Are Regulators necessary?

[maw]

Have you decided whose drones/regs you are going to go with... when that blessed( ) time comes?

Joseph, when will your blessed( ) time come? mine just did and it's awesome

[benwalker]

I dwell in the twilight place....... somewhere between Regulator Heaven and Regulatoe Hell.
We have a love:Hate thing going on.
I love playing regs but they can be a pain at times

[carel]

I really like to play the regulators
Thats why I got pain in my left arm now.
(7 reeds on a MVD for appr. 1,5 hour/day is really a job)
Maybe somebody has an advice
like different arm exercises etc

thanks
carel

[danepiper]

Very informative articles about regulatorplaying on ( if someone would like to update knowledge)

http://dupg.org/archiv.html and

http://www.uilleannobsession.com/extras_geoffwooff.html

Regards

Ole

[buskerSean]

Are regs necessary? As two of my fave pipers are Leo Rowsome and Finbar Furey, the man form Oxford he say yes.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Have you decided whose drones/regs you are going to go with... when that blessed( ) time comes?

Joseph, when will your blessed( ) time come? mine just did and it's awesome

.... gosh, I don't know... I suppose when they're finished and ready to come home. David won't let anything out of the shop unless it is as perfect as he can possibly make it. I know this to be true, I tried to talk him into giving me a C chanter that was either going to be kindling, or a new drawer handle for one of his shop cabinets... he would have none of it!

Look to the right of this photo of Davey in his shop, you'll see another poor unfortunate screwed into a cabinet door.... there are quite a few examples of this inhumanity toward chanter kind...*sniff*...



So Maw, when do the rest of us get to see your new baby?

[maw]

Check your pm Joseph
cheers
maw

[upiper71]

How does one define a good piper? Is it chanter work? Regulator usage? Or a combination of the two.

In short, are regulators necessary to be considered a "great" piper?




I have my own opinion on the matter, but basically, I want regulators. I want to play them.

However, I know that at least one very well-respected piper in North America prefers to only use the tenor and baritone (no bass). And a piper that is respected by that piper hardly uses the regs at all. In his words, he uses them in slow airs, but he doesn't really play them as much as lean on a chord at the end of a phrase. So those are my two examples of "great" pipers and regulators.

I know for myself after playing the pipes for 8 years, I haven't had the time nor need for regulator's. With the enormous cost and wait times for myself, I'll be better off continuing my chanter work before setting off into the sunset with reg's TVM. I find that some younger players are too eager sometimes to buying additions before really advancing themselves on the chanter, I mean don't get me wrong or anything..but one can be successful at being a great piper on both chanter and reg's after time passes.

upiper71
Montreal

[ausdag]

What is the job of the Uilleann pipes? To play jigs and reels.
Can you play jigs and reels without a chanter? No
Can you play jigs and reels without drones? Yes
Can you play jigs and reels without regulators? Yes

Is a chanter necessary to play jigs and reels? Yes
Is a drone necessary to play jigs and reel? No
Is a regulator necessary to play jigs and reels? No

Does the chanter alone set the UPs apart form other bagpipes? Yes
Do the drones alone set the UPs apart from other bagpipes? No
Do the regulators set the UPs apart from other bagpipes? No (Pastoral pipes have them, well, one anyway)

Cheers,

DavidG

[uilleannfinlander]

When fighting with tuning problems with chanter and dronereeds, always thougth that what kinda battlefield this could be if i have 3 regs ,
but when everything works fine, chanter sings and drones in balance..
always dreaming having regs with.....
perhaps someday...

[PJ]

... fighting with tuning problems ...

Some people live for that - fiddling with reeds to get them working, sounding betting, etc. My plan is to start with one regulator and work my way up. This will give me time to get used to the extra air needed, having an extra reed to tune, etc.

[PJ]

What is the job of the Uilleann pipes? To play jigs and reels...

Some would argue that there is a difference between playing jigs/reels etc and piping.

If what you want to do is play jigs/reels etc then you're entirely correct. Technically, all you need is a practice set (with maybe a Cnat key). You can play with other instruments (fiddles, flutes, mandolins, guitars, etc) in groups and in sessions. All good clean fun.

Piping on the other hand seems, to me at least, to be much more of a solo effort. If you're going to get involved in that, you'll sound a little bare without at least drones. And once you get through your third set with just chanter and drones, it might start to get a little monotonous, so regulators will add a little extra flavour.

[Cynth]

I don't play UP, but I have now learned what regulators are and I can recognize them when I hear them---a major advance for me. As a listener I find the moments when the musician adds just a little surprising (to me) touch of regulators to be very exciting, it takes me up to a different level almost.

Obviously I wouldn't know if one had to use them to be a great piper.

[ausdag]

In short, are regulators necessary to be considered a "great" piper?

so regulators will add a little extra flavour.

I agree with your comments 100% PJ. But to the question above - "are regulators necessary to be considered a "great" piper" - I would till say 'no'. They are 'nice' for as you say "a little extra flavour" (I see Canadians spell flavour correctly as well, with the 'u' ), but to me a "great" piper is one one who plays the chanter so well as to render the audience completely enraptured in the chanter work, as I am when listening to Clancy, that regulators are simply added condiment to the already delicious cuisine (oh the sickly sweet poetry )? Certainly, drones fill it out and regs fill it out some more and I desire to play regs as well, but I think there is a fundamental difference between the warm fuzzy feelings we get when we hear the emense power of all 7 pipes producing harmony on one hand, and the skill of an experienced piper, on the other hand, in manipulating the chanter to stir the sole of the disciple to the extent that sometimes the regulators even disturb the 'equilibrium' of the listening experience, and out of time-ness and out of tune-ness (in the case of the later-in-life recordings of some 'great' pipers due to ailing health and/or old age) are of no consequence whatsoever to the experience.


Cheers,

DavidG

[PJ]

I see Canadians spell flavour correctly as well, with the 'u'

Irish - and don't let my wife hear you say I'm Canadian. If I have to be assimilated, I'm destined to become a Quebecer.