I am just starting to mess around with this. Does anyone have any advice on where to place the pops, how to make them clean, what exercises would help, etc. I have been having trouble getting my pops clean and I really don’t have any clue as to where they are supposed to go. I hear where other pipers are putting them, but when I play a tune I am having trouble finding the right places to put them. Help me! Arghhh!!!
Hmm, I don’t like soup that much. I’m not sure if its safe to answer … 
Notes normally popped are E, F#, G in the second octave. Better chanters will also pop the A in the second octave. Some chanters will pop the back D, depending on the reed.
Start your practise by cleanly playing just the one note short and sharp. Then try to pick the chanter up about a quarter inch off the leg as you raise the fingers to play the note, and then bring the chanter down to close against the leg as you bring the fingers down to close the note.
You must be holding the chanter very lightly to do this right. Don’t hold the chanter with a death grip, and don’t try ramming the chanter through your leg when you bring it down. If you do it right, the note should yelp like a dog. This is called popping, or a short pop.
Swelling, or a long pop, is done exactly the same way, except that you leave the note open. In other words, you lift the chanter off the leg a quarter inch as you open the fingers to play the note, and just as quickly as in the short pop, you bring the chanter down to close against the leg, but leave the fingers open to continue the note.
As to where to put these, you are on the right track by listening to other pipers. Once you get the feel for them, and practise by copying other pipers, you will eventually get to know where you want them as you develop your own style.
djm
When I’m playing a tune I like to sit my pops in a chair near by with a nice pint of the craythur… he seems to remember that this is where he should be while I’m playing without any difficulty. As far as keeping him clean I try to avoid the subject whenever he brings it up.
Good luck with your Pop’s!
Patrick 
Here’s a variation taught by one of the pipers in the SoCal club: follow djm’s suggestions, but begin lifting the chanter from the leg (with all holes covered) ever so slightly before lifting the fingers for the note. Then proceed just as djm described. The result will be some sort of sound coming from the bell of the chanter just before the note; it may be a low D, a hard D or more likely the reed overblowing into something like a high D, depending on how the reed reacts to the additional pressure needed to achieve the second octave. Like a cut, the idea is not to hear a note there, but to have a percussive accent at the beginning of the the E, F# or G.
A good way to practice it is to pick a phrase in a tune that has a note that you want to pop. Slow it way down, and first try closing the chanter to insert a short rest just before the note. This gets you accustomed to closing all of the holes. Then try lifting the chanter slightly in the middle of the rest and keeping it off as you lift the fingers for the note. In the context of a tune, its a more prominent effect that just lifting the chanter and the fingers at the same time, so it’s a matter of taste as to which technique to use when.
Hi.
The most important thing to remember with this technique is this:
Lift the chanter off of the knee to pop the note in question, and make sure that it is back down on the knee before the note is over.
The accentuation involved in popping comes from the fact that 1.) the chanter’s volume will rise when off the knee; and 2.) the pitch of the note will momentarily vary. Thus, if the chanter is back on the knee by the time the note is over, the ear will hear the note to have ended in tune. If you fail to have the chanter back on the knee by the time the note is over, the ear will hear “out of tune” piping (God forbid! 
). By the way, there is no need to lift the chanter any great distance off of the knee. A quarter of an inch is enough, or even less. The bottom hole of the chanter must merely be clear of the popping strap a small bit for the effect to occur.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Kieran O’Hare
Kieran,
Joined: 23 Jul 2003
first post: May 20, 2004
Glad to see you come out of lurk mode.
Welcome to C&F!
[quote="Patrick D’Arcy When I’m playing a tune I like to sit my pops in a chair near by with a nice pint of the craythur… he seems to remember that this is where he should be while I’m playing without any difficulty. As far as keeping him clean I try to avoid the subject whenever he brings it up.[/quote]
Good one, Patrick.
J.
Hey Kieran! Glad to see you on C&F. I really enjoyed your class in Florida.
I listen to the tapes all the time and have gotten some tremendously valuable learning from it.
Regards,
Gary
My first popping was in the jig called the Blackthorn Stick from an old tape (sorry bad memory), but he played a 1/2 set.
In the B part, he would yelp the g, I figured it had to be the hardest because it took 2 fingers unlike the other 2 notes you can yelp.
It took quite a time for me (I am a rather old man) to get it down, but soon it sounded right and you didn’t have to think “yank it up”, it would just sort of do it on it’s on, then it will pop up in other tunes if you look for a few places to play it.
It ends up with just a little twitch of the wrist at the right time.
They pop out more easily and with a better tone change on flat pipes I think, at least I find them just jumping out without thinking about it on some tunes.
After that, I can usually mess around with the tune some and turn then on and off at will and even figure out which turn I will and which I won’t. Then, hunt for those ghost Ds and where they will fit in unexpected places.
I just wish I could keep the old arms working when the ideas and fingers just start getting it, but I wear out too easliy.
Which tunes? Like Kieran says, you’ve gotta do them quickly to produce a “bark” or else the effect is lost and the note will stray out of tune, esp the upper E, which goes sharp.
A couple of the more traditional tunes where you’d hear this effect is the beginning of the last section of the Bucks of Oranmore. Also, the middle of the Gold Ring, where the melody alternates between the upper G and F#.
Popping the upper A can be useful in landing the sucker (if the reed is uncooperative) coming from the lower register. Reason is, the upper A wants to sound the same harmonic note anyway. Try closing all toneholes (chanter on knee) sqeezing a little harder, and lifting the chanter. Depending on the reed and size of bore, this will produce an upper A even with the toneholes all still covered. Open a certain tonehole or two and it bends the note nicely, kinda like D’Arcy would do with our minds.
The F#, becasue of the size of the tonehole, is more striking than the G, and will go flat, but this can be useful with a tune like the Clogging Reel, 3rd section, where you want to pop an Fnat (might have to ½-hole also).
HBS,
I second the notion of getting the chanter back on the knee before the popped note is over. Makes all the difference in the clean/in-tune sound of the note. I learn best by copying/playing along so I’ve found this to be helpful in learning popping as well.
Hey Kieran,
Welcome to the forum. I look forward to more helpful advice posts from you. Enjoyed your tuition at the Florida Tionol as well.
Rick