Pipes and Piano?

joey_schu · Post by **joey_schu** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 7:04 am

Hey, so I'm taking this composition class, and we just got an assignment to compose a piano/some other instrument duet. The first step, however, is to bring in a recorded example of those two instruments together. Since I of course would like to write for piano and uilleann pipes

, does anyone have any leads on recordings out there of just a piano and the pipes?

I'm striking out, and I'm always surprised what questions like these might dig up here...

Cheers,
Joey

travhicks · Post by **travhicks** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:08 am

Wheels of World Vol.2, Tom Ennis on uilleann pipes, playing The Wexford Reel, with piano backup. You be the judge of the success of combining piano and pipes. There may be a similar cut on WOW Vol. 1, but I don't have it in front of me right now. You might want to check out the previous threads on equal vs. just intonation, too.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 8:16 am

Heard a story recently of Felix Doran playing in the backroom of a Manchester pub, loads of his extended family being there. In walks an Englishman who sits down at the piano in the corner and joins in. After one tune one of the lads gets up and smashes the lid of the keyboard in midtune saying 'that will do', breaking all your man's fingers while at it.

Antaine · Post by **Antaine** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:07 am

ouch... good thing i'm writing for pipes and harp...much safer if people don't like it...

guess you could wind up poking an eye with scissors as someone cuts the strings...

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:11 am

Just a chanter with piano sounds fine; the problems arise when you bring in drones and regs.

I can think of a few recordings of chanter with piano, most notably on "Leitrim's Hidden Treasure" by the McNamara family. Two chanters going with fiddle, flute, and concertina, with piano backup on quite a few of the tunes.

A few other chanter-piano things come to mind, but none of them traditional, I'm afraid. Eric Rigler plays a bit with Kate Rusby on piano on her rendition of "Annan Waters" on her first solo CD ("Hourglass"), but it's just a short musical break, not an entire tune. Eric Rigler also played u-pipes with Paul Machlis on piano with Alasdair Fraser's band, Skyedance, some of those tunes are modern compositions.

Alex Bush · Post by **Alex Bush** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:43 am

There´s also a nice bit of piano on Callan Bridge by Niall and Cillian Valley played by their brother Caoimhin.

One of the more tasteful piano backings I´ve heard.

There´s a piano at a session I play in and it really can kill the feel of a good set when played all oompah like.

Alex

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:47 am

If your defintion of "piano" can be extended to related keyboard instruments, you could also consider the first Bothy Band album, which had pipes (and fiddle and flute) with harpsichord.

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 10:25 am

Those are all good examples, better than the Tom Ennis record, he was warming up with that tune I think! The regs go more than a bit sharp, and it was recorded in 1929, too. He sounds much better on other tunes from that session.
There were a fair share of 78s of piping with piano recorded back then. Most of the American pipers. Go to http://tedmcgraw.com/recimages/fset2.html and cue up the recording of Danny O'Donnell to hear the wackiest piano player ever, too.

Chadd · Post by **Chadd** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 12:04 pm

bradhurley wrote: the first Bothy Band album.... with harpsichord.

Get with the funk, Brad! Triona was electro-jammin' on a Clavinet. Very superstitious!

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 5:08 pm

Not on the first Bothy Band album, she wasn't. She played an actual harpichord; the clavinet didn't appear until the second BB album. She also played harpsichord on her solo album "Triona."

Chadd · Post by **Chadd** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 5:52 pm

Sorry dude. My booty was swept away by the Mothership with that funky sound. I'm cool now.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 7:19 pm

Continuing from BradHurley's suggestion of using other keyboard timbres, are you allowed to use other keyboard tunings? I'm thinking there might be some possibilities in employing some of the older keyboard tunings that were only semi-equal, but not the just system used today, like the Werkmeister III system that is believed to have been used by J.S.Bach. The wider you are allowed to translate the parameters of your assignment, the more possibilities for coming up with something new and unique, and that may even sound good.

djm

The Sporting Pitchfork · Wed Feb 11, 2004 7:55 pm

Chadd wrote:
bradhurley wrote: the first Bothy Band album.... with harpsichord.
Get with the funk, Brad! Triona was electro-jammin' on a Clavinet. Very superstitious!

Mmmm...Psychedelic and Funkadelic and everything is just jumpin' outta sight.

Can you imagine Bernie Worrell playing with Paddy Keenan? Now that just might very well burn down the house...

Eoin O Riabhaigh's last solo album had some piano on a couple of tracks.
There's plenty of recordings of pipes and synthesizers, but it's best to avoid those like the plague.

vcolby · Post by **vcolby** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:08 pm

Conservatives -- put your armour on.

Most of my piping is done with a piano, guitar (standard tuning) and a fiddle. The piano adds a lot of rhythm, progression and charisma to the music that is otherwise absent. As it is an electric piano, it can be tuned to the pipes and turned down so as to avoid drowning the drones. Songs that are far more powerful with a piano:
- Brian Boru's March
- Neil Gow's Lament
- The Kesh Set
- Lament of Limerick

Nothing worse than 10 instruments playing the melody and not a single instrument playing support (such as a guitar or piano); almost akin to taking Nytol. This is against the conservative music circle practice.

On the friend of Doran's who smashed the piano player's hands -- what an idiotic meathead. It's likely a fable anyways.

Virgil

elbogo · Post by **elbogo** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 9:30 pm

Hey, Joey, how's things in England? Send me an email.

Actually, I am not too unnerved by synthesizer soundings to go along with pipes... theoretically. I've only heard Celtic Orbis, and doesn't AfroCelt employ the use of synthesized sounds?

So, Joey, does piano mean strictly piano, or keyboards, like synthesizer, in which case using sounds that may not sound like an ordinary piano... without, horror of horrors, sounding like new age!

That's just me, though, as I happen to really like dark, mysterious sounds, synthesized structures and ghostly meanderings... gothic, you know.... and at my age, jeez!