I just have to tell everyone! This is so cool! My Seth Gallagher practice set came yesterday!!!
So far I have managed to play Song of the Chanter,Friars Hill,There Will be a Fair Tomorrow,and a few others almost smoothly!
Having played low whistle helps with the finger stretch,and I've been memorizing pipe fingering for the past month.I'm trying hard to remember to play with the bag,not the bellows.
The second octave is hard to get,but I find that if I slide into it from back D,I can sort of get it.
Anyway,I'm totally in love with this thing!
Wish me luck!
-Kelly
The most important thing is to get lessons from someone near you if you can, I'm sure someone on the board here can suggest a teacher fairly close to you? If not or as a back-up get the NPU videos at http://www.pipers.ie Also attend tionóil if you can at all they are great fun and you get to see and hear lots of pipes and styles.
Congratulations Kelly!
As another newbie piper (2 months now),I can understand your enthiusiasm-the pipes really ARE the darkside,I can understand now how people get so obsessive about them!
You seem to be making rapid progress with the fingering,but I'd suggest that you take time on your bellows/bag co-ordination-I found that I had to consciously work on this,and it's still not quite on 'automatic pilot' yet!
Great news Kelly. When my practice set arrived 3 months ago, it meant a lot to me as well, so I can understand your excitement.
It took conscous effort on my part to play from the bag, and not the bellows. Getting my blowpipe the correct length made a huge difference by putting the bag in the proper position, now I'm able to get better leverage on the bag.
One exercise which helped me was to play as long as I could (usually 1 and a half of an A part) without the bellows, only with the air in the bag...then pump the bellows.
I'm glad I'm not becoming obsessed with the pipes. :roll:
Except for practicing every day, and except for thinking about playing them anytime I'm not playing...other than that, I'm not becoming obsessed...except for listening to pipe music all the time..and getting on C&F pipe forum..other than that...I'm perfectly normal.
Yes,the bag/bellows thing is what I'm working on the most,along with loosening my death grip .
Thanks for all the support! I'd like a teacher,but I don't think there is one anywhere near here.Plus,I'm 16,and I don't have my drivers license yet.I don't think my parents are going to drive me a hundred miles for lessons.
I do have H.G. Clarke's book and CD.Not the same,but helpful.
-Kelly
Congratulations on the new arrival! By all means, lose the death grip. And while you are at it, keep from hunching your shoulders Because you will eventually experience some of the worst headaches known to mankind as a result of this 'hard to avoid' habit...trust me, I know where of I speak.
Do not be afraid to make really bad noises, in fact, make plenty of them because it is all a natural part of getting to know the true nature of the beastie you have just invited into your happy home. Through the bad noises come the good ones, and that is what we all are striving for, good noises. Someday, I will be able to make some REALLY good noises, but until then, I am quite content to practice, practice, practice all of the really bad ones...and perhaps some of the OK ones.
Eventually you will reach a plateau where you will be comfortable with the relationship between the bellows and the bag, it comes with repetitive practice, and it will seem as natural as breathing. But while you are becomming comfortable with the bag/bellows thing, do not lose sight of the voice, the heart and soul of the Uilleann Pipes...the chanter. The H. Clark tutor is a mighty tool for getting started and refining what you may or may not already know, but nothing can substitute for a good instructor. Also, as Kieran O'Hare put it to us (Florida Tionol last February 2004 in Gainesville): " Surround yourself with piping music...immerse yourself in the sound of it. Listen to any and all uilleann recordings every minute of the day. Begin to think 'uilleann'. The more you listen to, and think about the fingering at the same time, the quicker it will come to you...and it WILL come to you". Kieran intoned upon this subject emphatically, and inspriationally. He went to greater lengths than I can recap here, but thanks to my friend, Gary White in Roswell Geogia, I have recordings of his beginner's classes on CD...which include his vast and selfless wisdom on this and more topics. They also include great tunes for the beginning piper from both Kieran O'Hare and the mighty Cillian Vallely. If you are interested in some of these recordings, contact me via my email address, or leave a message on this forum page and I will get back to you in... "that time honoured tradition also known as the 'folk process' (Stan Rogers)".
Good luck and happy piping to you Kelly.
Hi Joseph, glad to see you on C&F. I've gotten a ton of great info off of those tapes as well.
As soon as I get a bit of time I plan to go thru and make an edited version highlighting each of the key lessons. For example, rolls, grace notes, the shaded C nat, popping, crans, etc. The list is long for all the great stuff those two master pipers passed on to us.
Man, I just spent the last hour and a half composing a "Havard Doctoral Acceptance Speech" only to have it lost somewhere in cyberland. Bummer.
Gary, it is very nice to see that you also monitor the C&F forum pages. Once your one-of-a-kind Ray Sloan pipes come in, take a ton of photos and send them to me. I like to collect images of masterful craftsmanship. Ray Sloan is, without a doubt, a master!
Until then, all the best to you and yours.
Ok, I've had my lovely pipes about two weeks now.
I'm doing better with the bag and bellows.I only forget to play with the bag sometimes, when playing in the second octave,and then I usually notice right away and fix it.
I realized that I just needed to shift my RH 1st finger up a little,and I don't feel like I have to grip the chanter so hard.
Overall, I'm doing better than I expected.There haven't been any really strange or bad noises,and yesterday it felt really good for some reason.I hope it will keep on like it was yesterday.
Thanks for all the advice.Every little bit helps!
-Kelly
Good for you Kelly. You're starting at the right age, too. Best wishes in your piping career may it be long and successful.
BTW Louise Mulcahy, an excellent young piper from Limerick with some impressive credentials, will be teaching at the Augusta Irish Week in Elkins, WV this year. You may want to try and register for that if you're not going to Ireland this year, it would a worthwhile experience for you, Louise is a lovely player with her own style.
I'd say you are hooked. Once you get that "good feeling", all hope of ever returning to a normal and complacent human emotional state has just flown the coop. Congratulations Kelly, keep up the good work.
Yes. Yes. Feel the power. Feel the goodness when everything is working well. Let it take over your senses. Become one with it. Become one with - the Dark Side.
I played (sort of) a Gallagher chanter not long ago. It was really nice. Great feel and sound.
