Could you please point me to narrow D recordings (CDs, soundfiles, video-clips, myspace , - whatever)?
There are some clips on Bill Haneman’s site of a Taylor brothers narrow D set:
http://billhaneman.ie/soundfiles/\
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Ronan Browne is playing a very old set of James Kenna narrow bore D pipes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UEC52_O0vU
http://www.myspace.com/jameskennapipes
Me playing by Pat Stones D narow bore chanter
Pat Stones pipe maker from Luton London England.
http://uilleannforum.com/forums/download/file.php?id=178
Cheers
Ferg
I don’t know why narrow bore pipes in D aren’t more popular - you get the (superior IMO) tonal qualities of narrow bore in the same pitch as modern session instruments.
I know the discussion has been had out many times before but what do other people think about it?
One thing I keep hearing about narrow bore D chanters is that they are difficult to reed.
„One thing I keep hearing about narrow bore D chanters is that they are difficult to reed.“
This seems to be a major argument against the narrow Ds (with fairly equal-sized toneholes), but I think this does not necessarily have to be so:
Read e.g. the (SRS Vol. II) article by Geoff Wooff
http://www.seanreidsociety.org/SRSJ2/chanter%20design.pdf
„.. However the result as I see it, is that a whole generation of
pipers have grown up using and thinking that these [concert pitch] are the real thing. The classic
chanter, or ’flat’ chanter, with its narrower bore and small relatively even-sized finger
holes needs to be coupled to a smaller reed that has only been scraped so that its
natural note, when sucked, is the A of the chanter or a little above. At the same time
the reed head needs to be reasonably light so that it can respond to the small pressure
changes caused by the small finger holes. …“
Geoff refers mostly to the „classical“ period of ~ 1810-1850 but I guess this also goes for the period before (~1760 – 1810) when the first Union Pipe chanters developed from the Pastoral Pipes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastoral_pipes
As these were about in D# (or Eb) so were the standard Union Pipes. Of course, it is impossible to talk about pitch, but anyway the longer chanters (~17 or 18 inches) seem to have not been invented then.
From my own experiance I find it not very uncommon that you can take one of these smaller reeds out of a B-chanter, put it in a narrow D (those jobs with ~ equal sized holes) and it plays as well. Imagine that with CP-chanters and reeds!
In addition, the tunes of that period seemed to have been more „demanding“:
Read Ross Anderson´s article:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/Sutherland-Manuscript.pdf
„…Overall, the most striking thing about the Sutherland manuscript for the modern piper
may be the confident use of the top half of the second octave. … „
BTW, I am not too fond of the name „Union Pipe“ as it does not tell too much about the loudness. I like the (historical proved) name „Chamber Pipes“ better in this context.
Thought I´d “resurrect” this old thread as I´m a “narrow-D-enthusiast”: I had searched and saved all narrow D recordings I could find. There are not so many. I have those of Ronan Browne on yourtub and herspace, those of hunterpipes and of billh. I searched “clips & snips”: There are tons of CP recordings and all sorts of flat sets but not a single narrow D. How about if owners of narrow D sticks posted a recording (whatever quality)?
Have you looked at Mickey Smith?
I just read Ross Anderson’s article referenced above. I just was with Ross, who attended the San Francisco tionol, and would have discussed with him one point he makes. He says “the French developed the Shawm into the oboe…”. This is not supported by the some writers on the origin of the oboe. Jean Hotteterre and Michel Philidor are credited with the development of the oboe in the 17th century. Bates, in his book, “The Oboe”, states that the oboe owes it’s origin to a bagpipe chanter and not a shawm, as many have supposed. The hotteterre family were noted bagpipe makers and developed the musette. The French at the time had bagpipes which were narrow bored and would overblow well into the second octave. Descendants of these bagpipes still exist and are played today. Denis Brookes did research on this as well and states that the pastoral chanter probably has as an ancestor the early french bagpipe and the hautbois, all of which overblow a full two octave range, with very similar bores and reeds.
A very brief appearance of a narrow bore D chanter with the Rubberbandits : Roisín, ba mhaith liom bruíon le d’athair