i’m interested in learing to play uilleann pipes. i have been playing highland pipes for about 20 years.. on and off. found a teacher for uilleann pipes around my area. from what i could tell, he has written number of books, and also makes his own pipes.
i had enough piping lessons (on highland pipes) to tell if the teacher is someone i could work with.. but, how do you tell which pipes are better pipes, or if the pipes that he makes are the kinds that i want to pay for? i know i could tell which highland pipes are the ones that i want to play.. but, that took me good number of years to learn that along with other things. at 36, i really don’t want to spend too much time selecting pipes by trial and error. any thing i need to look for?
Welcome Bullet08! Good luck ono your Uilleann Pipes journey. It’s good to have you around. You’ll find this forum to be a great resource and a great place to hang out.
Welcome, and remember: None of us are taking dictation from God, so none of this is gospel. Just like highland piping where some people use Wygent reeds and others swear by cane or another swears his Dunbar poly-chanter sounds better than a Naill blackwood etc., opinions vary widely. Just like when you learned GHP, you found the sound and products you like. You may have upgraded over the years and you may end up doing the same with this. It’s okay, and there are no pipe majors here.
Marc
i’m in durham, nc. i got in contact with pat sky. he’s rather busy to give regular lessons. he also makes his own pipes, and he lives about 15-20 min from where i am. from what i found about him on the internet, he has written/edited number of books on uilleann pipes and some indicated he was one of the people from 70’s who revitalized the uilleann piping in america.
he has agree to speak to me about his pipes and let me see them.
so far, from reading this forum, found that b.c. childress and marc van daal makes reasonably priced set of pipes. i haven’t seen pat’s pipes yet.
i know enough not to get paki set. marc is oversea.. so that leaves chidress, and pat’s pipes.. seens some nice pipes on the net, but they are rather expensive. don’t want plastic pipes.. rather start getting wooden chanter practice set and add on the drones and others later.
basic idea seems to be to go with decent chanter that’s in tune, or could be tuned and fits my hand, and good bellow. bag could be replaced. chanter more than likely i’ll get more as time goes on. if uilleann pipes are anything like highland pipes, i’ll have to play number of different chanters for sometime before i’ll find the one that i could live with.
will give him a call and see when he has time to let me go over see the pipes and hear them.
Pat makes good, in-tune pipes. As you live close to him, he would be a good choice for after purchase help as well. For lessons, ask Pat how to get ahold of Todd Denman, who is presently living in that part of the country.
I am a recent convert too. I have played the Highland pipes since 1985 and have finally taken the Irish plunge. The Uilleann pipes are quite different. I have had a set of cauld wind pipes on order from Hamish Moore for over a year now, but that change in thought of using a bellows got me thinking of taking up the UP’s. I have always loved the sound.
If you have a UP club near you you should check them out. I got lucky at having the Southern California UP club close.
I am going to take a shot at learning the Uilleann pipes also. I just ordered a practice set from David Daye. He makes the penny chanter which apparently may be a good entry level instrument. Does anybody else on this forum agree with this?
Congratulations also to Issac Alderson of the Francis O’Neill CCÉ of Chicago who won THREE All-Ireland titles. Senior uilleann pipes, flute and whistle. Issac will be coming in for the Al Purcell Irish Music Gathering coming up September 27-28 in Ann Arbor. Issac taught and performed at last years event also. Well Done Issac!
I’m one who won’t. David gave me four and charged me for one (five total now…) and not one of them has been reliable and some weren’t even playable. I have played and heard a couple of his wooden chanters which he no longer makes and the difference was quite noticeable from his brass/plastic things he’s doing now.
There are two other pipers in the Salt Lake Valley who have ordered stuff from him and both (along with myself) have been given poor quality product and lots of excuses and delays.
Patrick Murray may be someone to look into. His chanters are much closer in overall design both inside and out to a more standard wooden chanter. http://www.thepiperscut.com
Bruce Childress also makes a very nice set, though his chanters are some of the loudest on the planet as a rule. And as a rule, loud=hard reed. If you’re just beginning, this is very likely not the best set-up.
I have had some correspondece with David and he is quite willing to spend the time to help you out and one of the pipers in the So. Cal. U. P. Club plays a set and likes it very much. But for an inexpensive set I personally prefer the Patrick Murray U. P.'s which costs essentially the same price.
Dave made a post to the uilleann pipes mailing list asking if anyone could make him some elder drone reeds, and that he’d be willing to pay for them. I thought this was a rather strange request coming from a pipemaker living in the Pacific northwest, where elder trees are growing everywhere. Not a criticism, exactly, just wondering why he’d shell out money for such a thing.
I’ve a cassette tape Pat Sky made to go along with his 1980 piping tutor. It’s quite entertaining listening to him say things like “The cran on low D” in this melodious Georgia drawl. I’ve only heard a few things of him but he sounds like quite a good piper.
