When did the pipes bug bite you?

danepiper · Post by **danepiper** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 12:13 am

About 1989 I was listen to a planxty album "The woman I love so well".

I was sold when I heard Liam O`flynns playing in the first track.
Later I listened to The Tailors Twist , but I can remember the next tune following The Tailors tune in that set. Maybe someone can give me the name of that tune?
I bought a practiseset in 1989, since then I have been a uilleannpipe freak. Bought a fullset in 2002.

ole

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 12:58 am

I'd bought one of Finbar Furey's Nonesuch records used, and remember thinking "Huh! So those are Irish pipes." Then I got Willie Clancy's Pipering Vol. 1, and that bowled me over. I got the second Bothy Band at the same time, which sounded like the Chicago Symphony in comparision.

geber · Post by **geber** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 1:08 am

Tried several instruments over the years but never managed to stick with any of them...Heard Liam O'Flynn Play "Sun in the Stream" on an Enya CD in '94 and blown away. I looked for about 2 yrs on and off trying to find out something about this thing called "Uilleann Pipes" .. Finally found a book on Irish crafts while browsing through the library one day(before Internet) and there was an article about Eugene Lamb pipe maker. I spent several nights on the phone and close to 100 bucks in long distance charges, but I finally found his telephone #,, very nice guy to speak with and very helpful. At that time he was selling full sets for about $2800 US ... Just couldn't justify that much money, not knowing if I would stay with it, so I put it off for a couple years before deciding for sure to take the plunge( boy, if I only new then what I know now). Puchased a Clarke tin whistle and tooted it for a while, but it just didn't blow my dress up!!!! ... Eventualy found a set, by Ian MacKenzie, on ebay. This guy from Australia was selling a practice set he had owned for 10 yrs and never played. I won the auction and including shipping,, grand total of $553 US
There it is!!!!
Mike

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 1:47 am

danepiper wrote:Maybe someone can give me the name of that tune?
ole

Corney Drew's

elbogo · Post by **elbogo** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 2:35 am

Never played anything before, and didn't even know Irish music existed until the dancing of Riverdance just blew me away. I bought the CD, and got all delirious hearing Spillane play the Cu Chulainn lament. I picked up a copy of his Sea of Dreams a while later and when I first heard the Midnight Walker, tears came to my eyes. Actually, a friend had just died and I was thinking about him when I heard the song.

I just sort of knew I wanted to be able to play that kind of music. At Milwaukee's Irish Fest last year, I got nuts over a piper in a band I can't remember, was it Kila? The next day I talked to a pipe Maker, researched him on the net, found this forum. All of a sudden it was the only thing I could think about.

Being a visual artist for 30 some years, there was never a thought about learning how to play an instrument, it just never registered. My mode of being and expression was fully realised... visually. It was all I needed.

Actually, a number of things occurred in my life that affected me greatly over these last three years, which seem to indicate that I may have slipped a notch, so to speak. All of which makes me wonder at my present condition, and why I am now, having just turned 59 years, learning how to play the darndest musical instrument I've ever seen, knowing I'll never get my 21 years in... but loving every moment of it.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 10:12 pm

Ohhhh the Pipes,,,

I'd heard them before without not actually knowing what I was hearing

. You know, CDs and stuff. Then about 1990 or something I saw this long haired dude at the Georgia Renaissance Festival sit down in the dusty dirt and wail out a few amazing tunes on a right nice full set O'Uilleann Pipes. When he got to a stopping point I asked him how long he'd been playing. He said "20 years or so". It was Tim Britton.

A little while after that I decided to try and find and buy a set of Uilleann pipes. Someone told me to get a Jerry O'sullivan CD and I actually wrote a letter to the CD lable asking him how to go about getting a set O' pipes. He probably didn't get the letter. (This was pre-internet) Then I got the name of Mark Hillmann of Washington DC. He and I talked about him making a full set for me. I was cash-poor at the time and probably not ready for the commitment that is required to become at least halfway decent at playing it.

Now I have a full set on order from Andreas Rogge that everyone here is sick of hearing about

and I have been practising on my Polyacetyl Practice Set and various and asundry whistles in preparation for the "Set".

Chadd · Post by **Chadd** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 11:49 am

For years I was fascinated by the sound of the pipes on Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love" and "The Sensual World" as well as Andy M. Stewart's "At it Again". I thought it was very cool how the tone of each note sounded as if the player were just barely in control of the instrument and that at any moment the sound could deteriorate into chaos. Then I found Dervish's "At the End of the Day" on a listening station at HEAR Music, which got me exploring ITM. What finally did me in was meeting Cillian Vallely at a pub in Winter Park, Florida in 1998 and seeing the pipes played for the first time.

tansy · Post by **tansy** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 1:13 pm

in 1997 i was up in the country building a custom fireplace mantle for a beautiful woman. she had a christy o'leary cd and it just got into my brain.
so i started whistling and searching for pipes and by fall of 1999 i had a half set. i was a semi classical guitarist until then, now i rarely play the guitar.
tansy

brianormond · Post by **brianormond** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 1:54 pm

-At a concert at the old "Ark" coffehouse venue on Ann Arbor's Hill Street, circa 1976/77, basically pillows on the floor and some limited seating on the ground floor of a nice old large wood-frame house- a great small atmosphere for good music. They've relocated to Main Street since, and I can't recall the musicians, but one played the uilleans-putting many of us on the floor before them into stupefied fascination, bliss & awe-a jaw-dropping epiphany upon encountering sounds and articulations many hadn't dreamed of. We would have been floored had we not already been there.

lixnaw · Post by **lixnaw** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 2:32 pm

i'm bitten long time ago, back in 85 when eugene lambe was still making pipes, i don't know if he still makes pipes? i went over to blackhead to see him but i had very little whistling background at the time aswell as money.
then i didn't play music for many years, i could only get one or two tunes out of a whistle. last christmas i bought a low D, and that got me going.

but only since last week i decided to learn uilleann pipes.
i practiced about two hours a day on the low D lately, and all of a sudden, i couldn't play for three long days, my fingers were burning

i thought maybe i needed another instument and went looking for a concertina

, but when i could play again after the three days, i had no desire anymore to curl up my fingers

i love the sound of the uilleann pipes and will order a practice set next week

tansy · Post by **tansy** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 4:54 pm

congratulations lixnaw, and welcome to the dark side!

what maker are you going to order from?

all the best, tansy

lixnaw · Post by **lixnaw** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 5:24 am

tanks tansy,

i suppose by the dark side you mean the unknown? i'm certainly have to find my way around with the u-pipes.

i first thought of a kirk lynch set,(edit) but now i changed my mind again, i'd like an andreas rogge set. i love the wholesome sound of his pipes. i think they have something in common with the sound of michael burke's whistles.

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 8:28 am

No, not so much the unknown as the all-consuming obsessive disorder known as uilleann piping. Prepare to meet your White Whale (Black Octopus?

), Captain. Say hello to hours of hard, lonely, work, practicing til the sweat drips in your eyes.

Once you've reached a certain point there is no going back. You've invested too much time, energy, sweat, and money to quit. You may have lost friends because of it. You will (probably, unless you're a complete prat) gain new friends through piping. You will meet mentor figures that influence your music and your life in ways profound and subtle.

All the kidding about "the Dark Side" is just that, kidding, a way to laugh off the seriousness of the undertaking you're about to embark upon. Sometimes a little levity is necessary.

lixnaw · Post by **lixnaw** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 8:54 am

right captain cannady, i think i'll have the nerve for it. i'm prepared for suffering and sacrifice what it takes.
already, it's too late to turn back. i've the roaring flames of a driven man inside me.

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 8:59 am

ARRRRRR! That's the spirit!

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When did the pipes bug bite you?

When did the pipes bug bite you

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