my piping so I can definitely relate to your dilemma even though I made the opposite choice.


I guess you have to figure out where your heart is and focus on that until you reached a satisfactory level before you pick up another instrument.

Good thing is that if you decide to sell your pipes I’m sure you will get more than you paid for them in 2001.

Good luck!

/MarcusR

10

All kidding aside, M.D., I have “quit” many times, mostly out of frustration about lack of progress. I was even ready to quit again, until I logged onto youtube and listened to John McSherry again. I pretty much agree with what everyone else said above. I agree with statements about playing the flute, and would add that it is difficult to make progress on more than one difficult instrument. I also sold my flute, as when I put it down for a few weeks, I could hardly play it all when I picked it back up. I think that the most important factor in making progress is having a good working set of pipes. I initially put out some cash for a very well known maker’s set, and really struggled with it for years. Even went to a workshop including said maker, and was disappointed that more assistance wasn’t offered in making the chanter work better. My good friend took a different route, and bought a set from a different well-known maker who kept working with him on the chanter/reed until it worked very well. My friend made much progress in a short time with his good working pipes. I eventually sold my set, decided to try again, and bought a practice set from a less well known maker. This chanter, for whatever reason, works far and above better than the chanter from the top maker, with a variety of purchased and home-made reeds. I am now making much more progress. So… if you haven’t already, hook up with other pipers, see if you can hear a difference between your pipes and theirs, try out their pipes, if you can, have them play yours, and make sure that you are getting a fair shake at it. And remember, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

11

All kidding aside, M.D., I have “quit” many times, mostly out of frustration about lack of progress. I was even ready to quit again, until I logged onto youtube and listened to John McSherry again. I pretty much agree with what everyone else said above. I agree with statements about playing the flute, and would add that it is difficult to make progress on more than one difficult instrument. I also sold my flute, as when I put it down for a few weeks, I could hardly play it all when I picked it back up. I think that the most important factor in making progress is having a good working set of pipes. I initially put out some cash for a very well known maker’s set, and really struggled with it for years. Even went to a workshop including said maker, and was disappointed that more assistance wasn’t offered in making the chanter work better. My good friend took a different route, and bought a set from a different well-known maker who kept working with him on the chanter/reed until it worked very well. My friend made much progress in a short time with his good working pipes. I eventually sold my set, decided to try again, and bought a practice set from a less well known maker. This chanter, for whatever reason, works far and above better than the chanter from the top maker, with a variety of purchased and home-made reeds. I am now making much more progress. So… if you haven’t already, hook up with other pipers, see if you can hear a difference between your pipes and theirs, try out their pipes, if you can, have them play yours, and make sure that you are getting a fair shake at it. And remember, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

12

All kidding aside, M.D., I have “quit” many times, mostly out of frustration about lack of progress. I was even ready to quit again, until I logged onto youtube and listened to John McSherry playing some howling notes. I pretty much agree with what everyone else said above. I agree with statements about playing the flute, and would add that it is difficult to make progress on more than one difficult instrument. I also sold my flute, as when I put it down for a few weeks, I could hardly play it at all when I picked it back up. I think that the most important factor in making progress is having a good working set of pipes. I initially put out some cash for a very well known maker’s set, and really struggled with it for years. Even went to a workshop including said maker, and was disappointed that more assistance wasn’t offered in making the chanter work better. My good friend took a different route, and bought a set from a different well-known maker (Kirk Lynch) who kept working with him on the chanter/reed until it worked very well. My friend made much progress in a short time with his good working pipes. I eventually sold my set, decided to try again, and bought a practice set from a less well known maker. This chanter, for whatever reason, works far and above better than the chanter from the top maker, with a variety of purchased and home-made reeds. I am now making much more progress. So… if you haven’t already, hook up with other pipers, see if you can hear a difference between your pipes and theirs, try out their pipes, if you can, have them play yours, and make sure that you are getting a fair shake at it. And remember, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

13

All kidding aside, M.D., I have “quit” many times, mostly out of frustration about lack of progress. I was even ready to quit again, until I logged onto youtube and listened to John McSherry playing some howling notes. I pretty much agree with what everyone else said above. I agree with statements about playing the flute, and would add that it is difficult to make progress on more than one difficult instrument. I also sold my flute, as when I put it down for a few weeks, I could hardly play it at all when I picked it back up. I think that the most important factor in making progress is having a good working set of pipes. I initially put out some cash for a very well known maker’s set, and really struggled with it for years. Even went to a workshop including said maker, and was disappointed that more assistance wasn’t offered in making the chanter work better. My good friend took a different route, and bought a set from a different well-known maker (Kirk Lynch) who kept working with him on the chanter/reed until it worked very well. My friend made much progress in a short time with his good working pipes. I eventually sold my set, decided to try again, and bought a practice set from a less well known maker. This chanter, for whatever reason, works far and above better than the chanter from the top maker, with a variety of purchased and home-made reeds. I am now making much more progress. So… if you haven’t already, hook up with other pipers, see if you can hear a difference between your pipes and theirs, try out their pipes, if you can, have them play yours, and make sure that you are getting a fair shake at it. And remember, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

14

I have to say I have found this thread very helpful and balm to my worried soul.

I just got my practice set Friday and have already been amazed at the “wonkiness” in just six or seven short sessions! Things’ll sound surprisingly pipelike for about five minutes (just long enough to give me hope), I’ll be plugging away at the Clarke tutor, and then ffffffttttt. Something comes unplugged, I seem to overfill/forget to fill the bag, my fingers wander, something shrieks (don’t look now, but I think I can get almost three octaves out of this chanter – not that I want to!), and then the reed seems to change its mind and it all goes downhill from there … :boggle:

Boy, do I feel stupid.

But at no point this weekend did I have a desire to pick up my Olwell flute instead (I’m coming at it the other way, from the flute). However, this too could change. :slight_smile:

So follow your heart, I think. If you get a chance to go to a tionol (me, I’m already looking forward to/dreading the one in St. Louis this spring; have I ever got questions!) and get someone to fool with your set, that’s probably good; at least then when you go to sell it you can rule out any inherent problems. Meanwhile, if you haven’t checked in with Patrick O. lately, I might suggest you do that, just to find out where you are on the roster before you make any snap decisions …

FWIW, a whole lot of my favorite flute players were/are pipers, too, so maybe your experience is at least adding something cool to your flute playing!

Good luck, and oh my God what have I done,

cat.

15

Then you are a perfectly normal piper Cathy :laughing: :laughing: Welcome to the dark side.

emmdee, whatever you play I am going to enjoy it :smiley: , but don’t give up the pipes yet. Hope you are in good form on the 29th :laughing: :laughing: .

David

16

Cathy (and m.d.):

You are not stupid! You are experiencing what every beginning piper has probably felt since the darn things were invented a couple of hundred years ago. Don’t give up!! And try not to jump on yourself – it doesn’t help (though I can hardly claim to practice what I’m preaching there :smiley:).

Keep practicing a moderate amount every day, just as Marcus said. Your body needs to learn how to work with the instrument, and that takes time. I’ve been playing for six years, and when I started, I went through the same thing. Gradually, your fingers figure out where to go, and the squeaks become more (though not completely) infrequent; you learn how much thread you need to wind around joints at certain times of the year; you listen to a recording you made of yourself three months ago and are pleasantly surprised to hear you’ve made prgress.

My reed changes as I practice, too, because it is adjusting to the room’s temperature, humidity, etc.; however, if you have consistent problems (i.e., it shuts down and won’t play at all), talk to your reedmaker. Sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. My chanter reeds used to start out great and then fail every five or six months – despite coming from one of the best makers on the planet.

And it’s great that you are getting yourself to a tionol soon. There is nothing like inspiration and commiseration to keep a piper going.
In the meantime, play a little every day and be kind to yourself.

Cheers and hang in there,
KAD

17

Thank you guys so much for your kind words. They’re incredibly comforting!

And speaking of comforting, I just found this from Robbie Hannan (NPU Chair) in An Piobaire on NPU’s website … thought I’d share because it seemed so appropriate to the thread …

One of the most satisfying things about playing the pipes, for me at any rate, is the sense of elation you get when, after tuning up in a room with good acoustics, you discover that everything is just right: the drones steady and sonorous, the regulators crisp and tuneful and the chanter sweet and responsive. The truth is I really look forward to those five or six days every year. Moreover, one of the best things about it all is that it is nearly always a surprise when it happens as, generally speaking, there is no obvious forewarning that this nirvana is imminent. Of course the downside is that there is no telling when the instrument is going to fall from this exalted state of grace. In my own case, this sudden, total and unfathomable deterioration of the core functions of the instrument can lead to uncharacteristic and persistent bouts of bad temper and anger, involuntary, irrational and often quite vicious outpourings of downright hatred targeted directly at the instrument resulting in disturbingly high levels of paranoia and frustration usually manifested by raising questions as to whatever made me think of taking up such a ridiculously unreliable instrument in the first place. Worst of all, when logic has been completely displaced and discarded, in an effort to stay in control, I resort to prolonged outbursts of ungentlemanly language. You know the sort of thing. I suppose the whole process might be best looked on as character building, depending on how you fare. > – Robbie Hannan >

Fortitude!

Off to work on Lesson 4.

18

Good luck emmdee, sorry to hear the pipes are not for you.