There may be no advice for this other than keep practicing but I am stuck on exercise 20 of Clarke’s New Approach to Uilleann piping. Its the Rolls. I can do most of them ok but not the E roll. Channing my tutor tells me I need to think of my fingers as drum sticks to get the nice cut in the roll. I can cut pretty well with my left hand A (ring finger). But my right hand ring finger cannot beat the hole very well. (a lifetime of white collar work probably did this to me).
So I am trying to stretch that finger and in my idle time try to beat a rhythm with it and of course repetitive practice on the chanter.
Any magic technique to get a weak finger cutting properly?
That is where I was 7 months ago. The most difficult song that I am playing now is youghall waltz that I can do most of the time without error and about 3/4 the tempo that I should be playing.
Before you attempt rolls on the pipes, I’d recommend you get them worked out pretty smoothly on one of your lower whistles first–with jigs or reels preferably–and up to speed.
Yes there was a set of circumstances that led to that. At my level I have no business having a full set. Channing, my tutor, really does not want be playing it for a while. So Why do I have it.
I ordered a set of drones for the chanter I have. I assumed it would take a year or more. But it looked like it would take much longer than that. I decided if I was not going to get them for more than a year… why not hold off and instead I used the money I had saved for the drones to get a vPipe… its a lot of fun.
Then I thought, I still want a full set one day… it would probably 3-4 years before I might be ready for a full set and that long to be in the que for it to me made. So I told Brad to put me in the que for one… And I would play my practice set for another 3-4 years. But… He had one ready to go. I knew I loved the bag and chanter he had made… so I went for it. When I am ready… its there!
Thats the story about how a guy who has no talent and has only been playing for a year has a full set.
I might’ve missed it, but did you show a picture here on the forums? i’d be happy to see your full set. and no problems to be honest…like you said: you already practiced a year on the practice chanter, if that feels okay you can always give the full set a try and see how that goes? and just keep practicing on your chanter, the more the better but waiting years before you can even touch the full set…that would be a shame nice that you have a tutor though and keep posting some videos, I like how concentrated you play
You’re being too hard on yourself, Bob. You’ve made some significant progress over the past year. And most of the rolls I heard you play yesterday were in pretty good shape. (E is a tricky one to nail at first.) Just keep practicing every day and you’ll get there!
I reckon you’ve got it covered. Unfortunately these things can just take time. You often don’t notice slow gradual improvement, which can be tough on motivation. Focus all your efforts on consciously keeping your bottom hand relaxed - both the fingers and the thumb at the rear of the chanter. If you feel it tightening up and you can’t stop it, stop and stretch your hand out, give it a shake, whatever it takes. Practice those rolls over and over. You’ll get better!
I bought the exercise video that he sells and… My ring finger is nearly slapping already. The exercises he recommends are probably also good to keeps my hands in playing shape as the ravages of time do their work.
He was a concert pianist in college and was looking for a way to increase his hand dexterity, control, endurance, etc. and came up with a set of hand exercises. Then because any exercises are boring… He made it into hand dances. It’s kind of interesting.
didn’t you get/order a full set of pipes a little while ago?