Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hello,

Can you point me to some recordings on YouTube, where I can clearly hear the use of G# key, Bb key and F nat key inside the tunes, airs - I think slower stuff would be better, so I wouldn't miss them while listening! I only have C key on my chanter currently.

Thanks a lot

If you belong to NPU, there are some great videos there in the "Source" section, among which is one of Mick O'Brien playing the slow air "The Green Fields of Canada" at the Cobblestone Pub in Dublin in 2012:

http://pipers.ie/source/media/?searchTe ... 12&sPage=1

He makes good use of the "F natural" key, though he's playing a flat set.

Here is one on Youtube (though there is no video recording of him playing, just the sound track) of Ronan Browne playing the Christmas song "Cuireadh Do Mhuire":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u54V_AV ... jreload=10

This song would be in the key of D Minor (if it were played on a concert pitch set) and hence uses the Bb key, though again, Ronan is playing this on a flat set.

An Draighean wrote:If you belong to NPU, there are some great videos there in the "Source" section, among which is one of Mick O'Brien playing the slow air "The Green Fields of Canada" at the Cobblestone Pub in Dublin in 2012:

http://pipers.ie/source/media/?searchTe ... 12&sPage=1

He makes good use of the "F natural" key, though he's playing a flat set.

I checked that video and loved it.

However, from a beginner piper's point of view (a few months in of actual practice) there was one thing that caught my attention, and that's the playing posture of Mr. O'Brien.
Is he leaning rightwards and keeping his bag-shoulder way up high e.g. just "for feeling", I mean 'cause he's immersing into the music, or does the playing of a full set require such position while playing, or is it just his personal style?

What comments would you more experienced pipers have about it?

Hooleh wrote:However, from a beginner piper's point of view (a few months in of actual practice) there was one thing that caught my attention, and that's the playing posture of Mr. O'Brien.
Is he leaning rightwards and keeping his bag-shoulder way up high e.g. just "for feeling", I mean 'cause he's immersing into the music, or does the playing of a full set require such position while playing, or is it just his personal style?

What comments would you more experienced pipers have about it?

If you look closely, you'll see a thin strap going over his right shoulder. That strap is attached/looped around the mainstock, and assists in holding up the considerable weight of a full set. By raising and lowering his shoulder, he can also bring different keys on the regulators within easy reach. Or, he might have been a fan of Marty Feldman's performance in Young Frankenstein

dave boling

Hooleh wrote: Is he leaning rightwards and keeping his bag-shoulder way up high e.g. just "for feeling", I mean 'cause he's immersing into the music, or does the playing of a full set require such position while playing, or is it just his personal style?

I never noticed it until you pointed it out.

He's using a shoulder strap for that set, over his left shoulder, that helps support the main stock, so I would imagine that his left shoulder height is his way of positioning the set where he wants/needs the regulator keys to be. The fact that he's doing it even when not playing the regs on the first verse would suggest that it may be a habit that he is unaware of, but I have never met Mr. O'Brien or seen him in person so I could be all wrong.

A full set does not require that position per se; how you hold a full set and access the regulator keys is an individual thing, depending very much on the dimensions of the set and the dimensions of the piper.

Dave beat me to it.

daveboling wrote:Or, he might have been a fan of Marty Feldman's performance in Young Frankenstein

"Walk this way!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNTToXKgwZc

Be as it may, what entered my mind was that will it cause damage for shoulders/posture to keep playing in this manner for years.
However, Mr. O'Brien is a living example of how to play excellent music in that particular position, so I take it as it's trivial.

All of this probably doen'st matter, maybe I'm just a keen observer of tmenial things.

A little late to this thread, but for posterity...

Plenty use of Bb and F in the Henry Purcell baroque composition called the Fairy Queen (followed by Dance for the Haymakers, also by Purcell,) played here by Tiarnan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD_2lN_LRTs

You can use G# in The Ash Grove, as Tommy does here:

https://youtu.be/RLtn7wbtufs?t=1m25s