Not even Newbie...

Uilleann Pipes
1

Hi. I don’t play the uilleann pipes yet but I have plans to start saving up money to start. First of all I would like to know if I’d be able to play a normal set left handed, since I am a left hander, or would I have to have a specially constructed one?? Does makers even make leftie pipes? I heard someone say that he used to be a leftie on the whistles but had to start playing right handed when starting with Uilleann pipes. And how big a set would I need? What is usualy included in practise, half, 3/4 and full sets?
And then I would like to know how you play the pipes. I’ve noticed that they have 7 holes on the front. Does that mean that you play them like recorders or is it simply a whistle sistem with an extra C hole or something like that? What makers are good? I would need pipes that are in tune, playing nice, quite loud and resonably priced (if such a thing exists when talking about Uilleann Pipes.)

Thanks.

//curious

2

Well, welcome to the fold. You’ve asked so many questions I won’t try to answer all of them, just some of the biggies.

You’d have to get a left-handed chanter if you wanted the keys made for a lefty. Otherwise, you could play a keyless chanter either way (of course). The bag is tied-in differently for a left handed person, of course. You’d put the bag under your right arm, bellows on the left. Bellows would be the same, but the bag has to have the drone stock and blowpipe on the left side.

As for fingering . . . it’s quite different from the whistle. Look at this page. Although I am in NO WAY recommending the uilleann whistle chanter, there’s a fingering chart a bit down the page which should give you some idea of uilleann fingering.

As for makers, there are tons . . . where are you? It’s probably best to pick someone close to home.

Stuart

3

Henke, yes, you could learn to play a normal right-hand set, since the whole thing will be new to you any way. Some lefties do this. However, each set is made to order, so why not get a left-hand set built right from the start? The only drawback I can think of in getting a left-hand set built would be that your resale opportunites would be much more limited if you later decided to bail.

The most often recommended course is to start with just the chanter, bag and bellows (beginner’s set). Later you can add the drones (half set). the next step is to add the tenor and baritones (three-quarters set), and finally the bass regulator (full set). Many people start with a half-set, but then realize that they have more than they can handle with just the beginner’s set, and only later understand they could have left out the drones for a few years (yup, I made this mistake, too).

You have some additional choices even when getting just a beginner’s set, and that is whether or not to get additional keys. You can get keys added for some of the more difficult notes (Cnat and Fnat), or enough to make the chanter fully achromatic. If money is tight, you don’t need any keys. The cheapest chanter has no keys, and has no mounts for adding keys later. Add mounts for future keys and the price of the chanter goes up a little. When you want to add keys later you will have to return the chanter to the maker for several weeks. The more keys you add, the greater the price (again).

If you play whistle, there are a few differences on UPs. Whistle is open ended, whereas the UP chanter is played closed against the leg. You have to lift the chanter off the leg to play bottom D. The middle D on whistle is played by overblowing the 2nd D, whereas the UP chanter has a hole in the back at the top for reaching this note (usually referred to as “back D”) played with the thumb of the upper hand. The extra hole you refer to on the front is D#/Eb, so playing E is a two finger movement instead of one like on the whistle.

The other difference between playing whistle and UPs is that UPs are usually played in what is called “closed style”, i.e. you lift the fingers to play a note, but then close them again to play the next note. UPs can also be played in “open style”, which is closer to the method used for playing the whistle, but the tone is a bit different, and many people frown on this style.

If you want loud, then the term usually used by UPers is “wide bore”, which refers to the internal diameter of the chanter. Wide-bore UPS are usually louder, with a bit more strident tone than narrow-bores, which are quieter and sweeter in tone.

What makers are good? Check the many threads on this forum to see who UPers like (notice how I duck this to avoid controversy) :wink: . One of the best recommendations I can give you is to find a maker near you, so that you have easy access to go back and ask questions, complain, bitch, moan, and all the usual carry-on. Here are some lists of links to various makers:
http://www.pipers.ie/en/action.lasso?-database=NPU_main.fp3&-layout=links&-SortField=URL_Name&category=Pipemakers&LK=Y&-response=linklist.html&-search
http://www.concentric.net/~pdarcy/page2/page2.shtml#piping_links

One thing you should note is that different makers have waiting lists of various lengths, depending on their outstanding orders and how full a set you order; anywhere from 6 months to 15 years (yes, really). You will have to shop around.

While you are waiting, buy a tutor like Heather Clarke’s, and see if this answers your questions.

djm

4

Do yourself a favor and learn to play right handed. I write, draw, bat and throw left-handed and have had no problems presented by learning right handed piping. It’s only a matter of which hand is on top and since both hands are learning a new skill in unison, neither will have any real advantage. One other benefit of playing right handed is that you can try other peoples pipes at a session, since for the most part they will have right handed sets.
If you want a more inexpensive loud chanter, look into a David Daye wide bore penny chanter. Welcome to your greatest joys and worst nightmares. :boggle:
Marc

5

Well, the theory to handedness is that the “hard” gracenotes are bottom-handed (e.g. crans), and the bottom hand is the dominant hand, meaning that if you play right-handed, your right hand is on the bottom. Really, though, I can’t argue with Marc’s testimony.

As for trying other peoples’ pipes at a session, you could still trade chanters. The regs would be harder to swap. :wink:

Stuart

6

When I ordered my half set from Adrian Jefferies, one of the things I was asked was whether I am a leftie or a rightie, so I know for sure that he makes leftie pipes. I would highly reccomend his pipes, they are very well made, excellent sounding instruments and thanks to the Australian-US currency exchange, his prices are very competitive. Although he recently raised his prices a little, it is still VERY competitive for the quality of instruments he is making. His website is www.irishpipes.net

good luck in your journey to becoming a piper, and may God have mercy on your soul!

7

I’m left handed also, but I play right handed and don’t think it’s any big deal.
It just never occurred to me to play any other way and my pipe maker never asked.

8

Well, thanks for all the replys. About this leftie-righti thing, it’s a bit strange. I write, throw and all the other things with my right hand, but I play left handed. Been playing whistles for about two years and I found out from the beginning that it was just natural for me to play leftie. I never had a period in the beginning when I could play just as well (or bad) with leftie or righti fingering. Left was always easier. And I can’t do even the simplest things with right hand fingering.

I’m not sure I have a maker close to me. I live in sweden and I’m not aware of anyone here.

9

I just ordered a left handed half-set, so getting a left handed set is not difficult. As previously mentioned, you buy them custom built so why not get what you want.

Some people may be able to play right handed, but after trying to play whistle either way…lefty seems better for me.

Welcome to the board.

-gary

10

My line of thinking is the same. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing correctly. Lycka till och Välkommen!

Gary Who did you order your halfset from? Will you have a long wait? BTW, I’m just down Roswell Road from you in Sandy Springs.

11

I have a friend that i am starting a band with and he’s a lefty. He plays low whistle and border pipes like a right-handed person would, and very well I might add. I once tried playing my whistle left-handed (I’m a righty) and after a while i was able to muddle through a tune, it didn’t sound very good, but i was making steady improvment. I think if I hadn’t gone back to playing righty, I could have gotten just as good as I am now playing left-handed. I think the point i am trying to make is that it probably doesn’t really matter which you are, you should just pick a way and go with it.

12

I learned to play oboe (flute, saxophone and recorder) right-handed because there wasn’t a choice. All the school instruments were right-handed. If you hold the instrument right-handed from the beginning… and you have nothing to compare it to, it will seem correct to play it right-handed.

However, I’m really left-handed and I learned to play guitar & bass guitar lefty. I made several attempts (in the beginning) to switch righty and it didn’t work. I started off buying used right-handed guitars and having them converted lefty until I could afford custom ordered left-handed guitars.
The worst part of needing custom instruments was not being able to do an impromptu ‘sit-in’ with other musicians at a session and playing someone else’s guitar. I was forced to carry mine around if I though I’d have a chance to play.

Henke, if you already have experience playing whistle left-handed, despite being right-handed and you don’t want to change, I say go for it!
It will be much harder to find used instruments, but you already commented about ordering a new set.
Good luck with your piping quest.

13

I’m left handed, but play righhanded pipes, whistle, flute etc. as a righthander without problems. I used to play the guitar for many years, fingerpicking, and even then learned to play the guitar as set up for a right handed person. I’ve never found it to be a problem, not if you come new to an instrument and start off playing as a right handed person. There are no uilleann pipemakers in Sweden, Alban Faust, Växjö, makes all kinds of pipes, but not uilleann. There are a handful of active uilleann pipers scattered around the place though, Hasse Ljungberg in Växjö, Jörgen Fischer & Lars Gustafsson in Helsingborg, Thomas Johnson in Lund, Stefan Kayat in Stockholm, Robert Lundblad in Göteborg, prehaps more? Joe Kennedy, Canada, Bruce Childress, US, & Martin Preshaw, Co. Down, seem to be making decent D chanters, and their waiting lists are not so long as the makers of D chanters such as Dave Williams, David Quinn or Cillian O’Briain

14

It seems alot of us are lefties :sunglasses: That might explain the insanity as well.
Marc

15

:laughing: I don’t think we can attribute the insanity to “handed-ness”…left or right. :laughing:

I heard a report on NPR (National Public Radio in the US) about “handed-ness” which indicated that it is believed to be a survival trait. So when the lion jumps out of the bushes, you’re brain doesn’t have to take the time to choose which hand to use to pick up the spear. This decreases reaction time, which is a good thing in most situations.

The other thing they have found is that each person (and animals too) have varying degrees of being left or right handed. This would seem to be consistent with our experiences. For example, I play golf and baseball rightie, but play whistle, write, fence (foil) and eat left handed. Using right handed scissors in my left hand has always made me a bit resentful however. :frowning:

So I think that we each have differing abilities using each hand.

If you start as a rightie, you can probably pick it up that way and do fine. Because I didn’t know any better, I started out with the whistle as a leftie because that felt most comfortable. By the time I decided I would like to play the pipes, I would have had to go back and start over on the whistle.

I gave it a try for a couple of hours (probably not long enough), and felt that if I was willing to keep at it, I probably could have relearned to play the whistle right handed…but it still didn’t feel quite right…

At that point, I gave in to the dark side and am now commited to being a left handed player (whistle and pipes).

I can’t wait for my 1/2 set, for the week after I ordered it I had trouble sleeping because it was all I could think about.

Paul, check your PMs. I ordered my 1/2 set from Ray Sloan and he has a six month wait. …only 5 1/2 to go!

-gary