Are the pipes a versatile instrument?

[rorybbellows]

S1mon raised an interesting point over in another thread and so not to hi-jack that thread ,I thought it might be interesting to ask if pipers think the pipes are a versatile musical instrument. Apart from a bit of guitar strumming I’ve never played anything other than Irish music so I don’t know, but has anyone tried playing any other type of music on the pipes with success .
Will the pipes become an instrument used by non-Irish music playing musicians on a regular and lasting basis ? In my opinion, no.

RORY

[Uilliam]

but has anyone tried playing any other type of music on the pipes with success .
RORY

Yes

[cquick]

At Boxwood two summers ago Jerry O'Sullivan played baroque and klezmer on the pipes. I didn't think it'd work but was wonderful.

[pancelticpiper]

Yes Jerry O Sullivan!

On his album The Gift he plays a Bach suite on the uilleann pipes, playing as part of a typical Baroque ensemble. It's brilliant! He not only plays the Bach in a way that's idiomatic to Baroque music, he also allows the pipes to sound like pipes, with barks here and there etc.

He also plays a jazz style piece or two there. Also brilliant.

[tommykleen]

In the right hands: yes. In the wrong ones they can kill... or even maim.

T

[Clarinetcat]

Will the pipes become an instrument used by non-Irish music playing musicians on a regular and lasting basis ? In my opinion, no.

The pipes most certainly have the potential to be used in almost any form/style of music...

The world music scene is rapidly changing, constantly evolving.

If I can actually get a decent handle on the instrument over the next several years, maybe I'll even use them on an album.

[PJ]

... but has anyone tried playing any other type of music on the pipes with success ...

Paddy Moloney has successfully played all sorts of music on the pipes. From classical to regge to rock to country to ... well, everything.

I think his trick is that he's a musician first and a piper second.

[rgouette]

good heavens yes..
but just don't mention ...synths here.....

[fancypiper]

Hymns and Old Time music fit well on the pipes.

[Eldarion]

I think they sound too idiosyncratic to be anything than a novelty bit in other genres of music. I've heard the baroque and blues tracks in O'Sullivan's "The Gift" and while its a fair effort I think people who actually know those genres of music wouldn't exactly be impressed beyond the novelty of the attempt.

I'd love to be convinced otherwise. But so far, not yet.

[rgouette]

Will the pipes become an instrument used by non-Irish music playing musicians on a regular and lasting basis ?

Regular? that's up for grabs
but lasting...oh definitely yes.

m.h.o.

[magroibin]

Sure, it's true that the pipes can be, and are, used now for a wide variety of musical styles. My group does some slow reggae with the pipes and, ya..it works. And not that long ago you couldn't turn on the radio or television without hearing the UP's in a commerical of some sort, or in a soundtrack- they really do grab the ear.

To be honest however, what can tend to limit the pipes versatility are the restictions in terms of key and chanter range. Other than that you're good to go.

[rorybbellows]

I think they sound too idiosyncratic to be anything than a novelty bit in other genres of music. I've heard the baroque and blues tracks in O'Sullivan's "The Gift" and while its a fair effort I think people who actually know those genres of music wouldn't exactly be impressed beyond the novelty of the attempt.

I'd go along with that ,there are better instruments than pipes to play jazz ,blues on or what ever you choose ,where as all pipers know the best instrument to play Irish music on is the Uilleann pipes.All your fiddles,flutes and accordians are just wannabes.

RORY

[bobblee001]

What about the pipes and other traditional instruments the the metal band in extremo play? I love irish music first but I love heavy metal and it works beautifully.

Bob

[s1m0n]

I think that if anything's going to slow the penetration of the pipes in non-irish forms of music, it'll be the sheer size of the commitment that piping demands. It's a tough instrument to double on if you want to do it well, so having a piper in the band is more likely to mean having the pipes as a near full-time part of the arrangement, aside from diversions into the standard pipers' doubling instruments, whistle & flute.

What I mean is that you're more likely to have a piper who doubles on flute once or twice a night than you are to have a flute player who dips into the pipes. Mick McGoldrick is the only example of the latter I can think of.

~~

I think that so far, the pipes are having the greatest penetration in other european trad genres, where the influence likely deriving ultimately via Planxty (ok, and Paddy Keenan/the bothies). Liam O'Flynn might turn out to be a figure like Michael Coleman in terms of influence. Coleman's records changed more than irish music; the giants of quebecois fiddling were all greatly affected, too, as were others in Cape breton and Canadian Old Time music, to name only three. Yes, most of these were already playing fiddle, so Coleman gave them only repertoire and technique, but I'd be surprised if there were't also a few to who were inspired to take up the fiddle by Coleman records. I think the progress of UP into other genres is diectly analoguous, differing only in that it involves a transfer of a new instrument along with repertoire and techique.

If you listen to, say, breton UP-containing bands from the seventies and eighties, you hear a lot of irish tunes coming out of the pipes. As time goes on, you start hearing bands that have adopted the instrument & the technique, while sticking to the repertoire of some other tradition. That's the process that's interesting me. I'll bet that somewhere in Quebec there's a unilingual francophone quebecker who's playing the pipes in an exclusively quebecois-trad band.