Sorry, just the opposite. There are different ways of playing, but no-one sticks to any one hard-and-fast method. Traveling style is supposed to be very fast, very wide-open legato playing. Everyone points to Paddy Keenan for this, but if you listen to his stuff, he plays all sorts of different ways.
The different styles are a little more distinct in the older players’ recordings. Nowadays, everyone has access to recordings of everyone else, so everyone seems to choose the methods/techniques/styles they like and apply these to their own tastes and abilities. It really comes down to what an individual player likes and portrays in their playing, and whether or not that suits your tastes as well.
If money is not an object I can suggest lots of CDs, but if you’re just starting out, aren’t sure what you like, and can’t afford to buy a lot of these ridculously over-priced import CDs, then the two Drones&Chanters CDs are a great place to start. Don’t avoid Vol. 1 of the older players, as these are the guys the younger players are still trying to emulate.
There’s a great disc out there called ‘The Piper’s Rock’ that came to me HIGHLY recommended from Seth Galagher. It’s a compilation of young pipers recorded a few decades ago in the Dublin area. On first listen, I wasn’t that impressed and wondered what was in the pipe Seth was *playing.
Upon further listenings though…this is a great learners disc. Because it’s a compilations, there are a lot of different players/styles represented which makes for a lot of “ooh…that was different” moments.
Also, the repertoire presented is great. All of the tunes on the disc are great and are very approachable.
Unfortunately it’s not a common disc and can be tricky to locate. If you ever see it, definately throw the money down!
I’ll try to dig around in my archives and see who I got my copy from…
Yes, “The Piper’s Rock” CD is available from NPU. A couple of other piping compilations are “The Humours of Piping” and “Piping in Ireland”. There is a nice compilation of old-time pipers called “The Gentlemen Pipers”.
We could make the list even longer by adding the compilation albums that demonstrate various types of pipes, including UPs, but that might be confusing the issue for a new piper. I suggest starting your CD collection small and grow slow, unless you are rich, in which case you can buy NPU’s entire catalogue.
There are quite a few great pipers out there, and I have to say that all of the afore mentioned are mighty to listen to. Liam O’Flynn is a good piper for the beginner to listen to…not too busy, melody is clear and distinct, and finding his recordings should be a little easier than most. Ceck out the PLANXTY recordings.
Uilliam wrote:“By that I mean that the melody is important throughout(unlike some who think it better to try and impress with ornamentation thereby losing the tune)..”
Nothing could be truer than this statement. It is so easy to get too busy (or too lazy) and disregard the melody of the tune by excessive ornamentation. IMO, each note of the melody has its own, exact value that ought to be heard and not lost within a whirlwind of embellishment.
DAMN…
I waited two years and had to buy 3 other discs on that order (at not so cheap international CD rates) to get make the distributor willing to ship to me.
Jim,
You can get them from me or NPU. At the moment NPU is the only way to get them on line, but I do throw one up on ebay now and again. It generates a few bob for the new one. Which should be done by christmas.
Mind you I said that last year too. Fingers crossed!
Tommy
