When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

A forum about Uilleann (Irish) pipes and the surly people who play them.
User avatar
PJ
Posts: 5884
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 12:23 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: ......................................................................................................
Location: Baychimo

Post by PJ »

buskerSean wrote:That evocative hum of the drones really got me into piping
The bewitching effect of three simple notes constantly played has seduced may of us.
PJ
User avatar
Jumper
Posts: 509
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 6:00 pm
Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
Location: San Diego

Post by Jumper »

Jim McGuire wrote:Dave Page, the retired Marine, learned and played with Leo Rowsome.
Why do you say that Dave was a retired Marine? I knew Dave, and never heard anything like that. Perhaps you have him confused with Seamus Taylor, who also lived in San Diego for a while. Seamus is, if I remember correctly, a retired marine, and studied the pipes with Tom Standeven.

Regarding Dave Page: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 3&start=23

Jonathan
sean an piobaire
Posts: 423
Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:08 am
Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
Location: Carmel Valley, California/Kinmundy, Illinois
Contact:

Post by sean an piobaire »

I first met Dave Page and his wife Bridey, at Dan Sullivan's summer house in Sonoma, California, in July 1977. He was playing a E flat Kennedy set from Cork, and he also played the 2 row (old style) melodeon. He at one time, worked in the same Dublin shoe factory along side Leo Purcell (father of Al Purcell). Dave had lots of stories about playing with the quartette and quintette of Uilleann Pipers, led by Leo Rowsome, on RTE broadcasts in the late 1920s to 40s. Leo Purcell, Tommy Reck,Jack Wade, were some of the pipers in those groups.
Dave lived in San Diego till his death in the 80s. John Touhey was a very close friend of his and has the set of pipes. That summer session was a good one with Dave, Denis Brooks, Pat Skye, and myself. Dave was a great musician and a great man as well, fun to be with. I don't think he was in the Marines, he didn't mention it to me. Seamus Taylor lives in Newport, Oregon. He is definitly a retired, but still feisty, Marine. He got his start in UPs with Tom Standeven, in Philly. Sean an Piobaire
User avatar
fel bautista
Posts: 2162
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2003 1:43 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 12
Location: Raleigh 753 circa 1979 in Diamond Bar, Ca

Post by fel bautista »

Thanks Jim, for reminding me it was David Page. I heard him on Folk Scene, the KPFK folk music show in L.A. hosted by the Larmans in 1978,1979 or 1980. He had a band with him, Siamsa Gael- some where in the closet is a reel to reel of that show.
User avatar
oleorezinator
Posts: 1625
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 1:21 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: I love uilleann pipes I love tin whistles I love flutes I love irish music I love concertinas I love bodhrans
Location: Behind the anthracite and shale curtain.

Re: When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

Post by oleorezinator »

[Thread revival. - Mod]

How did I possibly miss this one?
A gentleman never tells....
Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love.
Love is not music. Music is the best.
- Frank Zappa
User avatar
rorybbellows
Posts: 3191
Joined: Sun Dec 14, 2003 7:50 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
Location: the cutting edge

Re: When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

Post by rorybbellows »

oleorezinator wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:47 pm How did I possibly miss this one?
Maybe you were busy learning to walk.
RORY
I'm Spartacus .
User avatar
pancelticpiper
Posts: 5298
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:25 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Playing Scottish and Irish music in California for 45 years.
These days many discussions are migrating to Facebook but I prefer the online chat forum format.
Location: WV to the OC

Re: When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

Post by pancelticpiper »

1977. I turned 20.

There was nobody playing in the area, so I learned on my own. (No internet back then!)

I didn't know about Dave Page down in San Diego, or John Touhey.

I did meet up with Leo Purcell in Los Angeles, who wasn't playing at that time, but who made a couple reeds for me.

I had started Highland pipes in 1974, but when I saw The Chieftains on television I was hooked.

I had no idea what instrument Paddy Moloney was playing! But I could see that it was a sort of bagpipe much better suited for playing in a group with fiddle etc than the Highland pipes. I didn't know about Scottish Smallpipes then.
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
User avatar
elbowmusic
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 11:27 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: I'm back in the uilleann piping world after a ten year hiatus. Uilleann piping chops, here I come!

I'm a smallpipe and Border pipe maker and we'll just see where that leads to.
Location: Howl's Unmoving Castle
Contact:

Re: When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

Post by elbowmusic »

You didn't know about Scottish smallpipes in 1977 because they were just being invented. :)
-Nate Banton-
Smallpipes and Border Pipes http://www.natebanton.com
User avatar
oleorezinator
Posts: 1625
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 1:21 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: I love uilleann pipes I love tin whistles I love flutes I love irish music I love concertinas I love bodhrans
Location: Behind the anthracite and shale curtain.

Re: When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

Post by oleorezinator »

rorybbellows wrote: Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:23 am
oleorezinator wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:47 pm How did I possibly miss this one?
Maybe you were busy learning to walk.
RORY
Walk upright?!?!? Rory please!
I am, like you, a proud knuckle dragger!
Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love.
Love is not music. Music is the best.
- Frank Zappa
User avatar
pancelticpiper
Posts: 5298
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:25 am
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: Playing Scottish and Irish music in California for 45 years.
These days many discussions are migrating to Facebook but I prefer the online chat forum format.
Location: WV to the OC

Re: When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

Post by pancelticpiper »

elbowmusic wrote: Thu Feb 02, 2023 4:11 pm You didn't know about Scottish smallpipes in 1977 because they were just being invented. :)
Right enough, in the late 1970s or perhaps around 1980 somebody loaned me a Burleigh catalogue and it was interesting to see keyless chanters designed to use "Scottish fingering" being offered, I think it was the first time I'd seen such things for sale.

As I recall these chanters in the usual NSP key of F, and were played with ordinary NSP drones (the simple ones).
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
ennischanter
Posts: 781
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:49 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: If you flush your toilet 7 times whilst lilting "The Bucks of Oranmore", an apparition of one of the great pipers of old will appear in the mirror, you will be blessed with good reeds, but cursed with bad bags and bellows.
Location: Alberta Canada

Re: When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

Post by ennischanter »

Ten years ago now, on and off, mostly off.

But I finally got a full set on the way
We musicians are enemies by disposition, so treat every musician you happen to meet, accordingly.

Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of the flame.
User avatar
paddler
Posts: 752
Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2007 7:19 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Location: Hood River, Oregon, USA
Contact:

Re: When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

Post by paddler »

Today!!!

I just received my (used, but almost new) practice set, made by Brian Bigley, and crowed out a few notes! This is going to be a long journey, but at least I got over the first "7-years to find a set" already! :D
ennischanter
Posts: 781
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:49 pm
antispam: No
Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
Tell us something.: If you flush your toilet 7 times whilst lilting "The Bucks of Oranmore", an apparition of one of the great pipers of old will appear in the mirror, you will be blessed with good reeds, but cursed with bad bags and bellows.
Location: Alberta Canada

Re: When did you start playing the Uilleann bagpipes?

Post by ennischanter »

Hopefully the 10 years to find a set for me shaved off a year each for practicing and playing
We musicians are enemies by disposition, so treat every musician you happen to meet, accordingly.

Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of the flame.
Post Reply