This is indeed a question put to you by a newbie to the Irish Pipes.
I want a pipe to accompany my singing.
I want to move on from Indian harmonium accompaniment sometimes.
I sing mostly in B and D and G (tonic that is).
The stuff I sing has a lot of drop down ornamentations,
often down to the fifth below the tonic.
What would be the best beginners’ pipe for me?
Any advice? Insults will be entertained and may attract repartee.
Can pipes have keys?
Like, if the lowest note on a pipe is B can 2 extra vents be put in (with keys) to allow drop downs?
No, extra vent holes are not normally available due to the way the length of the chanter is matched to the reed, and that the chanter is designed to be played closed against the leg for all but the tonic. Lower notes can be obtained by dropping down to keys on the bass regulator. It would be easier to play a tune on the 3rd, 4th or 5th of the tonic, e.g. if you got set in D, pitch your tune in G or A. D is the most popular key for UPs, but you can get them made from Bb up to Eb - depends on how much money you have and how long you want to wait for the set as to whether to get a full or partial set, and what additional keywork you want added to the chanter.
On a standard full set of Uilleann Pipes you have the chanter (melody maker), 3 drones…tenor, baritone and bass, and three regulators…tenor, baritone and bass.
The regulators are essentially chanters with keys and are played with the wrist, and sometimes by themselves using your fingers. The notes of the bass regulator are lower on the scale than the chanter and can extend the scale (to the ear) of the chanter.
the above set is the creation of Seth Gallagher, mighty pipemaker!
Given what you describe there may be two ways to go
Use an uilleann chanter and sing in G - the F E and D notes below G allow you to have notes below the tonic of the tune.
Try a pastoral chanter - this will give a note below the tonic as per a highland chanter and still allow you to overblow into the second octave. There are two downsides however as a pastoral chanter is harder to control than an uilleann and connot produce effective staccato notes.
Whatever you end up with post a clip for us to hear.
By the way good advice to SilverStrand in the ITM forum.
of the hundreds of bagpipes developed around the world, you may not be picking the best for your purposes.
playing UPs is a full time job. they are the most complex bagpipe that exists. there are those who sing and play, but they are mostly super proficient players with years under their belt.
there are various types of european bagpipes more suited to sing along. they tend to have large bags so you can fill them and then play for a while.
most importantly, there are some which have a tradition of the chanter being tuned to the voice of the player. your own custom key. you can probably get more than one chanter to suit your needs.
the spanish bagpipes of galicia come to mind in this regard.
there are many others.
check out this site: http://www.hotpipes.com/pipe0006.html
then talk to mr. seeler. his email address is on the site.
Tal, you don’t seem to be too knowledgable about UPs (not a criticism). You would do well to get in contact with some pipers or makers in your area to get a better idea of what the instrument is, what it can do, and whether this is something you really want to invest your time and money in. There are two pipemakers I know of in Australia:
Adrian Jefferies
Queensland Irish Association
175 Elizabeth Street
Brisbane
Queensland 4000
Australia
Tel.: 32299420 http://www.irishpipes.net
Ian & Sue MacKenzie
24 Belvedere Avenue
Blackheath
NSW 2785
Australia
Tel.: (61-2) 47876220
I don’t think ye are taking up the uilleann pipes for the right reason…
I also have not heard of any “super proficient” pipers who sing at the same time as playing…
Davy’s advice is sound if ye want to sing…but I have to say that the uilleann pipes sing to themselves and do not need any further embellishment.
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam
uilliam, i am talking about a festival in Armagh, where, i heard tell, a number of pipers play and sing simultaneously. i could certainly be wrong. if that is your neck of the woods, you would know much better than I.
anyway, my point to the gentlemen, and i believe it was correct, is that singing to your pipes is certainly not common and not a sound plan for a beginner, and that there are other piping traditions where that does go on.
Thank you all for your comments.
Each one of them is helpful.
I often drive through Blackheath, a mountain town,
on my way to my hideaway place.
The Galicia pipes - I must check this out.
My idea is to use the pipes as a drone
as I sing and then when the others respond
to play the melody on them etc.
Thank you all.
BTW I am changing the title of the topic
so a discussion can continue on the subject
of singing and piping if you like.
Not withstanding the effort involved in playing the Uilleann Pipes,
after learning how to play them, it might actually be easier to sing while playing them,
then it would be with the Gaita, which are mouth blown!
Tal, some players will blow up the Galician pipes and can keep them running for a fair bit. This may be what Elbogo is referring to. But for your purposes, any bellows-blown pipes would suit, where you can keep the drones going to accompany your singing. Ray Caldwell of Toronto does this from time to time, accompanying his singing with his set. He plays a bit at the same time too, just vamping of course, to round out the tune. Ronan Browne commented on this saying that he had heard a few other pipers do this, and thought it should be brought more to the fore. However, I would have to second what others have noted, that actually playing the rest of the set is enough of a handful in itself. Just running the drones while singing as you have suggested should be entirely do-able.
In all the w/s,and tional I have been to where some of the finest pipers alive, and sadly some now deceased, have played the uilleann pipes **not once,have I heard a master of the instrument, sing along whilst he or she is playing.**Sure ye can sing if ye want to,its not written in stone after all,but I sure don’t want to hear some folky twaddle
I quite often use the drones only to accompany other singers when the song is suitable(usually a dirge ) that is quite good sounding …
So tali why don’t ye just get a set of drones ?Ye wouldnae have to spend years learning the instrument and it would be cheaper than getting the whole shebang!!
Anyways I’m aff to learn the words to the Ace and Deuce of Pipering
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam
Singing with the pipes was apparently quite common in the goode olde days. In Drumshanbo a few years back I was talking to James Faulkner (a scottish singer-piper-guitarist) who does it all the time. Here is a sample mp3 of his singing I recorded then:
