Question about uilleann pipes that have more than 3 drones. How many extra drones can be put on a set of uilleann pipes? That also brings me to
the question: where are these drones attached? Same place as the others, in the stock? or external somewhere?
And how does this work with tuning? Are extra drones always tuned in the same tone as the pitch of the instrument? are they tuned in different tones
to build drone chords?
Perhaps people have some examples or pictures of uilleann pipes with more than 3 drones? would be great to see/hear some pictures and examples!
Most common, I think, is an extra A or G drone between bari and tenor. Tom Kannmacher has a set with 5 drones, three standard D plus two extra drones tuned to E. The mainstock has an additional switch which allows changing between D and E. Spectacular …
I have a set with six drones (3 standard D, 3 in A: contrabass, baritone and tenor). The three A drones are mounted to the side of the stock a la the tube that is common for a bass regulator. I’d post a picture if I knew how to do it.
Thanks for your replies Christian (lovely playing on the B set by the way) and Ceann. Perhaps you are able to find out at some point? I would love to see how your set looks like.
How does the set play for you? does it give some extra tonal dimension? and what is your opinion about pipes with more than 3 drones. Worth the extra coin and air?
You’re welcome. I usually play either the three Ds (maybe + one A drone) or all A drones. I use this set mainly to play Old Time tunes with the A drones. I’ll try to find out how to post a picture and post one for you.
Thank you kindly for that Ceann. So you never play all drones together? playing D and A together would probably sound very nice. gives a nice rich drone tone I suspect? Thanks for the offer concering the picture! take your time of course
I had an A drone on 2 frmr. sets of mine. Honestly, I used them so infrequently that I questioned why I spent the extra cash to get them! They did however offer another place for possible air leaks, though!
The presentation set made for Robert Miller by Robert Reid (NPS fame) has six drones arranged in two sets of three. Two on off switches controlled which set was on giving either Dda or Ggd. The two bass drones have triple bored barrel sections rather than the outside loop. It was sold at Sotheby’s in the mid 1980’s and was purchased by the NMAS. It came to my workshop for restoration
but that means that you usually don’t play with more than 3, perhaps 4 drones up, I think? or are there pipers/pipes where you play with 5-6 drones active at the same time?
The set has two drone switches. You can either play tenor d, baritone d and base d or tenor e and baritone e. A good few of tunes – although in D or G have a melodie part that suits e drones so that you could switch even within the tune – e. g. „Drowsy Maggie“. Tom has a soundfile.
but from what I understand at the moment is that you aren’t really able to play drones in a chord-like way, building up a few different drone tones to make a chord. Taking the Uilleann pipes of Tom as an example where either the 3 D’s are played or both E’s and in case of Richard’s Uilleann drone machine where he constantly changes between B A and D drones.
that means you aren’t able to play for example a drone combination of G B D together at the same time? (just saying something as an example, don’t even know if that’s possible with drones).
Yeah it looks like you can only play one drone note at a time. But anyway, we have regs for the chords. Having a constant triad (like G B D) droning in the background sounds a bit boring to me. It’s the same as having your regular D drones on and constantly pressing G and B on the regs. I wouldn’t want to do that. Of course someone else might, but still, it can be done on the regulators.
EDIT: upon second listening of that drone machine video I think the D is constant and he’s changing between A and B.
I agree with Islander: if you want a sustained chord, that’s what regulators are for. The Patkos video is cool, but as I watched it I kept thinking that operating those drone toggles looked like lots more work than leaning against handy regulator keys would have been.
Also, part of what makes drones interesting is that in any given tune, there’s some aural tension around the fact that D doesn’t fit into every chord implied by the melody. E.g., if the melody goes C# E G C# E G, which is an arpeggiated C#-diminished chord, D grates against it in a way that’s interesting (in small doses), because it doesn’t fit, causing tension (“where is that going?”).
But mashing that same melody against a sustained D-major chord wouldn’t be interesting, it would just be a train wreck. (Try it on the piano!) Unless maybe you’re trying to play Charles Ives tunes.
Here are some photos of my D set, which has an extra regulator in E and an extra drone which is tunable to G or A. Both the extra reg and drone are mounted “out board” on the opposite side from the bass reg:
wonderful looking set PJ, and it also clearly shows where and how the drones and reg is fitted to the pipes. who is the maker? I like the style with the bend bass regulator!
