This is my first post on this forum and I hope somebody can provide some suggestions.
I’ve been playing for two years now so I have a bit of a clue - but not a whole lot - but here is my problem.
My chanter is well in tune and my reed has good tone. EXCEPT when I try to play a one finger G on the lower octave - as in a FGA staccato triplet. The G is REALLY weak and will jump the octave if there is too much bag pressure OR it will just gurgle.
It appears to be a reed problem because if I open the lips quite a bit (to the point where the pipes sounds like a honking goose) that G is good and strong. But once I put the bridle in a spot for the pipes to be in-tune and nice sounding, the G becomes weak and almost impossible to get a good solid note. I can’t seem to find a happy medium either.
it’s a reed thing / hole size thing. I find it off putting if it won’t go up the octave at all as I use it as a seamless way to get up there from octave 1.
No, no no - one finger G in the first octave is not normal. Richard’s quite right that in the stacatto triplet G-F-E or A-G-F in the first octave, the G actually is in the second.
Occasionally one meets a chanter that will play a one finger G in the first octave (that doesn’t sound overly weak), but often there are other tradeoffs as a consequence (as Sam implies).
I was at a Tionol back in October and I seem to recall Gay McKeon suggesting the use the of the single finger G to attain the second octave G easier as well.
Bill is entirely correct. One finger G is not the correct fingering for the lower octave so it cannot be considerd a deficiency. It does make it easier to get the 2nd 8ve G, but I find it flat and slightly muffled on most chanters.
My Gallagher concert chanter will actually hit the lower 8ve G on a efg triplet most days. My K&Q concert chanter will not produce a low 8ve G in that circumstance, ever.
of course the 1 finger g isnot normal fingering, it’s used in a triplet, and yes, it is very easy to jump into the high octave using thisnote with little preassure. However a decent chanter and reed should be able to give you control over which octave you achieve even with this note.
My chanter is one of Neil O’Grady’s and, while not overly fancy, I think they are considered decent. The issue may very well be my reed but right now my tuning and sound are so nice that I don’t want to fart around with it too much for the sake of a stronger first octave, one finger G. My reed was made by a local piper and I’ve been tweaking it myself.
Bill knows what he’s talking about. Don’t worry about it. Benedict Kohler makes decent reeds and chanters and that one jumps the 8ve on a one finger G. It is what it is.
Well, you’re defining “problem” and “properly” in terms which don’t happen to agree with the normal acoustics of the uilleann pipes.
People certainly have the right to invent their own parameters of how they think the uilleann pipes ought to play. I’m just talking the reality of the situation, which is that most chanters play the one-finger G in the upper register, and that note is used to “vent” upper-register notes for that reason.
I do know a pipemaker, though, who was obsessed with making chanters that did a solid, in-tune, one-finger low-register G. His chanters were terrible.
But it all goes to show how variable uilleann chanters are. My chanter, for example, has an amazingly solid and stable back D which still plays a good back D when the weather is so dry here that everybody else’s back D’s are sinking or gurgling. But, it’s nearly impossible to get a Hard Bottom D on my chanter in normal weather. Only when the humidity is around 10% will my chanter do a Hard Bottom D with any reliability. (My Soft Bottom D is exceptionally full and stable however, and is not “soft”, and does not break or gurgle.)
yes the one finger G seems easier on a flat-pitch chanter. and here’s a thought- fingers are easier to train than chanters. e.g. my concert chanter plays a nice one finger G - if I lift two fingers hehheh
cheers,
I have sort of the opposite problem with my B chanter/reed. When I try and play a one-fingered 2 octave g I get a kind of muted low G. The only consistent method of nailing it is to do a two-fingered g. Not sure what causes this and can be a little annoying of those tight triplets.
- but here is my problem.
reeds and chanters and that one jumps the 8ve on a one finger G. It is what it is.
hehheh