Tips for Musicality

Uilleann Pipes
1

Hello Everybody -

Been learning for the past 7 months or so on my practice set, and am expecting a full set this coming April. I’m a bit frustrated as of late because I feel like I’ve hit a momentary plateau with my playing. Allow me to elaborate:

  1. I know roughly 20 tunes - about 8 jigs, 8 reels, and 4 marches. While reviewing old tunes from repertoire on my own I tend to make small mistakes (usually when attempting variations on the 2nd and third time). My fingers slip up or lose their place in the tune momentarily. It’s highly frustrating and I don’t want to ‘normalize’ myself to it.

  2. There are tunes that I feel I sound robotic when I play. It’s difficult for me to tell if it’s how the tune is supposed to sound (usually this happens with less common tunes that I can’t find recordings of) or if something is off with my rhythm. What do you do to express your humanity and musicality while playing? This is my most pressing concern. The Uilleann Pipes are a musical instrument, and I want to sound musical and creative while playing them. Is this something that comes with time? Playing with others? I must admit I’ve been avoiding a beginners’ session at a local pub because I’m not sure if I’m “ready” yet. Would playing with others in the living tradition help extraordinarily with this?

  3. My rhythm pulses. I need to practice with a metronome. How do you incorporate metronomes into your practice sessions?

Any general advice here?

2

I would be over the moon if I had achieved that much in just 7 months. SO whats your learning method?

As far as musicality is concerned as long as i can get a few cuts an occasional roll and a hard D working in a tune
and the tune is rhythmic I am a happy little string bean (waiting for the crans)

There is never a READY when playing with others. Its just a reason for playing and sharing

Well done
Bryan

3

Just be yourself. Whatever you’ve got will come out for better or worse. If you aren’t happy with yourself there’s not much chance of making others happy.

4

It happens that This question of " liveliness" obsessed me during years!
As a french born musician, I had not precisely been rocked in the right craddle…
I appeared to be not so bad at moving fingers on the chanter, but the music, as you say, wasn’t very much “musical”.
It took to me thirteen years to understand two things:
First: musical energie is always a question of notes length.
And secondly: these notes have to be dynamised !

If you listen to fiddles, concertina, accordions, or all stringed instruments, you can notice that the sounds they make is not straight. Their notes can be compared with drum beats. The vibration reach its full intensity after a short attack, and then decrease until the end of resonance.
The pipes doesn’t work the same. They give straight notes, with no changes in intensity.
If you listen to the old pipers, you will realise that the greatest part of their technic consist to work permanently on the sound, in order to make it dynamic.
Best exemple is Leo Rowsome, who can put a huge energie in his music, hardly using “official” ornamentations.

The first mean we get, in that purpose, is the open fingering. Nothing can be accomplished without using it (Leo R., in his tutor, taught it first.).
Opening the chanter allows you to slide and vibrate the notes. These effects can be explored a lifetime long, but they are quite easy to perform at the earliest stages.
If you listen very carefully to the music, you’ll realise that the notes are actually starting a very short time before the foot stamp.
Playing with a metronom make this very perceptible: if you start on the click, the music is dead and you always find to be too late.
That’s on this short time the attacks have to be placed. Their purpose is to give to the pipes notes the same “inertia” than the instruments mentioned above.
( This explain wy many pipers accelerate: their notes are anticipated, to get the “lift”, but the attacks are neglected .)

The good new is that most of the job is accessible very early. Since the beginning, actually.
You just have to think of it, and try to feel on the chanter how the fingers have to move, to express the dynamic.Exactly like if tou was trying to talk with it!

The only trick to remember is that this dynamic has to be injected into the notes themselves.You’ll never get a steady tempo if you don’t do that.

The whole rest will gently come at its time, because all of this is actually very natural: All human beeings on the planet are playing like that ( exept classical musicians, but that’s another story…).

Sorry, I’ve been a bit long, but this subject passionate me. I hope not to make things more difficult than they actually are… :blush:

5

There’s a step before all that. First things first. Being (relatively) comfortable and at ease with your instrument, being able to move around freely without thinking or struggle too much. And being comfortable with different fingerings, colours etc. Same for the music you’re playing, being familiar with it (with its language if you will) and being able to move freely around within the tune (i.e. not approaching a tune like a string of notes).

Again Pat Mitchell’s article provides a few handles on the subject.

6

You say you sound robotic when you play, but how do you know it ? Did you tape yourself playing to be able to really listen to how you play ?
That would maybe put you on the right track. It takes hours of listening to the music, especially some of the old players, and Mr Gumby is absolutely right, you have to be totally at ease with your instrument before being able to emulate what you can hear. When I speak about listening, I’d rather “conscious listening”, which takes time and understanding. To sum it up, yes, it’s gonna take time and practise. Playing with others (depends who) can help to get the right feel.
As for the variations, I’d say it might be a bit early after just seven months; I took a lot longer to be able to play some… Sounds to me like you’re going a bit fast. Get a steady rhythm first, before attempting variations.

7

This is from my context, including the handicaps of not having grown up in the tradition, beginning to learn the pipes at a fairly advanced age, and playing in relative isolation with regards to teachers and etc.

Plateaus are normal and to be expected; keep playing no matter what, and you will eventually break through and start climbing again. Sometimes, you may have to take a step or two backwards and re-learn something correctly that you learned imperfectly the first time, to begin advancing again.

Immerse yourself in the recorded music of good players, and not just pipers. You can learn rhythm and lift from box, fiddle, and whistle players. You can learn phrasing (of airs, particularly) from sean-nós singers and harp players. Listen over and over again until you can hum in your head the tunes that you like, then learn those tunes. Those will be the easiest to learn and remember.

Keep playing, and remember that good piping is a long but fun adventure, not necessarily a destination.

8

I thank everybody kindly for the replies. I’ve taken a lot of what you have said into account the last couple days and the advice has honestly helped me navigate my instrument that much more. I am well aware that I am yet a beginner on this instrument - but in my view tackling musical problems in whatever capacities you have available is always a good learning experience.

I’ll reply to a few specific points I’ve seen that I’ve thought about, as it might make for some good discussion:

SO whats your learning method?

There’s honestly nothing special. I have played Highland Pipes since I was 16, so that has given me an advantage in what piping “feels” like (i.e. the sensation of a bag under your arm, fingers flitting under a loose grip, the limitations and physics of this type of instrument, etc.). However for that entire length of time I actually wanted to play Irish, not Scottish music. It was all I listened to, and I listened to a lot of it. It just took me this long to get around to committing to the Uilleann Pipes. I still keep the GHBs around in case someone in the family kicks the bucket or gets married - but I no longer play them for musical purposes - only events.

Life story aside: I practice 6 days per week and usually evenly split my time between either a) Learning a new tune or b) Exploring old tunes.

If you listen very carefully to the music, you’ll realise that the notes are actually starting a very short time before the foot stamp.

Is this true? I have to admit I’ve never noticed this before. I’ll have to go back and really listen to Seamus Ennis or Willie Clancy again. Can anyone speak to this?

Being (relatively) comfortable and at ease with your instrument, being able to move around freely without thinking or struggle too much. And being comfortable with different fingerings, colours etc. Same for the music you’re playing, being familiar with it (with its language if you will) and being able to move freely around within the tune (i.e. not approaching a tune like a string of notes).

Again Pat Mitchell’s article provides a few handles on the subject.

Good words here. Since this I’ve been devoting much of my attention during practice to my posture, ergonomics, and grip. Sometimes just noodling around for a few minutes once I’ve got my stance straight. It’s honestly helped me get more comfortable with the pipes by forcing me to consider how I interface with the instrument, and how my actions might limit or change the sounds made.

Also, you mentioned “again” in reference to Pat’s article. I don’t know if you’ve ever brought it to my attention before - as if you have I wanted to apologize for not looking it over. It was an excellent read that encourages a player to think about the structure and accenting of the music before they play it. A lot to think about - and I enjoyed it very much. I plan on reading it again tonight.

Did you tape yourself playing to be able to really listen to how you play ?

Yes I do.

When I speak about listening, I’d rather “conscious listening”, which takes time and understanding. To sum it up, yes, it’s gonna take time and practise.

Well said. I’ll remember this when I listen to piping during a drive in the car.

Immerse yourself in the recorded music of good players, and not just pipers. You can learn rhythm and lift from box, fiddle, and whistle players. You can learn phrasing (of airs, particularly) from sean-nós singers and harp players. Listen over and over again until you can hum in your head the tunes that you like, then learn those tunes. Those will be the easiest to learn and remember.

I’ve been recommended a couple good concertina albums, as well as a sean-nós one, but I haven’t pulled the trigger. I’ll have to give them a purchase and have a listen. :slight_smile:

9

I don’t know if you’ve ever brought it to my attention before

I have linked it a good few times before, last time about a week ago. Not specifically to one of your questions but perhaps I pre-empted a general 'here he goes again’ response to my recommendation.

10

Thank you kindly for going again.
Very informative, great reading.

11

This anticipating thing is very noticeable if you try to play a jig very slowly.
You can refere to your foot or a metronom:
If you take attention to start the notes exactly on the footbeat or the click, the note always seems to be late. You have to wait what looks a very long time before it starts.
The anticipation duration is something as “the time the foot need to get from its hight position to the floor”.
All the lightness of the jig is given by the " colour" or the dynamic you put into this attack. ( That’s why, as some said, " Coleman can’t play a jig !" )
Since you notice it on jigs, you’ll see that it’s the same with reels and the rest, but because there’s more notes in these rythms, it does’nt catch one eyes so much.
However, I can say, after Oliver, that the main key is about focusing.
Problem is to get out of “too much thinking”!
I realised that ,after maybe fifteen years of piping, All my music was coming to my mind through a filter of technical appreciations and judgements. I was’nt hearing at all at what I was playing on.
It appears that the remedie, to me, was to try to listen carefully to " the noise I was doing". Just listen to the music, as if played by someone else.
But it is not so simple, because as soon as troubles appear, I can’t help thinking again ! :imp:
That’s why the greatest part of my practicing becomes to be : “trying to keep focused!”
And this for sure is a big deal ! :boggle:

12

I can feel musicality in my playing…but I’ve never quite gotten the rhythmic feeling of a reel. Perhaps its a speed thing, too slow and you end up with a march.

Any tips/thoughts?

Mike

13

Nothing to do with fastness ! :party:
My greatest revelation ( after W. Clancy ) in irish music was Gerdie Commane ( concertina player ). And he was playing really very, very slowly, but with an incredible energie.
All is a question of lengthening and dynamising the notes, at the good time. I’m sorry to answer so promptly ( as a french player, I’m maybe not the best adviser… :blush: ), but this question is to me THE question !
Choose a reel you know well, and practice this exercise quite slowly:
Try to lengthen all the footbeat notes first. And then, every second beat, and so on ( every fourth, every eighth.). Just listen to what happens.
Normally, a new world would appear ! :smiley:
Waiting for news!

14

The best tip I ever got for playing reels was simply while playing use the mantra LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL for every bar. If 9/8 3 liverpools per bar and so on

For reels it was ANDMOOKA ANDAMOOKA

I am expecting some weird and wonderful comments. Take my word for it it works

Bryan liverpool
liverpool liverpool

liverpool :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

15

The best tip I ever got for playing reels was simply while playing use the mantra LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL for every bar. If 9/8 3 liverpools per bar and so on

For reels it was ANDMOOKA ANDAMOOKA

I am expecting some weird and wonderful comments. Take my word for it it works

That seems excellent !! :smiley: :party:
We never think about such sort of things in french, because we don’t have the same tonic accent. For a french guy, LI,VER and POOL are the same length.

16

I am expecting some weird and wonderful comments. Take my word for it it works

It is a crutch. As such it will help you hobble along temporarily. You will be at risk of ending up merely turning out strings of notes, not quite the musicality the OP was looking for.

[edit] Just to clarify: music is not merely reproducing strings of notes. It’s about putting structure on the notes, phrasing, emphasis, beat and pulse, recognising the internal rhythms, colouring certain notes, all that stuff. Plodding along repeating dickety dickety all the time, almost mechanically, does not gives a jig a sense of musicality.

17

I’m guessing you meant jigs in that first bit. :confused:

18

Just to clarify: music is not merely reproducing strings of notes. It’s about putting structure on the notes, phrasing, emphasis, beat and pulse, recognising the internal rhythms, colouring certain notes, all that stuff.

What I find intensely interesting is the myriad ways trad. musicians express musicality depending on their instrument. In a strange way, the instrument is a filter through which the music passes and must come out the other side with qualities characteristic of that instrument’s limitations.

(Or advantages, if you prefer. I’m not using “limitations” with any sort of negative connotation)

As an aside I recently picked up Noel Hill and Tony McMahon’s “In Knocknagree” and was struck by how similar much of their music is to the way the pipes might play it. Additionally, I greatly enjoy the hooting’ and hollerin’ in the background of many of those tracks - and especially enjoy the way the dancing accentuates the rhythm and phrasing of the tune. It gives me another dimension to think about while I’m playing a tune:

“Can someone dance to this, and if someone were dancing to this, what parts would the feet emphasize?”

I like this particularly because I cannot imagine a dancer thinking about where to stomp their feet in the tune. They just do because some baser part of themselves tells them it feels right to do so at particular times and not at other times.

19

“Can someone dance to this, and if someone were dancing to this, what parts would the feet emphasize?”

That’s good way of thinking about it. A few years Martin Hayes was here explaining how he heard dancers like Dan Furey and Willie Keane when he was growing up and how the sound of their footwork was always in the back of his mind as a reference when playing.

I played weekly for sets for years. It was enlightening.


Clare battering steps

20

Not so much a crutch how about an “aid” So underneath the mantra you have the song the language the nuances the joy
the sadness, A concrete structure to launch from.
There was a great Russian musicologist who after being moved to tears by a Gregorian Chant, played to her serfs, Trying to find a formula for emotions. They all fell asleep WHY?

Become the instrument grasshopper


Bryan