http://www.mickcoyne.moonfruit.com/. I remember hearing a sample of Mick’s playing Jim Maguire pointed out and it was fearsome tight playing. The site’s a bit odd, you have to wait quite a long time for some things to load.
The only part of the site I’ve had a chance to look at is the section dedicated to the great Roscommon piper Andy Conroy, you get a bio, some lovely pics, including a couple of Andy breaking boards it looks like - he was a judo student in his 80s - and some samples of his playing. The MC on the Maid on the Green is Canadian piper Barry O’Neill, it’s quite a funny tape he made on that occasion - some wiseacre supplies a drone by blowing on a flute at one point; Barry gave Andy a hard time about giving up on reaching high D at another, leading my source for the tape to describe Barry as “giving lessons in how to suck eggs”; I also remember thinking when Andy lost the 2nd octave during the Maid that it was just like Patsy Touhey’s record, and next thing I hear is Barry saying “It’s just like the record!” Andy was a Touhey disciple, see. If anything he went past him, and some can’t take his music at all, others love it.
The hornpipe on the first Andy page is of course the well known Harvest Home, or Cork Hornpipe as it used to be called. The first hornpipe you hear on the More Andy page I believe is a composition of his, called something like Gengis Khan! He wrote a few others dedicated to the Sputnik satellite, which Breandan Breathnach retitled (for the journal Ceol) “Conroy’s #1” and the like. Another he left with its more traditional title “Colonel Glenn.” Actually this is another spacey tune, it was written to commemorate John Glenn’s three orbits…
Does anyone know the name of the jig in C on the More Andy page? I’ve played it for years, in the more reasonable key of G, and always thought it quite a beautiful tune. Strange to say but it was also about the only tune I’ve heard on tapes where Andy would turn on the drones.
I really liked the web site and Mick’s piping. My computer was very slow in dealing with any audio files which was very disappointing, as I think I could learn a few things from him. I will try again as there’s a lot there.
Thanks … Ed
Wasn’t it Andy Conroy who, in regards to his fondness for tight/closed chanter playing, said that [paraphrase] it was a pity there were any holes at all in the chanter [/paraphrase] 
t
Hello Kevin
Andy always called the tune Maude Gonne after the object of Yeats’ desire (he got a great kick out of that). He claimed that the tune was more beautiful than the real thing.
Regards
John Moran
I got mail from Mick Coyne
Hi Carel, I am working on the dedicated pipers site at the moment .It takes
a up a lot of time recording ,editing and uploading the music and that is
before I put the pages and notes up. The new site is uilleannpipestutor.com
you can become a member as soon as the domain is linked up , about 24 hours
. But there is only a few things in it at the moment. Im trying to do a few
tune that will be the same in every room Beginner, Intermediate and
advanced. It would mean that whatever level you are at that there are a few
tunes the whole site can play.
Please pass the word that the site is on the way to other players.
FRIGGIN’ WOW!. Thanks Carel for posting that and keeping the rest of us spellbound. Whatever your opinion, this sounds like a great site to resource!
no problem Joseph
I am working now on Rolling In The Rye Grass
on his tutorial page
part 1 and 2
carel
… excellent stuff!!!
Hi ya John,
Maude Gonne, eh? Did Andy compose that one himself? Or the high D hornpipe?
Mick’s tutor site should be interesting, you guys’ll lend a hand there I’m sure.
oleorezinator
Joined: 29 Dec 2003
Posts: 271
Location: the hole where rats used to come out of
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 9:29 pm Post subject:
tight piping indeed! a tape of andy’s playing that i heard has him putting these maniacal stacatto triplets in places where you would think they couldn’t possibly fit. in a radio interview he was asked being such a fine piper did he also play the tin whistle. he was so against open playing that he replied “well i can play pop goes the weasel i suppose.” once willie clancy very wittly commented to him “andy,your playing is so tight it’s a pity that the chanter has holes at all.” i met andy on my first trip to ireland in 1986 in dublin at john kellys shop not far from npu. andy was a great guy and a gentleman.
ya see that hole? rats used ta come outta that hole…
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