Hi, I’m a senior in college, and recently became aware of this great fellowship called the Watson that allows you to travel the world working on a self-designed project. The project I’m thinking of is to travel to different countries to learn about the playing (and possibly building) of different pipes in their native context… and, of course, I’d want to go to Ireland to study uilleann piping. Never having been there, though, I was wondering if you knew of any people who would be good to connect with (players, teachers, makers, etc), musical and/or scenic places I should be, and things I should do over there (festivals, Willie Week maybe, etc)? I’d also be interested in good sessions and good sights. The other places I’m thinking of are Scotland, Northumberland, Sweden, Brittany, and Galicia, and if you have an suggestions for those places as well, they would be very much appreciated. Thanks for your help! – Chris
The Irish national uilleann piping organization, Na Piobairi Uilleann, in Dublin, would be a very good place to ask that kind of question. Check out their website.
Yet another one of those fellowships which requires you to have had your act together during your senior year of uni and be nominated by the uni for something. Balls. I suppose it doesn’t mean “graduating” (do people actually do that?) from a PhD program, either.
(haha… I think one should get funding to study the effect of alcohol on Irish and Scottish traditional music sessions in their native cultures, preferably by participant observation)
More seriously, contact the College of Piping in Glasgow. I know they have wee courses and internships.
The University of Edinburgh also has a museum of instruments where they hold extensive collections of union, pastoral, and highland bagpipes. The Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh also have collections of sound recordings of people playing bagpipes and the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh as well as the Scottish/Celtic Studies Depts of the aforesaid unis have 18th and 19th century sheet music of piping tunes for both Scottish and Irish pipes. The Traditional Music Archives in Dublin has similar sorts of collections of Irish music, including uilleann/union pipes.
If you go yo Northumberland you should try to meet Colin Ross. Northumbrian pipemaker and father of the modern Scottish smallpipes,
rosspipes@aol.com
Ian
Does that make Ray Fisher the Mother of the modern Scottish smallpipes?
The mind boggles.