What do others think of the old three 7’s saying?
…
Yeah there is an element of that but I think there to be an element of truth about it too. With every year that goes by I look back on my playing the previous year and think of how much my piping has changed, this happens every year. If I’m still able to say that after 21 years I’ll be happy with my piping. If you don’t notice a change in your playing you need to practice more.
Patrick.
[edited for spelling]
[ This Message was edited by: Patrick D’Arcy on 2002-09-18 17:39 ]
Even if he was having us on, I agree with Patrick. The saying does drive home the idea that it takes a LONG time to get proficient in the instrument.
I think a lot of beginning pipers who’ve got the money splurge and get half to full sets right off the bat. You might say it’s OK, and I can understand the motivation, but I think progress and technique are hampered by too rapid a progression from chanter to chanter + drones. Heck, even in highland piping, it’s traditional to put someone on a practice chanter for 6 months to a year before letting them even try the big pipe chanter. Then, you start with one drone, and work up to two. It’s usually a while before you play three drones and chanter.
You can say that it’s to build up stamina, etc., but I’ve played highlands for YEARS and I don’t think it’s stamina as much as technique. And I think even that practice is going away in highland piping . . . hard to keep people interested on the practice chanter alone for even a few months.
Stuart
Stuart,
A few points in favor of having a half set (or greater) in the early stages. Tuning… if you have previous musical training on a equal temperment instrument, certain notes on a chanter would (by previous training) sound off… hearing them with drones, occasionally would make the student spend less time reed tweaking and using tape to make them play ‘in tune’
Posture… it’s to easy for me to slouch down on a practice set. I can sit in my car under the shade of a tree and play to CD’s with a practice set… this isn’t a recommended way to learn pipes, but you get the idea. Better posture and grip… even if it’s for short periods of time just to maintain then revert back to the practice set.
I was playing in the sunshine outside Crotty’s in Kilrush a few weeks ago, up come this mountainy farmer, while he walks past me he looks at me and sayd ‘Have you done your 21’ and walks on.
Anyhow, I think Ennis was right, offcourse you can learn your triplets and your bits and play well after a few years. But you take the whole twenty one, to deepen that, understand the music get inside the tunes, making sense of it all.
I have well done my 21 and from experience I think he was right.
Twenty one years… I may well be dead by then! But, I’ve always been a late starter anyway. I got my drivers license and first car when I was 40, believe it or not, and had my ear pierced when I was 50. So, I figure I’ll be a whiz at the pipes when I’m 89! Holy shit! Yep, I’m getting up there.
I figure if I can master even just 2 or 3 wonderful songs (airs, of course), and get up on the roof to play them in the middle of the night… I will die a happy man.
Great anecdote, Peter!
I have not done my 21, but my playing changes with the years, and my understanding of the music.
On 2002-09-19 03:12, Peter Laban wrote:
offcourse you can learn your triplets and your bits and play well after a few years.
Pipers off course? A few spring to mind 
Kota
To agree with Tony on this side thread; Having drones at your disposal is handy for the reasons he mentioned–and a very nice feature of uilleann pipes is that you can turn the things off any time you like, if you find that keeping them going is impeding your chanter work. As well, one or more can be blocked off to allow you to take advantage of tuning to them and playing in tune to them (I think this is particularly material in terms of changing the pitch of certain notes in the scale through either cross-fingering or variance in bag pressure) without having to run all of them at once. Regulators are another story–I’ve been at two piping teach-ins now where there were many full sets in evidence and literally no proficiency whatsoever in regulator use. Why double the cost of your set for the sake of something you can’t use?
L
Ahhh regulators. I worked like mad to get my regs together. Now I’m just mad! Reg playing another story and I have not heard many pipers who are truly proficient at playing regs. (A notable exeption being Ronan Browne,)I’m sure there are others. Who do others think are the great regulator players
who are around today
[ This Message was edited by: piperben on 2002-09-19 13:07 ]
Sure…
Dickey Deegan. He’s awesome!
Gay McKeon, Tim Britton, Paddy Keenan come to mind…and, unquestionably, the aforementioned Mr. Browne.
Geoff Wooff and our very own Peter Laban are up there too.
Patrick.
Jimmy O’Brien-Moran does some amazing things on the regulators.
There’s a recording of Colonel Frasier with some nice regulator work. I can’t remember who did it because a “friend” borrowed the C.D. a year ago and I haven’t seen him since.
Any guesses?
Marc
It’s not Eamonn Dillon, he plays a half set.
I figure if I can master even just 2 or 3 wonderful songs (airs, of course), and get up on the roof to play them in the middle of the night… I will die a happy man.
Ahh… Elbogo, Now yer talking! An 89 year-old dude with an earring playing bagpipes on his roof in the middle of the night. Now THAT’S cool. Hey- I might even want to join you. I’ll play a few jigs. Of course, we can’t forget the Bushmills. 
John Rooney does it for me ronnan too.
We can’t forget Mick O’Brien either, very intersting use of the regs.
Patrick.