learn to play the uilleann pipes

Last weekend I had the opportunity to spend some time in beautiful Killington, Vermont with a huge number of alternative bagpipe aficionados. We had a number of classes, and there were presentations and talks given all weekend long for the faithful. I had the wonderful chance to take group lessons with Eamonn Dillon, Bill Ochs and Debbie Quigley and managed (after recovering from a slight clerical error) to have an hour of Bill’s time to myself.

I learned a great deal and it was just fantastic to spend some time with so many other pipers in one place. Everywhere I went there were pipes, little impromptu sessions and great people sharing their music with each other.

Both Saturday and Sunday night featured concerts with some fabulous pipers playing Uillean pipes, Northumbrian smallpipes, Scottish smallpipes and Borderpipes.

All in all the craic was fantastic and I’m so glad I was able to attend this year. Events like this are a must for anybody attempting to learn these instruments for which teachers are few and far between!

Daryl and Dylan came over on Sunday and we played tunes for a couple of hours. Some good stuff. I learned three new tunes this weekend, all on the pipes, all without learning them on the whistle first. It’s funny, now that I try to go and play them on the whistle I have a lot of trouble figuring out the fingering. I’ve been getting a good hour or so practice in each day which has done wonders for certain aspects of my playing. Daryl gave me/us some good pointers on the weekend and Dylan showed me how to play a couple of triplets that I had been having trouble with. I also learned how to do what’s called “cross-fingering”; that is, to play certain notes without using the keys on the chanter. In some cases the cross-fingered note is easier to play than the keyed note (although they sound the same, obviously).

That isn’t quite suited for being here at 43things. I think I’ll shift it over for safekeeping. I’ll revive it someday :)

Since I try to play a little bit each practice session with my drones on, I find myself learning to tune them rather quickly. It is really important to check both the first and second octaves when tuning your drones to make sure that the jump doesn’t throw them out of tune.

I’ve been practicing fairly regularly; about 20 minutes every day. I can now play quite a few tunes passably (to my ear of course, not for general consumption).

I have found that playing with the drones switched on is great practice for my bellows arm since I need to pump the bellows more often. Of course, with the drones off it is easier to stay in the higher octave and the pressure from the bag goes straight to the chanter, which makes it quite a bit more responsive.

The note fingerings aren’t really giving me any particular trouble anymore; I’ve even figured out how to work in my CNat key for tunes like Doinna and Condon’s Frolics.

I’ve been having quite a bit of trouble with my reed this week however and I am now trying to learn what adjustments I can make without causing the reed to completely shut down or open too wide. Luckily I have two reeds and the other one is fine!

I am now the very proud owner of a gorgeous concert D half-set of Uilleann Pipes in cocobolo by Neil O’Grady of Newfoundland. I have been playing here and there whenever I can grab a chance between dinner and bedtime without turning my neighbours into a murderous mob. I can pick out a couple of tunes slowly but am still really at the stage of getting used to the fingering.

There are three things I’m finding particularly difficult…

Note fingerings

The fingering at the top and bottom of the octave is markedly different from the whistle. when I first picked up the tinwhistle I was surprised at how similar it was to the recorder (which I played for many years as a youngster – thanks Mom and Dad); the uilleann chanter is similar as well though quite different in that it feels like several notes “bunch up” at the top and bottom of the octave. I am having trouble switching between notes that require a single finger to be lifted and those that require two to be lifted. For example, the transition between E and F# gives me conniptions.

I am mainly practicing playing in “closed style”, that is lifting only the fingers required for the note being played. This makes the sound more staccato but I think it is the harder fingering to learn. Although I’ve seen videos of pipers playing only the top of the chanter while they play the regs with their other hand, when they play with both hands on the chanter they play in closed style. Besides, all the old greats are fabulous precisely because of the gorgeous little staccato swirls and chirps they add to the tune they are playing.

Finger position

Because of the interplay between air pressure, reed tone and note quality I find I need to be both more and less flexible than I am when playing whistle. If I am not “correct enough”, that is if I leave any part of a tone hole uncovered, the pipes are much less forgiving: the tone may change drastically or, worse, the reed may jump (or drop) the octave. On the other hand, if my grip is not loose enough, I find it really hard to switch back and forth between the octaves since I find I need to vent some holes a little to facilitate the shift. This may turn out to be all my fault.

Bag pressure

When I’m focusing on my fingerings my bag pressure gets all out of whack so I end up pumping frantically at the end of the bag just to get enough pressure to play a note never mind keeping the tone steady. As soon as I get a rhythm going when playing I don’t think this will be an issue anymore but I need to cross that hump with the fingerings. In the meantime I guess I am just practicing the unconscious constant squeeze with the bag arm and slow pumping with the bellows arm.

I can maintain a fairly steady drone for as long as I like although I haven’t quite got the hang of keeping the air pressure steady enough to not cause the drone reeds to lock up. I err on the side of too much pressure which makes the reeds lock because the pressure in the bag is so much greater than that inside the pipe that the reed can’t open to get the vibration going. More practice…

i’ll just buy more Davey Spillane music and be good with it… :) He’s the piper from River Dance… haunted soul music…

got a very nice email back from the local piper’s club. they meet once a month, so i’ve marked my calendar for next month’s meeting. can’t wait!

sent an email to the local piper’s club asking for information. . .