Which pipe maker is/was the best pipe player?

[waymer]

I was reading an article on Mr Wooff and in it it stated that he was a terrific piper which started me wondering were the taylors great pipers? Good pipers? Crowley, Harrington? And of the living makers anyone ever hear Fromment, Skye, Lynch, etc. Can great pipes be produce by lack luster players?
Some of the deceased pipe makers we have recordings of Leo Rowsome Spings to mind. Some we do not because of the absence of recording technology.
I have had the pleasure of listening to Mr Koehler and Mr Britton and found them both to be outstanding players.
I should add I have never heard a bad piper that was able to produce a working set of pipes.

[djm]

Unless all pipemakers publish recordings of their playing this is an impossible question to answer. I don't know anyone prepared to travel the world to interview each pipemaker and score them.

djm

[Jeff Cullen]

Davey Spillane springs to mind as one of the accomplished players that make pipes.

[Dionys]

Davey Spillane brings to mind a lot of echoplexes.

[tommykleen]

...
I have had the pleasure of listening to Mr Koehler....

David Quinn is also an outstanding player. But I'm sure he would poo-poo that description.

t

[Paul Reid]

I don't know anyone prepared to travel the world to interview each pipemaker and score them.

djm

I'm trying, but scoring is not something I'd be comfortable with!

Benedict certainly is a master player and maker. I have yet to go see M. Froment, Mr. Wooff, Rogge, and O'Briain - though rumour has it that all play well. I'd have to assume that former makers were equally capable of playing.

[nemethmik]

I think most pipe makers are excellet pipers.
An even more interesting question would be to name good and reputable makers who are notoriously cannot play the pipes.
These guys do deserve respect.

[djm]

but scoring is not something I'd be comfortable with!

Thx, Paul. My point exactly.

djm

[PJ]

I'd have to assume that former makers were equally capable of playing.

O'Neill's IMM has a chapter on Famous Bagpipe Makers which another piper and pipemaker (Bill Haneman) has very kindly put on line for the edification of all.

According to the Chief, Billy Taylor was renouned equally as a piper and pipemaker which probably indicates that he was a great piper. Charley, it seems, wasn't much of a musician.

R.M. O'Mealy was certainly a good piper and pipemaker (some of his recordings are available on Ross Anderson's website). However, his wardrobe seems to have been his weak point.

Both of the Moloney brothers (Thomas and Andrew) were considered great performers on the union pipes. Conversely, they didn't make many sets of pipes and the famous Vandaleur set ruined them financially.

Ned White, Michael Carolan and Willie Rowsome seem to have been good pipers.

[SEAGULL]

I'd have to assume that former makers were equally capable of playing.

Both of the Moloney brothers (Thomas and Andrew) were considered great performers on the union pipes. Conversely, they didn't make many sets of pipes and the famous Vandaleur set ruined them financially.

Do you know where i can see pictures of this set? thanks

[rorybbellows]

RORY

[misterpatrick]

I've heard Tim Benson is an excellent player. I don't think Michael Hubbert plays much, but I could be mistaken about that. I don't think being a great playing is necessarily that important. What I do find interesting is that so many makers apparently aren't really strong reed makers. In a way, it seems like they are different disciplines.

[PJ]

What I do find interesting is that so many makers apparently aren't really strong reed makers.

I've never heard that!!

There was some recent discussion about how a certain maker didn't want to make replacement reeds for pipes he already made, which is a different thing entirely.

[samiam590]

RORY

0_o
What IS that? Somebody care to explain?...looks like a really oversized set.

[PJ]

It's called the Vandaleur set. It was made in Co Clare by the Moloney brothers in the early part of the 19th century. The story goes that it was ordered by the local landlord, Vandaleur, for his son but before it was completed, the son suffered an injury and was unable to play the pipes, so the pipes were not paid for by the Vandaleur family. No one else was prepared to pay the price asked so the Moloney brothers held onto the set for years. Eventually, during the famine, they sold the pipes for a fraction of their value. They ended up in Willie Rowsome's workshop in the early 1900s. Chief O'Neill saw them and wrote a few paragraphs in his book, Irish Minstrels and Musicians (the Pipemakers Chapter - see Bill Haneman's website).

The set currently resides in the National Museum of Ireland (Collins' Barracks?).

There's been plenty of discussion of this set on the forum. Do a search for "Vandaleur" and you'll see some of the previous threads about this set.