I’ve read a lot of things about the practice chanters for uilleann pipes that have the plastic tube to blow into. Most of it was negative but a few people said they tried it but I was wondering. Has anyone ever purchased the practice chanter for uilleann pipes without any previous uilleann piping experience and after using it moved up to a practice set of uilleann pipes and not regretted buying the practice uilleann chanter? Again, I’ve heard plenty of negative feedback for this thing so mostly looking for a success story if they exist.
Sorry tae dissy ye but if’n I said the sky was orange it wouldnae make it so would it.So with this piece of kit.Save your money instead. 
Uilliam
I think an eminently sufficient mouthblown analog to the uilleann pipe chanter would be called … a tinwhistle.
Much cheaper, too, I bet! 
Seriously, the fingering differences between a tinwhistle and a pipe chanter aren’t enough to cause major problems, so get yourself a B, Bb or A whistle and be happy.
So going from tin whistle to uilleann isn’t that bad? (as far as fingering. i’m sure adding the bellows and bag is a whole world of difference)
Why do you suggest a B, Bb or A whistle? Aren’t uilleann pipes typically in the key of D? wouldn’t a D whistle be a closer match to the fingering?
Whistles are usually treated as transposing instruments, so the fingering is the same regardless of the whistle key. I.e., xxxxxx = D regardless of the transposed concert pitch.
Cathy’s suggestion has more to do with size, and adapting to piper’s grip. And for that, a low F whistle comes closest to the size and spacing of a concert uilleann chanter.
Whoops, MT is probably closer with the low F – I have a skinny chanter with deeply scalloped fingerholes so an A whistle is about the closest match for me.
But regardless … the fingerings are somewhat different but not enough to cause huge problems. Managing the bag and bellows is indeed the harder change, especially doing so without imposing a death grip on the chanter. But if you have a few tunes on the tinwhistle at least you can sound things out by ear.
FWIW, I find the slightly bigger tinwhistles (those below C) are also a little more forgiving in allowing the partially- or mostly-closed fingerings you’d use on the pipes. In some cases, we’re only talking a difference of an extra finger or two down on the right hand.
(No need to go whole-hog and get a low D whistle, though; that’s actually much bigger than a concert chanter and much harder on the hands to boot.)
Anyway, at $40 for a good tweaked whistle, why not get yourself a high D too and, once you’ve got some tunes under your belt, you can take your D to sessions (and believe me, even after you get a set of pipes you’ll be playing your whistle during your pipes’s “tantrum” spells). Even Mick O’Brien plays the tinwhistle every now and again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0VTXxp0PeE
good luck! 
Thanks for the advice! I’ll keep at the tinwhistle then until I’m ready for a UP practice set.
I bought one of those polypenco practice chanters (mouth blown) to see if I liked the UP before spending a lot of money on a practice set.
Being unsure of my ability to learn an instrument that take 21 years to master.
They very much have a “duck like” quality to the sound but do give you some practice with the second octave. (they are cheap at about $100)
I made a bellows and bag to go with it.
If I started over again , I would buy a good quality chanter/practice set right away.
But if you have no previous experience with pipes, the “D” tin whistle would be a good start.
I still use a whistle when I want to practice a tune but don’t have time to get the pipes out.
People/family members do not run and hide as much when I practice the whistle instead of the UP.
Tim
I bought one, because I needed to play 4 bars of Uilleann on one tune as part of a live show, and didnt want to drag the whole full set on the gigs, because the stage was microscopic. There was no where to put the case( or a stool) , precious little time to strap the pipes on, and leaving them out of the case onstage was simply NOT an option. & I mean…subatomic particles would be shoulder to shoulder on this ‘stage’ 
really.
So I threw down $50, hemped it up so I could stick it into a ghb, dremeled, reamed, & drilled its pertinent orfrices; made a better reed out of plastic on an old plastic ciaramella staple, & did the gig. Overall pitch was slightly flat , but acceptable, the upper octave being more in tune. It crpped out at high A.. and had no presence at all. The timbre was not complex, but it did approach an ‘uilleann’ sound. Vibrato was possible, but wasnt a deep vibe. It didnt do anything …unexpected. A masquerade? yes, but pulling a quick one, it gets by. Were I in the same situation again, I would use it.
oh, wait… 
here, let me say if for you’s all, (save ya’s the trouble of it 
)
piecea r$%ddyb&oody sh*%&te hoo DARE ya even compare sicha ting ta oor beluved 
pipes!!ya impostor ChasR 
ye know dan weel whitcha c’n dae wi’tat be**din piece o mid east$#%(&#$ sthick 
Ok ! now that thats out of the way, sure, if ya have 50 bucks to spare, want to learn about how to alter things on a pipe, and find out all about plastic reed manip, and ya only have to play 4 bars on it, then go for it!
I don´t know if anyone posted this video so far, but it´s the product demonstration of the german folkfriends site of such a chanter, they are asking 260€ for it… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5DvSeJjmDw
That doesn’t make great advertising, does it?
The accompanying text is: “The fingering corresponds exactly with that of the UP. This means that certain semitones are produced by closing the chanter on the knee. Of course the chanter can also be played in a bag, provided the stock is of the same size.”
I think it is clear enough that the player in the video is not an uilleann piper, nor does he seem to know much about UP.
And 260 € is not what I call really cheap.
BTW, one of the reasons to play a bagpipe of whatever kind is, not having to gasp for breath in the middle of a slow passage.
I have seen two types of these.
One is blow molded plastic and costs about $60cdn, the one I have is turned and is about $100cdn (new in the store).
It was a good $100 experiment to see if I thought I could take on the UP.
It has a plastic reed and as such, sounds like one.
My experience with it lead me to buying a UP chanter and making a bellows and bag.
Tim