just got my practice pipes!

Uilleann Pipes
21

I had supurb fun at the Tiónol: Gay McKeon led an intimate beginners workshop and though it was really really beginners stuff which i had done, he did spot a couple of problems with my technique. He also basically added a load of thread to my set so its now a lot more well stuck together - i had been meaning to do it myself but i never got round to it.

I dont think im getting a full set for christmas, my famly clearly dont love me enough to spend £4000 on a new ‘loud thing’ - i should try to be a better son/brother sob - but the practice set is going great at the moment - save some minor repair work on the transfer pipe and the additional threading.

I think my playing is comming along great, i have about 4 or 5 practice tunes now, i am a lot more confident in the second octive, the thing still sounds a little like a tormented cat, but thats down to me death-gripping / loosing concerntration / not knowing the tunes well enough / not knowing the fingering well enough.
On top of all this i am starting to gain confidence making adjustments to the reed, - the bridle seems to graduly slip down over time / temperature and eventually the low D becomes a bit worbelly and quick to break into the high octave. Im not sure if the ensemble is in tune, i need to get a proper tuner, maby i can get one for christmas.

Happy christmas and a merry new year

22

A little beeswax (or poster putty) on one side of the bridle should keep it in place.

A set of drones makes the best tuner as the pipes play in just intonation (all notes harmonize with the drones). Most available tuners measure equal temperment (all notes are equally out of tune).

I use a tuning fork to tune my drones, then I tune the chanter to harmonize with the drones. BUT: in my experience, there is always that one note that isn’t quite right. :tomato:

23

I dont know if it want it fixed that ellegantly - having to re-afjust the reed every few hours makes it look like i know what im doing :sunglasses:

good point on the drones though. if i had an I pad i would use Eskins but i cant even afford that :confused:

24

When it comes to the bridle slipping down, a piece of advice given to me by Mike Hulme, who built my set, was to wax up a bit of hemp thread and wrap it around the reed, just below the bridle and tie it up. Not hard enough to alter the reed, but just enough to give the bridle something to rest on and to keep it from slipping. Worked like a charm for me so far. Be sure to blast out those tunes you know when the family is gathered for the unwrapping of the presents. Then they will surely buy you a full set for next christmas! :smiley:

At least it might kill off some of the older relatives, leaving you with a, hopefuly, hefty inheritance.

Merry christmas, new year, hanukka, easter and halloween.

25

A great free online tuner can be found at http://www.seventhstring.com under- Seventh String Tuning Fork.

26

things i have got since last i posted:

a tuner
a new job in Cork
a bad case of Beginners Lazyness.

Hopefully ill be able to nab a teacher in Cork to really kick things up a notch and stop myself from learning bad habits in the wrong order. I can excuse some of the lazyness as i have had to do some pritty intensive work on flute embrashure to correct some truley horific tuning errors. Aditionally, i have been climbing hard recently, and climbing tends to cause trouble in the squeezey muscles, which are vital for piping. Also i have been returning from work late recently and pipes arnt a late night instrument.

27

www.corkpipersclub.com

28

Result!

i was going to serch the NPU site for prospective clubs once i was settled but this saves me the effort. a thousand times thank you!

incidentally any Corkites reeding this want to be my friend? Myself and my flute will be in town on friday night, probably at Sin e, unless somthing else is sugested (there all a bit too good in there, makes me self-conshous).

29

That is too funny. Looking forward to that feeling…in about ten years.

30

It strikes me that I have neglected to mark mny one year anaversary on the pipes. It would have been the 25th of January.

So where am I up to now then, I have a few tunes down, mostly for the purposes of practice rather then performance, I can get all the notes out of the bag in isolation and usually with about 70% confidence in tunes or scales. I have no more death grip and most of the discomfort now comes from my slowly developing squeezeymuscles, I try and practice for about 30 minutes a day, this is generally in 30 minute gasps followed by rest periods. I continue to practice the tunes and staccato scales.
I have had 2 lessons so far, the most recent one (autumn) was with Gay McKeowen, which was very helpful even if I think I probably should have gone to the intermediate class. Im listening to a lot of Shamus Ennis recordings, but I also picked up the DVD from NPU concerning the Doran weekend, which was an eye opener, but maybe a bit too fast and furious to learn anything off.
My imminent departure from Yorkshire coupled with some problems with my flute playing have relegated the pipes to weekends only, I should be able to rectify this once I arrive in Cork.

Cork presents a few opportunities, the cork pipers club being the main one. Finally ill get some lessons and hopefully be able to practice a lot more regularly, with my flute embrasure in order, and no new instruments planned, I can really try to accelerate my progress on the pipes.

I suppose at this stage, while I have your attention, I should add a few questions:

1: im getting better at the staccato scale at least in the first 8ve, is there an intermediary step before using this technique in tunes, what’s the name for it? Back-stitching or is that just fancey thumb work on the high D/

2: while its all still academic as I don’t have that sort of money, when should I get a full set? I think im going to skip the half set as I have been listening to a CD of recordings of Shamus Ennis and I really want to get an early start on the regulators as a core part of the instrument and not just the cherry on top.


in closing, and addendum, i hope this thread is proving entertaining for folk, i should really be blogging this sort of thing, but 20 20 hindsite and all that. once i have finished learning ill probably export the thread and publish it as a ‘my journaly to being an average piper’

31

Then you have to deal with other people swearing loudly

or worse, trying to drown you out with boxes which are almost as bad as the Bodrahn player who just collected his first instrument an hour before the session :astonished: