I’ve heard it said that many pipers got into playing the pipes after hearing Davy Spillane play during River dance or some say after hearing the piping in the Titanic movie, some after hearing either Paddy Keenan or Liam O’Flynn playing in groups or Solo. All the above pipers play concert pitch pipes. So I would safely say that concert pitch pipes are the most commonly heard pipes by pipers and non-pipers and because of this would you say that ,the concert pitch pipes are most recognisable sound of the Uilleann pipes and because of that, the concert pitch pipes IS the sound of Uilleann pipes and flat pitched pipes are just an esoteric relic from the past.
My introduction to Uilleann pipes came from David Arkenstone’s CD “The Celtic Book of Days” released in 1998. The piper was Eric Rigler. Having played oboe in the school symphony, my ears said it was a double-reed instrument, however the expressiveness was like nothing I had heard before.
Reading liner notes didn’t mean much then and information about Uilleann pipes on the internet back then was sketchy.
Certainly not traditional, Arkenstone’s use of Uilleann pipes was tuned for my musical taste.
Here are some YouTube videos from that album, featuring Eric Rigler…
To me that’s like saying concert pitch flutes are “the definitive” sound.. which is to be honest, baloney. The average non ITM-savvy person can’t hear the difference between a B and D set anyway..
One of the reasons why piping nearly died in first half of the twenth century is that flat pitch piping is a stagnant art form and all art forms that dont progress die.Thankfully a few thing happened in the second half of the century ,the formation of NPU,the leap forward in development of concert pitch pipes and the recognition of Leo Rowsomes playing on the concert pitch pipes . With that, players like Johnny Doran and after Leo players like Paddy Maloney and Liam O’Flynn brought on the the progress of different styles ,up to modern day players like Davy Spillane,Barry Kerr and Micheal McGoldrick have kept the progress in motion. It has been concert pitch players and pipes that have spearheaded the resurgence in the popularity of Uilleann pipes and flat pitched pipes have been carried along in the wake of that popularity.
The future of piping is concert pitch pipes and unless someone does something new with flat pipes they will go the way of the dodo.
RORY
I dont know enough about flutes to have an opinion about that,but I think concert pitch and flat pitch pipes could nearly be considered different instruments in much the same way as clarinet is to saxophone,and just to clarify what we’re talking about here is the old style flat pitched pipes or union pipes and not the modern style flat pipes. I think it was Ken McLeod who first pointed out that they should be classed differently(union pipes v flat pipes).
that means that modern flat pipes are still considered as a ‘most recognisable sound’? or are they somewhere inbetween the concert pitch and the old style flat pipes?
of the entire non-deaf, non-uilleann piping, world population;
50% are unmusical, period.
half of those can tell what music is & move to a beat.
half of them like music, but dont know why
half of them take more than a fleeting interest in music
half of them may know a little something about the ingredients of, or tried to make, music
half of them might be able to tell one instrument from another
half of them might be able to identify the instrument as a woodwind
half of them might be able to identify is as a bagpipe
half of them might be able to identify is as an uilleann pipe
half of them might be able to tell its a flat set.
so in other words, I.M.H.O…we’re really splitting hairs here as to which pipe is the standard-bearer. A wild guess, but i’d think it’d be on the order of , say, much less than 250K non-piping people globally that would even notice, unless theyre put on the spot. (& dont go giving me the math of halfing world population 10 times. we all get the point here, i hope )
For me it’s all about application, the right tool for the job. if ya wanna/hafta play in D, ya get a concert pipe, if ya wanna/hafta play in C, B, Bb, etc ya get a flat set. if ya wanna play solo all the time, or make other folks WORK to be able to play with ya, ya get one in C#. etc.
there a tale that circulates in the highland pipe world around parade season every year, about the woman on the sidelines whose kid got so over-the-top excited at the approaching pipeband, screaming at mommy, "What are they? Whats THAT THING?!!? " “Oh, those are called bagharps honey.” So this is the level of familiarity we;re up against when promoting our instrument.
I’d agree with the above that this a fairly piper-centric discussion. I was discussing music with a colleague of mine - a proud Dubliner. I mentioned that I played the Irish pipes. “We have those?” was her response.
To be honest, the Uilleann pipe sound is not your everyday sound. So I would agree that most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a flat pitch set, and a concert set. That is, unless you are musically trained…
I for sure know that when I just started to listen to the pipes, I could really not tell the difference, other than the pitch being a wee bit lower…
In my opinion modern flat pitched pipes sound different than the older ones (union pipes). It could be that pipers taste in tone has changed over the years and they want a more modern(different) tone from flat pipes, which may well be influenced by concert pitch pipes. Heres a quote from a pipemaker on the subject
" Minor alterations have been made to the chanter bore design in my instrument to give a modern day colour to the timbre of the chanter"
You might even say there are two types of flat pipe players. Liam O’Flynn is a flat pipes player and Ronan Browne is a Union pipe player
But I still think concert pitch is the modern quintessential sound of Uilleann pipes ,not in a small part due to the fact that they are the type of pipes heard on some movie scores but also because of riverdance that has been seen by maybe millions of people.
I also think that the progressive style of some pipers like Davy Spillane and then Barry Kerr and Micheal McGoldrick ,which is very popular with non-pipers is only suited to concert pitch. Flat pitch pipes and the style that goes with it is a very esoteric style mainly appreciated by other pipers.
RORY
)
So this is the level of familiarity we;re up against when promoting our instrument.