I have come across these two home pages:
http://www.angar.net/bob_may/
http://www.songsea.com/uwc.htm
When we look at these practice options, when overlooking the fact that pumping and squeezing are important, and we do only concider the practicing on the chanter itself, how are these solutions like?
Any experiences? Previous threads?
You can’t overlook the fact that pumping and squeezing are important on the uilleann pipes.
Flamenco and airbus and banana spoons.
Mukade
To echo a familiar commercial jingle from my youth (now long gone 
)
Ain’t nothin’ like the Real Thing baby,
Ain’t nothin’ like the Real Thing
T
Mouth blown UP’s do not exist in the real world - damp will be the death of a proper Uilleann reed
You need to learn to use the bellows and bag to control the pipes
John
The sound clips tell you all you need to know.
How many times are we going to have to answer this question?
Here’s an idea…why don’t we all chip in and buy a couple of these beasties and then loan them out to folks so they can see that they are totally useless.
mq
Likely as long as people don’t check the tagged messages that stay at the top? I assume this info’s there (it should be if it’s not).
To give yourself a satisfying experience with theres things , you have to have understood the thought process behind the concept being espoused first .
It all started with those cheap plastic belloweses that are used to inflate air mattresses while camping out .
From there , the pipes were taken to some hospital somewheres , and properly fit with surgical tubing , and brought back to the garage where , 
Ahem…
Not wanting to start a debate, I do wish to share my experience concerning these mouth-blown practice chanters, as I did purchase one.
Being a highland piper, who also played bellow blown smallpipes, the hardest part of attempting to learn the uilleann pipes was not pumping and squeezing, but rather the new fingering.
With this aspect I do feel the mouth-blown practice chanter was beneficial. It’s relatively small size made it easily portable, thus allowing extra practice sessions not easily accessible with a starter set. Even compared to the whistle, the mouth blown chanter allows you to practice fingering not achievable by the whistle.
That being said, my mouth blown chanter was almost never in tune, so in some sense useless.
In summary… if you are short on cash and a former highland piper, then and only then is the mouth blown chanter a good idea.
wernt we all? 
, lol .
Is the fingering the same? I couldn’t find a fingering chart on the website.
You don’t work in sales or marketing, do you … 
Call me finicky but if an instrument is invariably out of tune, then it’s not a good idea.
PJ,the fingering is open and completely different with one octave. Low ‘a’ to high ‘a’ with a low ‘g’ which makes 9 notes.The key is somewhere around b flat but this can vary depending on the chanter.I learned the fingering for the ups using a highland practice chanter while I was waiting for my pipes to arrive, although I couldn’t get the upper octave and the hole spacing is shorter in the highland pipes.
I think PJ’s asking if the fingering of the mouth blown thingies is the same as uilleann thingies, not GHB.
See what Patsy Touhy said on the matter, especially regarding newcomers with prior musical experience.
http://billhaneman.ie/AFH/AFH-AppendixB.html
But what did he know?.. 
Honestly GHB dudes and dudettes, if an uillean practice chanter was at all helpful in teaching uilleann pipes, don’t you think it would have become part of irish piping tuition methods a looooonnnnnngggggg time ago?
I don’t see or hear any mention of a practice chanter in the NPU video tutor. But you do see kids age 10-14 handling a bag, bellows, and chanter at WCSS and tionoil all over Ireland. HMMMMMMM 
Here we go again: the coordination of bag and bellows with the fingering/shading of toneholes/lifting the chanter/increasing or decreasing bag pressure are integral to controlling the chanter. You really can’t practice the fingering in isolation from the bag and bellows and expect to get anywhere.
I agree that of course you need the complete package of bellows bag and chanter to develop the the whole technique . But for just learning the fingering for a tune without the stress of the bellows and bag and perhaps the advantage of being able to practice at home in a built up area in relative low volume , would warrant giving such a device a closer look even for an advanced player.
Ballygo
B, are you making or selling these things? You just contradicted yourself. You agree that there’s no substitute for the bag bellows etc but then go on to say that you can practice the fingering in isolation. If there’s no substitute for practicing the entire system of coordinated bag, bellows, and chanter how can you gain any real benefit from playing the scale in isolation?
By the way, the bag and bellows should be no stress at all for an intermediate to advanced player, by the way, so, thanks for the suggestion but it’s not needed.
As for neighbors, well, you have to negotiate with them or change your environs. If those are not options, then find a practice space away from home. Or get a C chanter. There are ways to deal with unappreciative neighbors.
It’s a HARD instrument to learn. People suck at it the first time they strap in. It’s normal. And it’s not just because the scale is different. The difficulty isn’t in one particular aspect of its technique but in doing several simple (and sometimes more complex) tasks all at the same time. Beginners need to practice in a way that builds their coordination. Playing scales in isolation on a mouthblown chanter does nothing to help them.
If you’re fed up with pipe bands and regalia and marching and all that stuff and want to learn irish pipes there’s two things you need to know:
a) you have to give it your absolute best shot in terms of time devotion and study; half measures aren’t going to get the job done. For many it may mean giving up highland piping for at least a little while to focus on uilleann piping exclusively. The pipers who succeed at “the switch” really do give it their all.
b) borrowing a line from Patsy Touhy’s remarks, you have to forget most everything you know about Highland piping and get used to the idea that you’re back at square one. That means listening to experienced pipers and taking their advice to heart when they say " do this " and "don’t do this ".
Song of the Sea charges $100.00 plus S&H for these things. Here’s an alternative for less than $5 which fulfulls all of your requirements:
What you’re left with is a stick with holes on which you can practice fingering without annoying anyone. You can bring it anywhere, practice on the bus, in the classroom, even on the toilet, and no one will hear you. Plus, you can put the $100 you’ve saved towards a real set of pipes.
Perhaps the real issue is, that a few of us purchased this item and are using this forum to find support to make the most of a less than adequate instrument.
Personally I think the real issue is that there are opportunists out there who would stick a name on something to try and sell it when it bears no resemblance to what it purports to be.