What can I say? Another fantastic year for the participants and instructors..
…and what a view…I wish I could’ve stayed..
Great weekend. Still exhausted. It was great to meet some of the other forum members.
I picked up my new tenor regulator from Nick Whitmer. I’m delighted with it. All I need now is to learn to play it. Luckily, David Power gave me some good advice on how to get started.
I’ll try post some photos of the weekend and of the now 3/4 set over the next few days.
I’ll be looking forward to it. 
You must be exhausted! 
Six-hour journey whoa!
D
With a few stops we made it home in 7 1/2 hours. There were many with much longer journeys than me.
At the Intermediate Uilleann Pipers Class with Jerry O’Sullivan, the tune he taught us on Saturday morning seems to be No. 78 of the Dance Music of Willie Clancy, a 2-part version of Lark in the Morning. He also played this tune during the Sunday evening concert.
This may be the tune. I’ve not compared it with the DMWC version.
I made it home in 14 hours this year - a new personal best! I’m still a little punchy so forgive the lack of elegance in my writing.
I enjoyed meeting Ted Anderson from San Francisco and the sessions with the the Canada contingent.
I only managed to make it to one workshop - Jerry O’Sullivan’s - and it was a good one! I managed to miss the others due to a profound inability to function at any level before 9AM compounded with random senility attacks.
I enjoyed the concerts this year. The sets were shortened this year which left one wanting to hear more. This was much better than in the past, when the over-riding emotion at the conclusion of an overlong set was relief.
John Swayne and Becky Price were marvelous, and Chris Ormiston reminded me why I used to play Northumbrian smallpipes.
Note to self: Bring a sweater and some long pants next year.
Good to hear you made it home safely, Bill.
It was my first year on the Board and helping to run the show, and I have to say it was a blast even though I wasn’t able to get to any of the UP classes (Too many pipes, too little time. But the East Durham tionol isn’t far off).
David Power, Jerry O’Sullivan and Benedict Koehler all played outstanding concert sets. Hilari Farrington’s description of the various bits of uilleann pipes accompanied by Benedict’s sound effects was hilarious. And who knows, that bit just might make it onto our next CD.
The “Amazing Soda Straw Bagpipe” was a big hit with the kids and piping widows, and a few pipers were seen making a set for themselves too. Here are some photos from that workshop:
Hey Bill,
It was great to see you again since North Hero, originally..glad you made it though. Hopefully, we’ll get to practice that hornpipe at the East Coast Tionol hopefully, if I can make it.
Regards,
D
The Home Ruler, right? I like to play that tune with Cross(ing) The Fence which, according to Jerry O, was composed by Brendan McGlinchey. I think those tunes are played together on an old John Faulkner/Dolores Keane recording - “Broken-Hearted I’ll Wander”, if I recall correctly.
I don’t have any plans to be at the East Coast Tionol (actually, I’ve never been there). So, I’ll look forward to seeing you all next year in Killington - everybody ought to have that hornpipe nailed by then!
Is that the same song/tune as The Bonnie Light Horseman? A Scottish tune if I am not mistaken.
Right o’ Bill. Home Ruler, its a good one. Look forward to seeing you again as well as the others, I didn’t get everybody’s name, but you know who you are.
Richard was teaching people to make a working straw bagpipe, I missed it unfortunately, but does anyone know if it actually produced a sound out of it? If it does, I’d like to order from him a bamboo bagpipe next year.. 
Daryl
I heard from one attendee that nearly everyone left that workshop with a working set of straw bagpipes. The exception was one adult whose own set didn’t work, but their kid made a working set. Maybe Junior will let Dad play it once in a while. 
Yep, that’s one of the vocal tracks on the recording! It’s still one of my favorites.
I heard the same thing. Apparently the straws on that set were made in Pakistan
It was nice to meet you Mark, and the rest of the board. We hope to be down again at the wonderful venue, nice going !! Excellent spot.
Daryl
Nice to meet you too, Daryl. Thanks for the kudos, I’ll pass it on to the rest of the board. We’ll be putting out a survey in the near future; we’d love to hear from you and the other attendees about what worked, what didn’t, and how you think we can improve for next year. Watch for the survey coming soon to an email box near you!
One other great success I wanted to mention was the whistle class. Based on the response to last year’s survey (see, we really DO read them!), we decided to offer a whistle class, taught by Andrea Mori. The attendance exceeded our expectations, and the class became more popular and more populated as the weekend went on. It’s sure to be on the program again for 2007.
Yeah, I saw that on Monday on our way out that there was whistle’s echoing in the hallway, sounds like a great idea, as lonng as the focus stays on pipes, I don’t see any issues with it personally.
Regards,
D
Hey PJ,
I totally forgot about at the end of Benedict’s class when you asked to see his Rowsome chanter..that part about him telling you “Sure..but if you drop it, I’ll kill you” that was classic!
On the upside, it would’ve been a great few years as an apprentice in their workshop to work off paying for that chanter, even when it’s irreplacable.
D