I came across this item in a junk shop.
Seven holes on top, one on rear.
There is a ‘plastic reed’ inside it.
You can get a noise from it, but yer eyeballs
want to pop out.
Is it a chanter from a) bagpipes ; b)Uillian pipes?
I haven’t a clue as to which/either.
Thanks.
Just the rest to find/scavenge/get/acquire
URL’s included ’ cos I can’t get the pictures to load on this board! Copy/paste them into yer browser.
Sounds like a practice chanter to me, I have two. But I am by no means an expert on the subject. One I got off ebay and it was called a bagpipe practice chanter, and one I got from a board member who plays uilleann pipes, so I can’t answer that part of your question.
From the shadow of the reed(the angle is wrong to actually see the reed) this practice chanter appears to have an actual GHB chanter reed in it.There are such things as chanter reeds that are made out of plastic- Is NOTHING sacred!- That would explain why it made your eyes pop to get it to play.
A practice chanter reed is longer and narrower. Makes chanter practice much easier.
[ This Message was edited by: cowtime on 2002-08-22 23:16 ]
On 2002-08-22 23:14, cowtime wrote:
From the shadow of the reed(the angle is wrong to actually see the reed) this practice chanter appears to have an actual GHB chanter reed in it.There are such things as chanter reeds that are made out of plastic- Is NOTHING sacred!- That would explain why it made your eyes pop to get it to play.
A practice chanter reed is longer and narrower. Makes chanter practice much easier.
Cowtime
Could I get you to elaborate on this, even though its not exactly a whistle? One of the biggest reasons I got into the whistle is that despite blowing a practice chanter to the point of actual pain (coughing spells, black spots in vision, the whole nine yards), I could never get any more than a variable buzzing note out of the dang thing. A friend who is a piper could make one sound loud enough to be heard across a gym.
I just assumed it was all me, but your comment makes me hope I was wrong.
The reed in my practice chanter is two pieces of plastic with the exposed section measuring about 7/16" by 15/16". The base of the reed(s) is wrapped in heavy red thread, almost cord. The actual insertion area looks to be a bit of copper tube wrapped with finer thread. It is not waxed.
FWIW, I can get a much louder, more musical note by removing the top and blowing with the reed in my mouth like an oboe, if that means anything.
[ This Message was edited by: Chuck_Clark on 2002-08-23 10:34 ]
The practice chanter requires a fair amount of “back pressure” to keep the reed going. It is not ever tongued. The idea is that you supply a steady pressure on the reed and differentiate all your notes with ornaments. Unlike the whistle, bagpipers learn ornamentation before they learn tunes. There’s no way to stop the airstream that activates the reeds on the actual great highland pipes, so playing on the practice instrument is similar.
I think that is one of the very common Pakistani chanters that most pipers start on. Some very good players keep the pakichanters for years without moving up to a better instrument. It is sort of like using an untweaked Generation whistle for all your playing and never moving up to a better one. Some folks are fine with it.
The reed seems to be a regular Pakistani reed, too. This is not bad! The one thing that the Pakis do better than the Scots when it comes to bagpipes is making a nice-sounding, affordable practice chanter reed. I have a handmade chanter and I replaced the nicer-looking reed that came matched for the chanter with a rather crude-looking Paki reed. Much more friendly sound.
My experience is that I don’t like a really easy reed on the chanter. After about 5 minutes, I start leaning into the reed a bit because it is easier to just let that exhale blow on the reed than to control the rate of air flow from the lungs. I don’t want a super hard reed, but a medium-strength one is my favorite.
If you approach it right, a practice chanter can be a legitimate musical instrument in its own right (Gordon Duncan has a great tune called High Drive on his recent album “The Circular Breath” that is done with practice chanter and it is superb). However, it is still the instrument that is used for learning fingering for the highland bagpipes. If you have no interest in pipe music, pass it on to someone else. If you do have an interest, find a teacher. At least for the first month, trying to teach yourself the highland pipes is very frustrating. You will go a lot further if someone shows you the ornaments and drills you on them a few times until you can do them. I still start practice sessions by running through all the ornaments my teacher taught me. It warms up the fingers and helps with muscle memory.
I just went and checked the length of the reed on my practice chanter- the whole thing is 2 1/2 inches in length, the plastic blades are exposed 1". Now, this is an OLD practice chanter reed, the good thing about a good one is it tends to stay good for a l-o-n-g time, (14yrs on this one). The reed in the photo appears to be short and wide-which is like a chanter reed for GHB.
Granted the practice chanter is not nearly as easy to blow as any of the whistles I’ve got, but, it certainly should not be hard for you to get the notes to sound. However, if you put a chanter reed in the practice chanter(not a practice chanter reed) it could certainly be an eye popper.
I agree with the other post, if you want to learn pipes, find a teacher if at all possible. It is an instrument that requires a live teacher if you are ever going to learn all the maintenance, timing, etc. My favorite quote from my teacher is" I know it’s written that way but that’s not the way you play it". The same weird ways with subtle bits re; timing as with IRT.
GHBs require a lot of patience, diligence, and stubborness. If you want pipes you can just grab up and play anytime the spirit moves you , I’d suggest some shuttlepipes. That is the very reason I love mine.
“GHBs require a lot of patience, diligence, and stubborness. If you want pipes you can just grab up and play anytime the spirit moves you , I’d suggest some shuttlepipes. That is the very reason I love mine.”
So, how well do these do for Irish music although they are not a tradition Irish Instrument?
I’ve gotta say I don’t know , I’ve never tried to cross over on either shuttlepipe or GHB by playing Irish music on them. It never occured to me to do that.Maybe someone else can help you there.
Most Irish Jigs, Reels etc. need two octaves, so are not playable on GHP. Irish tunes that are playable on pipes are usually very simple stuff like Molly Malone.
