As I’ve watched both our local and the national observances this day, it struck me that no memorial observance in the US these days seems to be without it’s pipers. Even our dinky capitol city (110,000 people) boasts three pipe bands. two pipe and drum color guards and innumerable solo pipers of various skill levels. There is some overlap but not much.
So the question I have is this. Which has more pipers, the US or Scotland?
Canada. 
It’s a shame they’re ALL playing the wrong kind isn’t it?! It’ll be a blessed day when they realize that the IRISH are the ones who gave them their pipes in the first place! 
Psssst…and not just any Irish, Brian (many in the upper regions play the GHP). Most pipers on this board recognize that the Great Highland Pipes are more of a tradition, among even Fire Departments, and a breeze to play compared to the Irish pipes. And the GHP cammand a presence that the uilleann pipes cannot compete with. But what most people don’t realize is that the uilleann pipes can sound even sadder, and play much more beautiful laments than the GHP.
Speaking of such, if any whistle players get bored to death, come on over to the uilleann pipes forum and learn to play the U-pipes…it’ll be much more challanging to your intellect!
Lorenzo’s right.
WhOA urges will certainly put a crimp on your lifestyle.
Tony’s right!
And did y’all you know Janice plays the uilleann pipes, and has for years?
Wouldn’t that be UPOA?
Don’t get me started - I’m already facing rumblings of “I thought you told me whistles were cheap!”
Between the cost and the learning curve, I’d likely be sleeping out in the garage - if I’m lucky! - soon after starting down that path. 
Oh, I think we can get you set up with a 1/2 set for less than many of you have invested in your quivers of whistles (shivers).
I think if you did a head count there may actually be more GHB pipers in the States than Scotland but not by much. I don’t know if there is a census or not. There is still a deafening amount in Scotland.
I actually wouldn’t be surprised if there were more GHB pipers in Northern Ireland than Scotland. At the World Championships it seems like the majority of bands are from Northern Ireland. There are quite a few in the Republic as well.
And though the Irish may indeed have given the Scots their prototype for the Highland bagpipe, the Scots gave the Irish their prototype for the uilleann bagpipe.
As for which can be more sorrowful it’s a pretty tight race though the GHB has ceremonial tradition, volume, and portability in its favor.
Cheers,
Aaron
I dont know for sure what the head count is. ITs probably leaning more towards North America (ESPECIALLY) if Canada is factored into the North American count.
What I do know is that there is enough Piping on this side of the ocean to keep Dunbar, Gibson, Kron, MaClellen, Crisler, Hughes, calledonia Road and a couple others busy making pipes.
Which type of PIpe is more beautifull… certainly The UP and any other Bellows blown pipe for that matter have their own type of sweet tone, and lovely sound. The Problem with GHB’s is that many of its players are AFRAID. Afraid to try something new, afraid to bend notes & ‘faulse finger’, afraid to try certain Tunes, afraid of the words “Too flat” (which is why it sounds like we are “fighting a cat” or words to that effect. ) Afraid to do anything that wouldnt be acceptable in competition… etc. God forbid if we play something in a musical way a bit outside of the rigid structure.. So we go off an pick up small pipes, Up, and Whistle so that we can have fun making music.
Canada and the States together definitely have more GHB pipers than Scotland.
And what Rockymtnpiper is saying about GHB pipers being afraid to try new things is true to an extent. The Highland pipes have a very firm tradition rooted in the Victorian era through the first two World Wars. This tradition, largely influenced by the military, had strict rules regarding technique and music and these rules are what made their way across the Scottish diaspora. Institutions like the Army School of Piping and even civilian schools like The College of Piping maintained those rules up until the last 10 years. Before that era (and during it but quietly so) tunes and technique were more up to the piper’s choice. Even some of the stalwarts of the military tradition were known to bend notes and false finger but only in informal settings.
Because of that military tradition the use of Highland pipes in ceremonies doesn’t stray much which I think is fine. If a piper plays Amazing Grace or Flowers of the Forest at a memorial service flair isn’t needed. How silly would it sound if a trumpet or bugle player played Taps like Whitney Houston sings The Star Spangled Banner? Minimalism has more impact in ceremonial settings.
Flair has its place in Highland piping. Ceremony and competition are places where flair isn’t necessary and most of us accept that. Concerts, recordings, and ceilis are ripe opportunities for innovation and flair. A great piper who I’ve had the luck to make friends with is Stuart Liddell. He has won the Gold Medal at Inverness (like an Olympic Gold medal but for piping) which demands very conservative playing yet his performances at Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House have consisted of some of the most unorthodox playing recorded and have set a standard of innovation.
Because GHB and uilleann pipes come from very different contexts it’s difficult to compare their emotional power. A lot of it comes down to personal preference. In my opinion GHB has a lot more of a public impact whereas uilleann piping is a lot more individual. It inspires more individualized emotions. That’s how I feel.
Cheers,
Aaron
Perhaps I’m mistaken…but I thought that the Irish war pipes were even bigger and noisier than the GHP. Least I seem to recall being told that at one point…
Iain MacDonald, from Scotland, who played the highland pipes with the group Ossian for a while, was at one time considered the 3rd best (if not the best) piper in the world. While they were touring the US, the group use to stop by my place for bed and breakfast and play a lot of tunes. Iain was quite unorthodox with his pipe playing, and he could belt out the tunes on the uilleann pipes too. I never saw him in a kilt, it was always blue jeans. He said it disturbed certain folks in Scotland. He was never afraid to do things on his pipes that were unorthodox either.
wow, Lorenzo, you spent time with my favorite solo piper of all time, thus far. I shook his hand once at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley when I bot a CD. What surprised me was that onstage, he looked like a big ol’ Scot, but he wasn’t that tall after all. I hear that GHBs do that.
I really liked Ossian, then when Battlefield Band released Threads, I really liked that. Surprise, he had changed bands and I was followin’ the piper! The new guy, ___Katz, just doesn’t move me the way McDonald did.
Too much of a can o’ worms to compare the two. GHB stir my blood, raise the heartrate, give me gooseflesh and summon inner heroic feelings. Played slowly, the tears do flow as well. Believe it or not, I would listen to McDonalds playing before I had to go to City Council and school board meetings where we fought major issues against seemingly impossible odds (for Californians, we actually beat Caltrans once!).
UPs are beautiful and poetic but don’t reach all the places within me that GHB’s do. I would be interested to know if others get those physiological responses from UPs or GHBs for that matter.
But I think that sometimes GHB’s military tradition and limited range can have a certain sterility whilst UPs always interest me in the way they are played and sound. And what a variety they have! From very clean playing like Liam OFlynn to the honky percussive stuff I heard at the SF Tionol last year, I like it all.
Just like the fantasy I have of writing a new Christmas carol, I would love to come up with an alternative to Amazing Grace. That would be so kewl. I think Taimse in Choladh (sp?) is right up there anyway, but too big of range for a GHB.
Hey Week… 
Have you heard many of the newer compositions on the u. pipes? Stuff from gulp Riverdance, or recent movie soundtracks? Ned Devine is a great one…as is Roan Inish. Both have solo pipe airs on the soundtracks that are certain tear jerkers.
Anyway, not to dis the GH pipers TOO much he he he…but the Irish are no slackeys when it comes to their laments! And having heard Colonel Fraiser on both GHPs and UPs, my heart still lies with the expresiveness of the Irish variety. Ah well.
Pipers anywhere pretty much rock huh?
B~
You too? I still do that, and like a fool, I’m running unopposed for a 3rd term, and serving as chair of a major Public Transit system in the state. We must be crazy.
I would love to come up with an alternative to Amazing Grace.
You be amazed at the arrangemnets that are possible for “Amazing Grass” on the uilleann pipes. Chords, individual harmony notes on the regulators, upper octave, vibrato, drones…alll going at the same time. I play it for churches once in a while even though I’m not religious (I like the other breaking of bread though at the potlucks)
EXTRA: sad note: you probably heard that Tony died, and one of the Jacksons died in an auto accident. I was talking to John Martin at one of the Tannahill Waevers concerts last year…he told me all that. I hadn’t seen the boys for a while.
New info mostly to me fellas. I am not sure about the musicians you mentioned who passed away. Of UPs, I worked with a guy who had bot the Riverdance cd so I have heard it a lot. I don’t dispute the awsome beauty of that Davy Spillane lament at all (one on Donal Lunny;s Journey, “James?”). GHBs just push more buttons, or, in the words of flaky in-the-know Californians, stimulate more chakras!
Smiles, Lorenzo. Wow. I didn’t mention that the council meetings were televised and I had the basic 3 minute slot to make my points.. Tho I seem to be pegged here as a conservative/reactionary type, I fought really hard as an idealistic neighborhood activist against the wishes of a very corrupt local school district and a penny-ante municipality. First they tried to close our local freeway on-ramp (we won it back after it was closed for a year and a half). Then they had a plan to run a public transit line (BART) up one of our neighborhood streets (which we THINK is now off the General Plan). Then they tried to build 44 houses on some of the last open space around, below my kids school, then eventually close the school itself for Phase II housing. So we fought and fought the State Highway Dept, the school Board and lobbied county and city hall and basically won. Petitions, protests, loooooong meetings, even radio news. Did Exec Boards of neighborhood Council, PTA and Site Councils all the while.
So for about a four year intense period, I often played the first cut of a Scottish Compilation that includes BB’s Music In trust and also the Schotts and Dykeheads Pipe Band for sustaining my outrage. Worked for me! 
Btw, I think Ossian’s Borders is a cd that helps newcomers define and distinguish the qualities of Scots from Irish music best and is a truly beautiful collection. MacDonalds piping, of course.
Yea, I hear ya. First I fought the placement of a State Corrections Facility (about the size of our largest state prison) in a small pristine community near Mt. Adams, and won, then fought the placement of a Wal-Mart on a critical wetlands area in E. WA. St and won huge concession.
Those guys I mentioned were all members of Ossian. Tony Jackson was the harp player who died from cancer, the other (George I think) died in a car accident. John Martin was the fiddler who is now with the Tanahill Weavers.
BART eh? Do you know Dr. Bill Wattenburg, an old friend of mine (kinda) from radio days (KGO)? He did the electrical engineering of that system.
Well, innovation on the pipes has been around for a while, if you think about it. Rufus Harley plays jazz on GHB. No kidding. He actually does it pretty well, too. I suspect he never studied under Seamus MacNeil!
Then you have bands like Na Cabarfeidh. Their version of O’Keefe’s Reel is one of the coolest examples of musicality I have ever heard. They use guitar, GHB, tin whistles, and drums in a really fantastic setting. And both of the vinyl records I have heard by them date from the early '80s.
My mother has been a piper since before I was born. She told me recently about having to change several of the things she was taught 35 years ago. New trends in how to finger certain note patterns, for example, mean that she would get dinged in competition for something that was standard when she learned.
My impression is that the GHB old guard is pretty hidebound and that they have an idea of what is “the right way” to play the instrument. I suspect the innovators who are fighting the tide are prompting a reaction in the staunch traditionalists that leads them to hold fast to what they think is best, rather than just enjoying the music and marvelling at how much variety is possible with nine notes (couple more with wierd fingerings to get those accidentals) and no volume dynamics available.
But comparing the GHB and the UP is like comparing whistles and recorders, folks. Both may be bagpipes (or fipple flutes in the second example) but they are different instruments. They play differently, they sound different, they are suited to different music. That doesn’t make one superior to the other at all.
Many of us here prefer to play whistles over recorders. Does that make it a better instrument? I have heard some very lovely and inspiring recorder playing, so I don’t think so. I prefer the GHB over the UP. It isn’t a better instrument, just different.
-Patrick