just love this fellas playing.
he’s got to be one of the smoothest players out there:smooth , meaning making it seem easier than it is I suppose..
But , I notice especially at the beginning, he appears to have very little bellow pumping.
Is that a really super-tight set, or a large bellows or just my perception?
I realize of course, just the chanter is minimal demand & all..
Anyone here get a chance to spend any time with Tiarnan?
Seems like a nice fellow, I mean shoot aren’t all who play the Uilleann pipes?
Never met him but his playing is totally Zen.. Also the way the pipes fit his body, how the regulator keys are all there with minimal effort to reach them seems to be as good as it can get.
With so little bellows work it must be a fully airtight set with reeds that don’t eat too much air, and probably big bellows too. I read from somewhere (this forum?) that his bag is made from tractor inner tyre. Probably the balloon effect also reduces the need to pump all the time.
Haven’t come across that guy. That’s fantastic stuff. Really beautiful. I like the way he’s combined very modern elements - some of the harmony, particularly - with a style rooted right in the tradition. It really is lovely.
Proper solo playing too. I can’t imagine another instrument with that, and I wouldn’t much want to. I bet he could blend in nicely with the right fiddler, though. He’d just play completely differently.
He was at the Northeast Tionol a couple-three years ago. He’s brilliant, And a really nice guy! I can’t speculate about his bellows-work – I was too busy being amazed by his huge, graceful hands – but everything about his playing was so easy, I got the impression his set is really well-maintained.
IIRC, he and Cillian Vallely both learned the pipes through the Armagh Piper’s Club; testament to a top-notch program. And you should have seen them playing together! Their technique was flawless and so economical. Epic.
With luck he’ll be back in a few years. Keep your eye on http://www.eastcoastpipers.com, and maybe you can catch him in person next time!
P.S. I should add that’s he’s at least 6’2", maybe as tall as 6’4", so a big rig wouldn’t be out of the question, I suppose?
Yes Tiarnan plays a Dave Williams set. Many of the videos on youtube show him playing it with a boxwood chanter made by Eamonn Curran, which he still plays. When I last saw Tiarnan in November he was also playing a Benedict Koehler chanter.
I’ve met him many times over the last 10 years around Ireland and the UK. He’s a lovely fellow and a great teacher. Back in the late 90s, before I’d ever heard of Tiarnan, Cillian Vallely described him to me as the best solo piper in Ireland, which is pretty high praise. He is an incredibly talented, subtle and inventive musician.
I recently heard he and his wife Stephanie have moved to Marseille?