Anyone know at what pitch Paddy Moloney tunes his pipes?
I played a D whistle with them back in 2001 and it seemed to be be in tune with no complaints, but I have heard that he tunes up around A447.
If that is true, then would I have to re-tune my concert D pipes up to his pitch in order to play along with him, or would there be no apparent different on stage?
I mean, is the difference between A440 and A447 that noticable to the ear?
Thanks in advance for your answers.
Richard
The difference is 27.3 cents. I think that would be noticeable to most people as either a very wet tuning, or just out of tune.
yup, he tunes really really sharp - no definite pitch, just wherever the reed is at that time as he won’t touch it. last time i played with him i had to essentially jam the reed with no hemp down the throat of my chanter - which ironically from the outside is almost identical to mine - his a rowsome, mine a measured copy of one…
so if you are doing a stint with the boys, tune up my friend. 
It may depend on which chanter he’s got running at the time. His Rowsome seems to like to be reeded a bit hot of 440 it’s true, though if he’s got one of his Gallagher sticks up and running, I would think you’d be a bit closer to the 440 mark. When he’s been out this way, he couldn’t quite get the Gallagher to sing the way he liked - we tried mine as well, but I didn’t have a reliable reed at the time of their concert. So he played the Gallagher body (drones/regs) and the old Rowsome chanter. If you’re playing with them see if you can get in touch with Donny Golden - I think he was the one helping to put together the locals and such when they were through last. And always (I’m sure you know) be there early…like for sound check if you can. That’s as good a time as any to try to check tunings and go over finale tune sets and such. 
Perhaps to the average audience member they wouldn’t know the difference between 440 and 447, but I can hear a pretty significant difference between the two, and I bet Paddy (or the rest of the Chieftains for that matter, well, what’s left of them) can too!
Most people will notice a difference of 4 cents, so the difference between 440 and 447 should be clearly noticeable.
Paddy Moloney seems to have at least 3 different Rowsome sets. Bill Meek’s book on Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains has plenty of photos of Paddy down through the years. There’s even one photo of Paddy playing what looks like a big Coyne set (the photo is reversed and it looks like Paddy’s playing left-handed).
Thanks for all the advice.
Well, yes…I have been asked to play with them at the finale.
I am meeting with them 3 hours prior to the concert to check tunes and tuning with Paddy at the sound check.
I don’t have any worries playing with them except making sure that I am in tune with Paddy.
Maybe he will grace me and play to my A440 tuning? Already enough nerves involved playing in front of 3,000 people.
Either way, it will be fun to hang out with them again.
Paddy has even offered me a one minute solo!
My one minute of fame I guess.
More in late February after the fact.
Cheers! Richard
That’s great Richard. What will you play for your solo?
It depends on what Paddy says of course.
I have suggested “The March of the King of Laois” which I actually learned form one of the Chieftains early albums, but also have mentioned Fraher’s Jig, Garret Barry’s Jig, I Buried My Wife, and Wheels of the World.
I have always liked playing The March of the King of Laois because it used to be the Chieftains opening number and always sounds grand.
We’ll see what he likes.
Last time I played with them it was Fraher’s Jig, Garret Barry’s Jig and a third number I don’t remember now.
Always fun to be with them though.
Cheers! Richard
Just tune the chanter, i.e. make sure ahead of time that the chanter can be nudged up to 447 or so by inserting the reed deeper into the reed seat. There’s no need to mess with drones or regs, it would be presumptious I think to play drones/regs when P. M. is present!
Presumptuous or no - you wouldn’t be able to hear them I expect. Most of the time they’ve only got a single mic available for the chanter anyway. You could always rig up a little wireless set-up like Paddy uses for his bass drone I suppose.
Thanks for all the input and advice.
I re-tuned my chanter the other night to slightly higher than A440. I really don’t think the reed will go any deeper in the chanter throat. Seems to have bottomed out due to the long staple length. I really don’t want to cut off any of the staple at this point to make it go in deeper.
Plus this is my famous 10 year old reed that has been a real gem all these years and I don’t want to mess with it too much.
I’ll just have to wait and see how it sounds next to Paddy’s.
Perhaps I will just play a short solo as he has suggested and leave it at that.
Either way, it will be another unforgettable experience.
Cheers! Richard
Hi Richard,
One suggestion - a duet with Paddy with him playing harmonies. Have a look at the following clip at approx. 6.30.
Well…a wonderfully magic night is over.
Last night I had the opportunity to play with The Chieftains at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.
We arrived at 5PM for their sound check. After the band went through all of their checks, Paddy asked me to come on stage and we sat together and played through a tune.
The who;e sound check only lasted about a half hour.
BTW, he has re-tuned his pipes to A440 (down from A445 I was told) so we were amazingly in tune and the two sets sounded brilliant together.
Paddy was playing his old Rowsome chanter with drones and regulators made by Seth Gallagher of New York. His Rowsome set is in for some repairs he said.
I was asked to come out at their finale and we were to play Drowsie Maggie in a round-robin fashion with everyone getting a short one minute solo.
After the sound check we got to eat a lovely catered dinner with them and the crew from Davies Symphony Hall. It was delicious!
My wife and I had front row center seats 3 rows from the stage. Great for taking photos.
At the intermission we went backstage and hung out with everyone for 20 minutes and then back to our seats.
In the second half of the show I had a cue to get backstage and get ready. I got backstage, strapped on my pipes, played through a tune in the green room, and then proceeded to wait for Paddy to introduce me.
He introduced me as “we have a special guest tonight., Richard Katz from San Francisco”. (I am actually from Los Gatos, but who cares!)
I sat in Paddy’s seat and moved forward to play the whistle (an old brass Generation).
We immediately started to play. As each player got their solo I just sat there in amazement at their talent.
I was the last one to solo and Paddy played along with me through “The March of the King of Laois”.
After the finale we all exited the stage and Paddy, Matt and Kevin all commented how brilliant I played and how wonderful my pipes sounded (thanks to Charles Roberts!) What a surreal moment!
They went back out to play and encore and I sat backstage to watch on the monitors.
After the show we hung out with them for about an hour and then they went to the lobby to sign CDs.
The show consisted of The Chieftains (Paddy, Matt, and Kevin - Sean Keanne is not touring with them currently to take some time off). Also on board were the Canadian dancing team of brothers’ Jon and Nathan Pilatzke and Cara Butler, harpist Triona Marshall, Jeff White, a well-known country-bluegrass musician, a female Gaelic singer from Lewis, Scotland, a female fiddle-mandolin player form Nashville (sorry I forgot their names) and the Bushmill Irish Whiskey Pipe Band from San Francisco (12 pipers and 7 drummers).
This was by far the best Chieftains concert I have attended. They were in top form and everyone played brilliantly.
Matt played Casey Burns and Patrick Olwell flutes: Kevin played a bodhran by Brendan White.
Matt played the most lovely version of “Easter Snow” I have ever heard and Kevin sang a very moving solo rendition of “Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore”.
I asked Paddy once again when he would be doing a solo piping CD and he said in the near future he hoped, because everyone is bugging him about it. The Chieftains are in the middle of what he called “their Irish-Mexican CD project” right now.
Kudos to everyone at Davies Hall for their assistance and professionalism!
My wife took movies and photos which I will try to upload later on.
My one minute of fame is now over! Back to your regularly scheduled program.
Cheers!
Richard
Well done Richard. Looking forward to seeing/hearing the photos, soundfiles, YouTube clips, etc. 
Hi PJ,
Thanks!
Paddy did play harmony on his pipes with me when we practiced “The March of the King of Laois” at the sound check.
He was playing some really incredible harmony parts. It sounded really beautiful.
I wish he had played the pipes with me during the show instead of the whistle.
But hey, I am not complaining!
Cheers! Richard
Here are two photos from last night.
One of me and Paddy after the sound check and the other of my wife me with the boys.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35601655@N07/3295863868/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35601655@N07/3295863878/
Cheers! Richard
Richard Katz, fantastic story!!
And oh how i hope, that Paddy will really record a solo CD, that would be a gift to all pipers in the World, the pure dream.
Sorry, why exactly would this be considered the ‘pure dream’??
Hm, may be i wrote something not correct, i just want to say, that it is a dream for me, as i consider Paddy to be one of the greatest musiciants of our days. I simply dream, that he would record CD and i will finally understand, how he does that music. I know, that it all is like this not only for me.
When i’m listening other pipers Cds i can understand, what they are doing, like “ok- that is slide+pope+roll, then octave jump and stoccato triplet from F”, and when i listen to Paddy’s records, i can’t do that, if he will record a solo disc i will learn all tracks by ear up to the last grace-note