My practice set arrived today, and it is beautiful with a lovely mellow sound.
I’v been using the mouth blown chanter for the past few months and am very glad I started with that.
Learning to use the bag and bellows is enough work. I’m glad I learned the fingerings on the chanter first. It would be a real bear to learn bag/bellows/fingerings all at once.
I can post a picture or two at my website if anyone is interested.
Well, I’m gonna go annoy the family and squawk out a tune or two.
Jeff
Jeff,
Post the pictures… this is the set from Pipeworks, right ??
Yes, this is one of Davy Stephenson’s sets from pipeworks,
here’s the link to some pix at my website
http://www.animavitae.com/uilleann/
and here’s the link to my homepage and my other passion if anyone’s interested
http://www.animavitae.com
Jeff
Congrads on the practice set, anima! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I did mine, and I too annoyed many people around me with practice, and still do. But you can grin as you listen to them, nod, then go right back to practicing.
Recently I’ve had a few friends say they’ve noticed improvement in my playing, so you’ve got that to look forward to as well.
Congrads once again and best of luck in the practicing!
P.S. I liked your website, especially the ‘modern medicine’ series.
Mark
Anima, how’s the piping going ?? arms sore? Have you fixated on fingering only forget to pump the bellows once or twice and find the bag deflated ??
Your reed may change slightly as it breaks it causing you to have to make some adjustments. Go easy…
Hahahahaha!!!
The voice of experience huh? yes I forget to pump or squeeze or finger and it all falls apart.
My wife lies and tells me I sound better each day. I don’t believe her
Jeff
They won’t all be good days…
You should spend time doing different things, some pleasant, some not. Hold a note, any note. Hold it for 3 minutes without the volume or pitch changing. Can you pump air into the bag while controlling the pressure to sustain one note?? Do this a few times a week until you no longer have to think about doing it.
Practice two notes… the back D and the high E. Alternate between these two notes as they each require different pressure to play in tune. Ideally, you want to adjust the reed to have a minimum of change for these notes but you should learn to be able to play with less than perfect conditions. Weather changes, bridal adjustments, even different reeds will play differently.
I can keep most of the lower notes continuous while pumping the bellow (although it’s not always smooth), however the back D warbles when I pump and breaks up a bit until I resqueeze the bag - that particular note is harder than the rest to sustain it seems. I’ve been running the scales holding each note for 2 or 3 pumps before moving on. My left arm is sore. My right hand/thumb cramped less tonight so I guess that’s a sign of improvement, huh?
Question: when you pump are you completely emptying the bellows? I only seem to empty it about 3/4 - am I pumping too early?
Jeff
The back D problems you describe are most likely temperature/humidity related. I placed a tiny rubber band (2 or 3 twists depending on the size of band) about 1/4" above the bridal. This cures the problem on my firm reeds but not my soft reeds. You can also adjust the bridal by ‘ever so slightly’ squeezing the sides (not the front & back) to open the reed lips.
If you change the location of the bridal you will change it’s tuning and have to compensate elsewhere.
Pumping on a practice set with a tight reed is fine… it’s when you’re playing drones that you’ll be pumping your little heart out!
The use of drones was mentioned with regards to “pumping your little heart out”
The tendancy of a practice set player is to use the minimum amount of pressure to achieve the lower hand, low octave notes. This will come back to haunt you when you get drones, and even more if you add regulators, as I’ve just done this past spring.
The drones and regs require a steady pressure for them to be in tune, or even play, On my two sets, concert pitch half by D Williams and C 3/4 by D Quinn, the pressure difference between back D and high E is minimal to the point of not being aware of a change, and there is little need to reduce the pressure to play the lower G/D#/E, and the hard D is all but automatic.
The only time I need to increase pressure, and be aware of it, is going into the High B and above.
My suggestion to you is to learn to play, keeping a steady, higher than you think you need pressure on the bag, being careful to not drop pressure when going to thelower notes. It will pay in the long run
Do not let the bag empty, keep pumping to replace the air used, in a gentle, smooth manner, and do not try to keep time to the music with the bellows.
Mike
first time poster
<<keep pumping to replace the air used, in a <<gentle, smooth manner,
so what you are saying is I should be pumping at all times and not just when the bag gets to a certain point?
Don’t I run the possibility of just pumping past the bag and into the chanter instead?
You wrote:
so what you are saying is I should be pumping at all times and not just when the bag gets to a certain point?
Don’t I run the possibility of just pumping past the bag and into the chanter instead?
Reply:
yes, if you pump more air than you are using. The point is, you are not supposed to let all the air out, then frantically pump back up. Find a comfortable amount of air in the bag, that you can controll easily, and keep it in that range of comfort. It will come without thought before too many tunes pass through.
Mike
[quote]
On 2001-12-29 12:00, meuritt wrote:
The tendancy of a practice set player is to use the minimum amount of pressure to achieve the lower hand, low octave notes.
The only time I need to increase pressure, and be aware of it, is going into the High B and above.
My suggestion to you is to learn to play, keeping a steady, higher than you think you need pressure on the bag, being careful to not drop pressure when going to thelower notes. It will pay in the long run.
[quote]
Hi there all. Forgive me for butting in, but with my practice set there’s no way I can keep up steady volume and tuning without having the low D warble and hiss, the back D flat flat flat and the high E a frightening noise. I have to change my bag pressure quite a bit to keep everything in tune.
From what you said, Mike, it sounds like I’m going to have quite a bit of trouble with playing with drones, which I’ll be getting as soon as I can afford 'em.
I’ve already tried adjusting the bridle, and I think I’ve gotten the reed set up well enough (but the humidity here is dropping daily) and I’ve been practicing bag pressure steadiness during my practice sessions. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Mark
Mark, are you playing the O’Grady set? His reeds play well in cold climates and you should be able to make minor adjustments to the reed to get it to perform well. I have an O’Grady reed thats 15+ months old and plays well. After the reed began to break-in, I had to trim about 1mm off the top to keep it in better tune. I don’t recommend this without a backup reed or experienced help.
Something you might have to do is squeeze the bridal slightly instead of moving it up or down. Be very careful as too much pressure will crack a reed. Sometimes a reed can go out of tuning range when moving the bridal up or down too far… squeezing it makes it easier to play and keep it in tune
Without hearing you play or playing it myself it’s really hard to determine what you need to do to correct it.
Seth Gallagher has a troubleshooting chart that should be helpful.
http://www.uilleann.com/reeds.html
near the bottom of the page.
Hey Tony et al;
No, Tony, I’m playing a set made by another Canadian, named G. Colley, I bought it from his son, Duane, who plays about 1500 different kinds of pipes. Okay, not that many. I exaggerate.
The reed, however, is an O’Grady, and it’s been working well. I’ve just moved to a new house and it’s much more humid there, so the reed has been responding to the increase. If I’m right, it may be way up to 30 or 40%!!
I was thinking about purchasing a chanter from O’Grady, but financial considerations and your suggestions from an earlier thread have made me decide to wait.
Yours,
Mark
Pressure and practice sets
I was at the San Francisco Pipers Club meeting yesterday and with two people with about one years experience and one yet to strap on pipes, this topic came up. I voiced the same opinion I posted here earlier, and the other more advanced..none of us would consider ourselves ‘master pipers’..players had similar opinions. We passed around the practice chanters that the beginners were compaining about.
They couldn’t get certain notes in tune… in general we could
Many if not all the squeaks and squawks and other problems they had disapeared.
Each chanter is dfferent, each reed is different, and each chanter/reed combo is different.
The upshot of it was that i came away with a reminder of just how difficult this instrument is to deal with, and the hurdles that have to be overcome will vary in difficulty by the individual and his instrument.
If you are having problems with tuning, and remember equal tuning as found on in pop music and on the piano is out of tune on the pipes, then any number of things could be the problem. Do not rely on an electronic tuner to tell you that any given note is in tune.
Poor posture, not allowing you control of the bag.
not enough strength & cordination between bag & bellows
not covering the holes properly, including the seal at the bottom of the chanter
leakey bag, bellows or any joint anywhere
poorly made reed/chanter or both.
I thought i had all sorts of troubles with my concert pitch half set and nearly quit piping twice out of sheer frustration. It wasn’t really until I bought a brand new full set of pipes that I really had an idea of what a set of pipes is supposed to play like. In very short order, many of my problems went away, and sudden;y, as if by magic, the problems with the concert pitch set went away, never to be seen again.
Unfortunatley, the only thing I can pass on to you about the difference is what i all ready have mentioned.. play with higher pressure than you think necessary. if notes are out of tune and you are sure it is not you, send the chanter back to the maker and have him work on it.
The idea of 7 years to learn, 7 years to practice and 7 years to master, has merit. At about 7 years experience, I can now get down to actually trying to play (practice) these things, rather than struggling to just gt reliable, reasonably in tune notes.
mike
you’re depressing me.
Jeff
Hey Mike,
Do you know when the next San Fran. piper’s club meeting is? I really want to go to one, but don’t know when the meetings are.
Thanks!
Caryn
Hello everyone, this is my first message on the board. I have, however, been reading the board now for a couple of weeks.
TONY, I need your advice. I believe I saw you say that you own a Neil O’Grady practice set. I just recieved my practice set by O’Grady, via Song of the Sea, last Friday (1/4/02). It was the last one they had. I had been researching the Uilleann pipes, makers and info about them for the last year. I talked to Neil personally a few times by phone before I decided to buy the set. I am pleased with the new pipes, they look and sound great. I have played Low & High whistle and guitar for a few yers now so I familiar with sound and pitch. However, like every newcomer to the pipes, I’m trying to tune the effectively. I looked at the Seth Gallagher site that you mentioned but have not had a lot of success from it. I do not seem to be able adjust the bridle at all…up, down, or squeezing. Also, you mentioned that O’grady’s pipes play well in cold conditions, I live in Bakersfield,California where it is ussually warm and sometimes very hot. Any advice or knowledge you could give me about his sets from experience would be awesome!! Thanks so!
GOD bless
Joseph
Keep us posted on your progress as the reed will change slightly as it breaks in. Don’t expect ‘piano tuning’ for each note as pipes are best described as ‘just so tuning’ and harmonize better with drones this way.