When did the pipes bug bite you?

ChristianRo · Post by **ChristianRo** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:44 am

Hi everybody, pipers and non-pipers,

just curious: Is there a pivotal moment that got you hooked on the pipes? A certain concert? A record? Something else?
I recently discovered that I got bitten by the bug when I was only 9 years old (not too bad for a German boy)! In 1978 there was a TV series of the Stevenson novel "Kidnapped" with a haunting title theme that I absolutely fell for. I forgot that song for 20+ years until I just recently found out that it had the pipes in it - played by LOF. Of course it was a schmaltzy love theme, but it seems to have changed my life looking backwards. I reencountered the pipes in the late 80's on the "Ommadawn" record by Mike Oldfield. I decided to take the plunge in 1994, ordering a Hughes practice set and going to my very first workshop with A. Rogge. The rest, as they say, is history. I would love to hear your stories as well. What made you take up the pipes?
Wish you a happy weekend

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 10:00 am

Thanks Christian, enjoy yours as well.

My curiosity about the instrument was peaked by recordings of various bands I had heard, starting with the second Pogues album and then later the Bothy Band, Planxty, and the Chieftains. What really gave me the piping bug in a bad, bad way was meeting Al Purcell while he was living in a condo about a mile from my parents' house in Detroit. I was 22 at the time. He pulled out this magnificent looking Froment B set and played a few tunes for me and I was just floored. I had to learn how to play one of these gorgeous instruments that instant, and there was no going back. He sold that set a few years later, but I'll never forget as long as I live hearing him play it that rainy December night in 1994.

boyd · Post by **boyd** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 10:19 am

As a schoolboy I was a Horslips fan
They were big in Ireland in the 70's...a precursor of many Trad/Rock bands...check out "The Book Of Invasions"
...one of the band members briefly tried the UP's, although it wasn't a big feature of their music. Good sound from it, but I didn't know what I was listening to.
Most of the Irish stuff I listened to had other instruments, except for the Chieftans.
I really got into the Chieftans in my late 20's...just loved the quirky sound of the chanter, and eventually ditched my whistles for a dodgy practice set.

And ... errm ... here I am now

Boyd

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:16 am

Walked into a Seamus Ennis gig in 1972 and look at me now.

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:17 am

That would do it, definitely...

jqpublick · Post by **jqpublick** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:25 am

I saw Gay McKeon at a session in Dublin and I've wanted a set since then, the sound of the pipes was absolutely new to me and completely mind-blowing.
Mark

Aonach · Post by **Aonach** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 12:26 pm

First time I heard "Caoineadh Cu Chulainn"

djm · Post by **djm** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:30 pm

Chieftains, late '60s. Then mostly college radio in the '70s to learn of Planxty, Bothy Band, Seamus Ennis, etc.

Saw Joe McKenna live in early '80s. He told me I'd have to go to Ireland to get a set of pipes made custom (not even a remote possibility for me then).

Met a girl at work late '90s. I was on my way to the men's room. She was playing fiddle in the middle of the office. I bought a fiddle, got some lessons from her. Then she introduced me to some local sessions in never knew existed. The bodhrán player put me in touch with Joe Kennedy, who was just starting out making pipes, who introduced me to a fellow in Toronto who was acting as a salesman for Robbie Hughes. After all these years, and then from the bodhrán player to ordering a Robbie Hughes halfset in under a week. I knew the cosmic forces were moving and I went with the flow.

The rest is history ... well, not yet, but who knows? I'm workin' on it.

djm

Calum · Post by **Calum** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:35 pm

I got the bug when I heard Finbar Furey play the Fox Chase on a Fureys best-of compilation you can generally pick up for a couple of quid. I'd known for a long time what Uilleann pipes were, having been playing GHBs and the rest for a while, but having done a fair bit of fox-hunting when I was younger, it really did make the hairs on my neck stand up to hear the pipes yelping and barking like that, just like a real pack of hounds. Really, really wierd.

Cheers,
Calum

John Mulhern · Post by **John Mulhern** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 6:34 pm

Ditto, Calum. I'd just started listening to Steeleye Span thirty year's ago, when I found an Irish compilation LP at the library, featuring Finbar Furey's "Madam Bonaparte". Blew me away!

snoogie · Post by **snoogie** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 6:45 pm

About 2 1/2 years ago I walked into an Irish pub and there was a guy there playing these weird looking bagpipes. I never had seen or heard of Uilleann pipes before (I was one of those shelters people who knew of nothing but GHBs)...but was immediately interested but felt they would be way beyond me.

At that point I thought I would maybe, someday play the whistle. After a year on the whistle, and listening to many CDs...I knew I would eventually have to play the pipes.

-gary

Antaine · Post by **Antaine** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 7:52 pm

I was a sophomore in college and wanted to go for an irish instrument. it was either pipes or harp. I went for the pipes.

since then I've made friends with a harpist, who helped me pick out a kit so i could build one and learn to play that anyway.

anima · Post by **anima** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:22 pm

1995, walking up the path to the cliffs of Moher, saw a fellow busking, been hooked since, after dithering for 6 years, bought a set in '01.

Jeff

Bill Reeder · Post by **Bill Reeder** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 10:12 pm

North Hero, Vermont in the early 90's. I was simply overwhelmed by Jerry O'Sullivan and Paddy Keenan performing together in a concert. I thought about a while and had my pipes a couple of years later.

The Sporting Pitchfork · Fri Sep 26, 2003 10:24 pm

I got started on the Highland pipes around when I turned 16. Shortly after, my teacher brought in a tape of Paddy Keenan to expose me to what he called "the other side of the piping tradition." I have to admit, I don't remember being all that blown away by it, but I took up the whistle shortly after so that I could be of more use at the local sessions. Then I saw Keenan at a house concert a couple of years later and I really was blown away. I had uilleann pipes and flute on the brain but went with the flute when I was 18 because it was cheaper and easier to play (well, at least I thought it was at the time...). I had this fear of becoming a mediocre jack of all trades on a bunch of instruments and I was sure taking up the UPs would do me in. Anyway, a few years after that, in the summer of '00, I was living in Dingle, Co. Kerry and walked into Cillian O Briain's shop hoping to get on his wating list. He said he was so booked up, he probably wouldn't start taking orders again for a while but as fate would have it, he just happened to have a finished practice set for sale at the time. Well, that was it. Couldn't hold back any longer. I walked out of the shop with a practice set and a practically maxed-out credit card. Now I'm wondering if I should max out the card again to order the regs...it never ends.