St Patrick’s Day is coming or maybe its gone. But my question is not about when it is. My question is:
Why are there so many Scottish Pipe Bands at an Irish festival in the USA?
How many times will we hear “Scotland the Brave” on that day?
On Saint Andrews Day, are there any uilleann pipers invited to play?
Thanks… Ed
Too true my friend.
[rant]
I am going to try to book gigs at the local Scottish Fair and The Highland Ramble, all in the spirit of quid pro quo. I can play lots of Scottish music on my uilleann pipes…so there!
I know I’m swimming upstream on this one. 
There is a local Irish Pipe Band (with an all-Irish repetoire) that plays alot on St. Pat’s. To my ear and tastes they are kosher for the day. However, there are also lots of Scottish bands playing that day as well. I personally think they are crashing the party, but it is so woven into the culture now that there’s nothing that can be done about it
[/rant]
t
I was asked to play pipes for our local Burns night. I learned a few simple scotish tunes and piped in the haggis with a strathspey. The guy organising the do was a Scot but not many others were although some could trace family connections back in that direction. Anyway everyone was well pleased with Irish pipes and I have ben asked to do it again next year. I guess in our village in Devon any pipes for Burns are beter than no pipes.
Tim
the Scottish and the Irish have a great connection and it goes back a long long time. ask any Scot if he has Irish blood and 99% will tell you yip . if thats all you got to worry about your a lucky man
i would love to see more irish pipers at our highland games and gatherings
Indeedy the very term Scot comes frae the Roman Scotii the name they gave to the Irish who widely settled in the Western Isles and Western Scotland.Strathclyde is largely part o the Old Irish Kingdom o Dalriada,which straddled both NE Ireland and W Scotland.The North Channell was just like their equivelent of a present day highway withoot the traffic jams. .We are Kin so stop ginning an get on wi it.
Uilliam
PS Scotland the brave is a single reel in 2/4 time.It is a generally accepted fact that mostly all of the Irish reels have a provenance in Scottish reels.See Folk Music and Dances of Ireland Breandán Breathnach 1971 pge 60;61So just consider that when ye play Rakish Paddy(Cabar Féigh)John Frank.Lucy Campbell.Miss mcCleod Greigs Pipes The Flogging reel. 
Slán Agat
I think the general concensus is “They’re all celtic (pronounced Sell-tic) anyway, so what’s the difference?”
I’ve played the uilleann pipes for the local Scottish community at both St. Andrew’s Day and Tartan Day celebrations.
Drowsey Maggie. Jenny’s welcome to Charlie. In fact, there’s a school of thought that argues that most tunes about “Jenny” are tunes about Scotland (Jenny representing Scotland) and hence would be considered Scottish tunes.
The Scottish fiddle tradition has some great tunes. Ditto for the Lowland piping tradition - a repertoire that can be played on the uilleann pipes.
Ditto…yes, It;'s usually my last Uilleann booking of the year.
Fact is: there’s not enough Uilleanists to serve the HUGE Irish community, Plus, I wouldnt want to play UP’s in some of the conditions I wouldnt think twice about playing GHB in.
(it is so woven into the culture) exactly i always wanted to play ghb after i learn whistle but since listening to Irish pipes more i changed my mind
I organized an Irish pipe Band after hearing a Scottish Pipe band march into an Irish Pub, Ri-Ra, playing Scottland the Brave.
We started with just a few pipers, but our band, Ceol na Gael (Music of the Gaels) has grown! We wear an Irish kilt , solid saffron, and caubeen with Irish harp for headwear.
Although we do play Scotland the Brave - it’s NEVER done on St. Patrick’s Day!
We DO play, Minstal Boy, The Garryowen, All the Way to Galway, Wearing of the Green, Boys of Bluehill, and many other IRISH tunes.
It wasn’t easy - but it can be done.b
Slan!
I think the Catholic church has moved St. Patrick’s Day to the 15th this year because it conflicts with Lent.
Naomi’s Fancy used to play for a Scotch tasting that was celebratting St Andrews Day, but the place has changed hands.
We played mostly Irish music (I can’t think of a Scottish tune I can do on UPs) but we played a few Scottish tunes (Jig of Slurs, Atholl Highlanders, Scotland the Brave).
When someone mentions the Seltic music, I always tell them I don’t know any basketball tunes.
They picked a poor time to change hands as we now have an excellent Scottish fiddler.
Didn’t the Scots get the GHBs from the Irish War Pipes?
Neil
I have heard that - but that’s debatable.
By the way - My first bagpipe band that I’ve ever played in was Inis Fada Gaelic in Mineola, NY.
Neil, are you up there close to Mineola ?
Slan,
Bwwaaa Haaa Haaa!!!
I am so gonna steal that one!
I have played UP at a Scotch tasting, but it was o.k. cause they had some very old Irish whiskey as well. Mmmmm…free whiskey.
I too played the uilleann pipes for around an hour, background music while people were eating, at a local Burns supper.
It’s perhaps an irony that so many of the well-known Burns songs, and other Scottish songs, don’t fit the Highland pipes’ one-octave range.
So I played quite a few of these on the uilleann pipes, and people seemed to like to hear their favourite songs (for once played correctly on pipes).
There was a Highland piper there also, who of course piped in the haggis and played after dinner as well.
But back to all the Scottish pipers running around passing themselves off as “Irish pipers” here in the US once a year, playing upon the ignorant public, yes it’s irksome. The clients will say, “I want the authentic Irish pipes” and the Scots piper will tell them “there’s no difference!” and get the gig.
And, when I’m contacted to play at an “Irish” wedding or funeral or party or whatever, I take the time to describe the differences between the GHB and the uilleann pipes to the client. Much of the time, they go with the GHB. No wonder, as when you march into the room in a kilt playing the GHB everybody yells “there’s the piper!” and when you sit in the corner playing the uilleann pipes they say “what is that thing?”
Great! That will be my foot in the door.
t
Mayo_piper,
I am not far from Mineola, up on the north shore. I am a “member” over there and play in an occaisional monthly session with my kids on the fiddle in tow. Did you know Bob Cook? i think that he has been in that band a while.
Neil
Thanks to all that have responded on the subject.
It has been interesting and very informative. I think a lot of it depends on where you live and the culture you are involved with.
Hope you all do have a Great St Patrick’s Day… Ed
It isn’t impossible to play highland piping tunes on uilleann pipes. You have to sort out your back D rolls and deal with jumps to the upper octave A, but if you can do that, the tunes are easier on uilleann pipes than a lot of things like Ed Reavy tunes.
Have you all ever heard Gordon Duncan playing Irish tunes – like proper tunes, not naff songs – on highland pipes? Brilliant. A lot of young border pipers (many of whom would play highlands and small pipes as well) nowadays are doing the same.
About pipers like Gordon Duncan (RIP) playing Irish tunes, if you listen to Scottish-style pipe bands you’ll hear them playing a lot of Irish tunes.
Pipe bands the world over are playing tunes like For Ireland I’d Not Tell Her Name, The Kesh Jig, The Gold Ring (only about half the parts however), The Cliffs Of Dooneen, etc etc.
Much of this is due to the fact that some of the best pipe bands in the world are Irish: Saint Lawrence O Toole from Dublin, Field Marshall Montgomery from Belfast. These bands, and other pipe bands from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, etc, have introduced a large number of Irish tunes into the Scottish pipe band repertoire.