Anyone feel like offering a critique?

Uilleann Pipes
1

I was wondering if any of you more advanced pipers would consider offering a critique of my progress on these tunes. I don’t have a teacher and this sort of feedback helps me a lot.

Eamonn an Chnoic:
http://www.loweradirondack.net/mp3/eamonn_6mos.mp3

Sean Bui / Sixpenny Money:
http://www.loweradirondack.net/mp3/seanbui_sixpenny_6mos.mp3


Things I thought I found:
I know my chanter could use some tuning work in the second octave. It seemed as well as it would cooperate on a very humid day. I dropped second octave E’s on occassion. I didin’t notice any GHB style markers, but then again I wouldn’t and need someone else to notice then so I can remove them.

I am grateful for your help.

Dave Jones

2

I’m not qualified to critique you’re playing. Besides, it sounds fine to me (except that you sound like you’re 100 yards from the mic :wink: ). You’ve certainly got the hang of the hard D and the cran on D. They sound very well. Incidently, I was practising yesterday and spent a lot of time on Sean Bui. It’s a lovely tune that suits the chanter very well.

You mention that you have no teacher. Sadly, a common occurrence. Have you checked out Mick Coyne’s site:

http://www.uilleannpipestutor.com/

It’s good for learning tunes.

3

Thanks - I can’t seem to get any sort of volume when I record. Probably the cheap sound card that comes with my motherboard.

I checked out that page and joined (I hesitate to join things online without some knowledge of who they are and avoided the page last time I was there). It’s a great site! Thanks for the tip. in particular, it gives me some good exercise to do, something I do not have right now: I have been learning techniques as I learn new tunes. I have really enjoyed the NPU videos series. I’m working with the third one … mazurkas, I think.

Dave Jones

4

I’m not qualified to critique you’re playing.

Qualified to critique Ennis though. :smiley: :smiley:
Apologies there, I have been nosing around another forum. :wink:

I have just listened to the jigs.

It sounds like you are taking a good approach, playing steadily and playing each note in time. Your fingering sounds good but without seeing of course I could not be sure.

My advice would be carry on as you are, learn more tunes and keep up your standards.

Since your last posting of Sean Bui your playing has become more fluid and nice to hear you have got rid of that GHB ornament you were putting in the second part.

You play G roll in the second part of Sixpenny money. Are you playing rolls on the E, F#, A and B as well?

If you are not fully confident with rolls may be some tunes with more rolls in would be a good next step.

Also, definitely try and get that second octave tuning sorted out if possible.

Hope that’s some help.

David

5

Good tips! Thank you!

I was especially interested in not using GHB ornamentation. I am grateful that you heard the post some months back and took the time to compare for me.

I worked on my second octave throughout practice today (I have the day off today) and found with some change in reed depth and better pressure control I ironed it out fairly well.

Dave Jones

6

Is the any way you could boost the volume of the recording? What I can hear sounds nice.

7

I have never been able to get rid of my highland ornamentation :sniffle: completely.. It’s burned :boggle: into my head from so many years of playing…

8

Dave,

Sounding great.

One hint - at the moment it (Eamonn) still sounds like a GHB tune with the straight on and off sounding of each note, except the nice venting into top A. The nice thing about Uilleann piping is our freedom to slide around the place. Start trying to put some ‘fluidity’ into your notes, a slide into the Cnat (a difficult one, I realise, but never too soon to begin practicing :slight_smile: ) to occassionaly eliminate that ‘strathspey’ thingy there would be a great start.

Cheers,

DavidG

9

Oh, that’s excellent, thank you.

You know, I have been pounding the highland strathspey strong-weak-medium-weak pattern into my head for competing on GHBs this summer and I guess it’s slipping into my UP playing.

I’d like to be able to play both styles and not mix them unless by conscious effort. Don’t know if that’s possible.

Thanks for advice -
Dave Jones

10

i dont think there is anything wrong with highland gracing, i here it alot in paddy keenan,fred morrison,more of an open style of playing.some of the triplets , dublings,are useful in keeping good rythem. freedom !!!

11

Don’t tell anyone this. But you can do slyding and vibrato on the GHB’s as well. I tried it once and the majority of the band liked it (during a Highland Cathedral solo). Unfortunatly though I did it during a performance and got chassed away by the man with the big stick :smiling_imp:. Don’t wory my position in the band has not been demoted :laughing:

Cheers L42B :smiley:

12

:really:

13

Hey, nice work, Dave!

I think you’re Eamon an Cnoic is quite nice. Echoing what Ausdag writes, the note before the C and the descending notes before the E between :22 and :28 seconds sounds rushed. Otherwise, I like your vibrato and such. One thing you might think about, again as mentioned by Ausdag, is working towards getting a “Piper’s C”. Not sure if it’s considered advanced technique or not.

Regardless, a piper’s C may involve very slightly different cross-fingering than a normal C nat (depends on the chanter); the main difference being that you generally slide into it by slowly and partially uncovering the C# stop. This is probably best done by straightening your top finger like you’re pointing, and adding vibrato with a couple fingers of the bottom hand (whichever ones you like the sound of best). A Piper’s C often involves lifting the chanter as you slide into the note. Before trying it, have a player in mind whose C you like.

If you like a visual, Peter Laban has a picture of Seamus Ennis where you see him pointing his top finger. Go to this page: http://www.uilleannobsession.com/extras_peterlaban.html and look for the photo captioned: “Séamus Ennis around 1981 at an outdoor recital…”

This is probably something further down the line, but once you have that Piper’s C, you can later find a way to extend some of that approach/sound to your 2nd octave G (such as for the short phrase that starts at :11 seconds).

For Sean Bui, I’d suggest letting the long B note (at the end of the parts: B2 c d2) breathe more; it sounds too staccato for me. One thing you might do is keep the chanter open after the C# to help it act as a lead note to back D, but that depends on how you want to voice that part!

I think David Lim has given some good tips too. You might want to vary a little bit of the AFA BGB AFA in Sean Bui with an occasional long roll on the A or B.

Another good variation for the D cran in Sean Bui is to break up the D by playing DAD instead of the cran.

For a new technique, you may want an FGA staccato “triplet.” Keep in mind that only the F and G are actually staccato; the A is played legato. This short clip of Brian McNamara playing Sean Bui will demonstrate both that triplet and the DAD variation:

http://www.prism.net/buile/bmacbui.mp3

Again, I agree with David Lim about keeping your high standards; it sounds like you’re coming along nicely!

RE: recording, have you checked that your inputs are cranked up? If you’re not sure where, double-click the volume control in your task bar. Go to Options → Properties, and click “Recording.” Click OK. These Recording Control sliders will boost your input signal.

I hope these are helpful. And congrats on the nice work.

14

Sounds great Dave - I think the biggest thing to be heard is just whats been said before, and what sounds like you’re already aware of-slightly wonky second octave, and relax into some of those notes a bit…introduce a bit of fluidity there. Before ya know it, you’ll be offering tips to all the rest of us! :wink: