leprechaun spotted at the cobblestone pub

Uilleann Pipes
1

I’d heard before that Emmit Gill had learned his piping from the little people so its hardly surprising they come to listen to him playing.One can be seen through the window behind Emmit .
http://source.pipers.ie/Media.aspx?mediaId=22731&categoryId=854

But on a serious note, is that a taylor made set of pipes or are they a taylor copy ,maybe made by David Quinn ?


RORY

2

It’s the Frain Taylor, formerly of Boston.

3

Doesn’t sound like a Taylor chanter though…

4

Doesn’t sound like a Taylor chanter though…

Oh yes it does :smiley:

Was in a pipemakers workshop over Christmas and saw and heard a Taylor set that he had in for repair and sound was the very much the same.

John

5

I would tend to agree with Tommy. The Taylor chanters, on the whole have a harsher tone than the one played by Emmit which sounds a bit sweeter. It may have been either reworked or is it the narrow bore Taylor chanter that was the subject of another thread awhile ago? Either way its a nice sounding chanter.

RORY

6

Sounds like a Benedict reed.

7

It’s not the narrow-bore Taylor. My suspicion is that it’s some of the harsher sounding Taylors that have been “reworked.” I’ve played the two chanters mentioned so far and a couple of others, none of which seemed harsh in person. Both played/play well flat of modern concert pitch - trying to get them up to A=440 might be part of the tonal issue alluded to.

Bear in mind, by the way, that leprechaun season doesn’t officially start until Monday. Also, it’s not legal to hunt them with dogs anymore (darned Brussels again!)

8

I enjoyed that. I’ve heard a couple of different versions of Lawson’s hornpipe over the years, but that one is pretty much exactly the version that I play (on fiddle, mind - I’m an interloper round here :wink: ). Really lovely use of regs there, I thought.

9

I’m not sure if I’ve got this right, but I thought the problem with older concert pitch chanters was that they were sharp, as with Paddy Moloney’s Rowsome. Is it possible that the Taylors were intended to play at C# ?

RORY

10

It is also interesting to note that the chanter is of the style with the spring-sealing bottom. Does this change the suspected origin at all?

Kevin

11

Standard pitch in the US, until 1920, was 435 Hz.
In the British Isles, standard pitch was at 452 Hz, until 1959, when the international standard of 1939 was adopted.

AFAIK, all Taylor chanters were fitted with the popping valve.

12

I think you’ll find that the British standard for pitch was lowered from A=452 to A=439 in 1896 and, generally speaking, didn’t thereafter rise above A=440.

13

It seems that you’re right.
I can’t remember where I read about the 452 pitch, therefore I’m not at all sure if I remember correctly.
However, it appears that Rowsome’s pipes were designed to play sharp of modern concert pitch.

14

Thanks for clarifying that.So older American made chanters would be flat and Irish and British chanters would be sharp of modern pitch.

RORY

15

The trouble is, I think, that a set of pipes, made in a time and place when and where the norm was for solo playing may not necessarily adhere to whatever standard pitch is observed elsewhere. Flutes would have. But maybe not pipes.

16

Thanks for the link! Great to hear these historic pipes are still carrying the music so well.

I sure miss Gene Frain.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all,

PG

17

Gorgeous stuff!

Patrick

18

Looking at this list it seems pitch was all over the place depending on what standard the maker was working to http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/eng_pitch.html