After playing my practice set for few years I have decided to order a half set. I am looking for advice on getting a keyed chanter. How many, and which keys do you think would be best to get?
My pipe teacher suggests getting it fully keyed to have the most flexibility in playing. But he plays often with orchestras and plays all kinds of music, not just trad, Irish music.
The pipemaker that I have ordered my pipes from suggests not getting the B flat key as its placement sometimes interferes with the F natural key.
I know that B flat doesn’t get used all that much in traditional Irish music.
Any thoughts and advice from those who are more experienced?
Basically it’s down to you and the tunes you choose to play. Many people get by just fine with no keys on their chanters. Others consider a Cnat key to be essential but the others to be optional.
Personally, I use the Cnat key quite a bit. I occasionally use Fnat and G#. I recently ordered a new chanter and asked for 4 keys (Cnat, Fnat, G# and Bb). I included the Bb because in the future I might need it, if, for instance, I wanted to play tunes in G minor - Seamus Ennis played some of his slow airs in G minor instead of E minor as they sounded better that way (against D drones).
If your pipemaker thinks the placement of the Bb interfers with the Fnat, then he/she should consider different key/keyblock designs (such as Fnat in a ring key).
