I was over here
http://uilleannforum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=320&start=105&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=&sid=5d60b1a52be1eb3b4cf25c7c9f470bd4
listening to some tunes when it struck me ,how different are the styles that players have developed.
In the past it was the region you were from that governed your style,but as we now listen to music from everywhere,where you are from doesn,t matter.
So what do you think has governed the style that you have developed ??
RORY
That’s a thoughtful and interesting question (who are you and what have you done with the real Rorybellows 
).
Speaking for myself, I have been most influenced by a combination of recordings and pipers that I have played with. I suppose it’s a blend of personal taste and the recognition of my own limitations that have created my “style” such as it is.
No E
For me, the main thing that’s influenced my “style” is the other piper with whom I have played for the past two years (I’m fairly sure his biggest influence was Ennis recordings).
Then certain recordings also play a big part (or I hope they do!), and probably workshops and the comments of accomplished pipers are the third most influential.
I"ve always liked the sound of “open” players, and have of course been a fan of Paddy Keenan’s. Then I heard Gay McKeown (sp?) and wow! That’s how I would like to play, if I had the ability. So my style, such as it is, is an attempt at this flowing open playing.
But Gay’s playing is not particularly open… 
I like this “Free falling”-style what Paddy Keenan have.
I have the beginner-I’m-still-learning-the-pipes style… 
However, I am for the closed style, and am doing my best at incorporating/learning staccato playing. But then when I hear Paddy Keenan on “Doublin’” play The Bunch of Keys, it just blows my mind away!!
-Eric
Gay’s playing sure sounds open to me- he even plays the B-C#-D triplet, which most all pipers play close (staccato), open just as you would on the whistle. I’ll go back and give a listen to the CD again and make sure that I was hearing what I recall hearing. What I recall is the most open, legato playing I’ve ever heard.
I’d say mine is still developing. As far as “open” or “closed” is concerned, I think they’re kind of a red herring. Rhythm is much more important than articulation, or rather, the whole point of all the crazy stuff we do with lenghthening notes, shortening notes, putting silences of varying length between them, popping, nipping, stitching, etc is to create rhythm.
We should be talking in rhythmic terms, like swung versus flat rhythms and how to create those effects since we can’t pulse our breathing or change bow speeds - the airflow from the bag through the reeds only moves at one of two speeds, and second gear only engages for second octave playing. It is up to the piper to make that column of air produce a rhythmic sound, that is, if the piper cares about playing dance music.
I’ve been trying to play with an awareness of that since I started playing with people who like to emphasize lift in their music. It leads to thinking about longer vs. shorter note values and finding ways to articulate them cleanly. This means a fairly mixed approach that combines closed non-legato and more open legato techniques. I hesitate to suggest any rules of thumb because it’s something that develops organically in your playing via your own immersion in “lifty” music. Listen to the tunes, memorize them, than hum or sing them to yourself while trying to play them. If nothing else, try to internalize the rhythms so that they come out in your playing. It’s long process of trial and error. Be patient!
I think if you listen to the trad music broadcasts on Clare FM you’ll find plenty of examples “lifty” players, especially when listening to the concertina players and many of the fiddlers (and not a few of the pipers, either!!). Try to internalize that sound and play with that kind of a feel. It’s a good skill to cultivate, even if you don’t aspire to play for dancers.
Benedict Koehler gave a very insightful talk about style at the SoCal Tionól, suggesting that pipers could learn a lot about phrasing by listening to (excellent) flute players and noting where they take breaths.
Gotta agree with Pat C–it not about playing open or tight, it’s about using the tools available to emphasize the rhythm.
No E
Benedict is 100% correct about the old (pre-1970s) flute players and their phrasing. Take that to heart, they’re an immense help!
Very interesting topic Rory.
For me, the underlying principle defining my playing is ‘control’…to the point of being a control freak. Perhaps it comes from my scientific training, or perhaps its also part of my nature…but I think I am a quiet, reserved but friendly chap…but I do exercise a high degree of control over my own life, but never over other people.
In the past few years I have become a student of Taoism. Taoism has taught me that ‘if you want something to be straight, allow some crookedness’ which is something that I am working into my playing (and life in general). We shall see what influence it has in my playing in the years to come.
Cheers,
Steve
I can only speak for myself of course ,but I,ve never actually thought that I,d like to play this way or that way .It,s just something that I think has happened on a subconscious level.
I,m sure that I was influenced by people that gave me lessions at the start,but I would think that my"style" is also governed by my ability,so my “style” is very basic.
RORY
Benedict mentioned the same sort of thing–he didn’t consciously set out to play a certain style, it just evolved (to a very high level of musicality in his case).
No E
OK I went back and listened to Gay’s amazing rendition of Lord Gordon/Trim the Velvet- what a tour de force! Anyhow I see now what billh is saying- there’s a passage in Lord Gordon where Gay is playing very detached. But, especially in Trim the Velvet, there are entire parts which sound completely legato to me, and that’s what stuck out in my memory.
I think that perhaps the hardest thing to hear in a piper’s playing for me are the silences, especially in playing where the silences between notes are of brief duration, so the the playing is subtley articulated.
Many pipers who are open in the lower and upper range of the instrument play more detached from D to G in the second octave. At the Tionol, for example, both Jimmy and Benedict were quite often using the one-finger high G, and their high F’s and G’s, both being one-finger, were often played detached (not to say staccato).
I myself have difficulty with this and have always played open, perhaps out of a combination of preference and ignorance.
In my opinion, my piping took off when I became aware that the rythm atually is made out by the silent time between the notes and keeping this in mind, still my opinion I’m making faster progress in everything regarding piping, Technique, tunes and you name it. Then again I can sometimes have a difficulty playing longer legato runs but I am training this as well.
I’m usually rehearsing a tune note by note, very slow to get the feel of the rythm.
Rob