The solo playing of Uilleann Pipes has a special place in the Irish tradition. There is nothing quite like it to call a hush over a session when musicians give way to the pipes. Uilleann pipes, the Irish indigenous pipes, distinguish themselves from other bagpipes in their tone and range of notes. So if you’re intrigued by this somewhat strange breed of an instrument, that is said in lore to have evolved from a sheep’s bladder and pipe, then we have just the thing to wet your whistle.
Uilleann Pipes Basics is aimed at the absolute beginner. It is a really well thought out course, that will guide you skillfully step by step from zero to some of the most popular piping tunes on the circuit. Like all OAIM tutorials, the video quality is superb. You are presented with two shots of the teacher in the frame: one zoomed in to show the fingering and a smaller thumbnail to give you the overview of the poise of the musician as he plays so that you can mimic the style.
By the end of the course of 18 lessons, you will be very familiar with the instrument, you will have successfully mastered some great piping tunes, 12 in total, and perhaps you’ll even be ready to progress to the Uilleann Pipes Technique course. Don’t forget there are over 150 tunes that you can practice along with using our Play-Along Backing Tracks, so you can put your new skill to the test before venturing out for a session.
This course is for the absolute beginner piper and so it starts with an introduction to the physical instrument. You are taught how to sound the chanter, control the bellows and airbag and, importantly, how to articulate between the notes.
The tutor then moves on to demonstrate the difference between playing pipes in an ‘open and ‘closed’ style. By lesson 5, you’re introduced to your first basic polka, then by lesson 8, your first solid pipe tune ‘Gander in the Pratie Hole’. With the foundations in place, you move onto other piping classics such as Fraher’s Jig.
Slowly upping the ante, ornamentation is introduced showing you how to progress from cuts and slides to rolls by lesson 10 with ‘Jimmy Ward’s Jig’. Two slower pieces ‘Dawning of the Day’ and ‘Southwind’ focus on long notes, bellow control and vibrato. Later on, you are introduced to techniques unique to piping such as ‘popping’ and the ‘staccato triplet’.
Finally, it’s not all fun and games, piping maintenance is discussed in lesson 18 and piper-toolkit essentials such as black tape, a tuner and guitar strings of all things… guess you’ll have to see the lesson to hear why they make a feature!
Tom recommends buying from a pipe maker in the country where you live (or at least the same continent when possible). While OAIM is not in a position to endorse any particular pipe maker, Tom’s personal recommendations are Didier Heuline in France, Cillian O’Briain in Ireland, and Richard Patkos in Hungary. You can start with practice sets that can be upgraded with drones later.
Unfortunately, you can’t walk into a music store and ask for a beginner set of uilleann pipes, this instrument is usually manufactured on demand by a luthier or pipe maker. There are a number of uilleann pipes makers around the world that will make you a set that you can learn with and improve. Alternatively, look for a second-hand set on one of the many forums and facebook pages online.
If the maker of your practice set is still working it is quite likely that he will be able to add drones and regulators at a later date. Make sure to check with him/her. Another option is to sell your practice set and upgrade to a half or full set after a couple of years of learning
No, it’s not exactly the same but playing the whistle or the flute will give you a good advantage to picking up the basic fingering. They are quite similar but different enough that you will not get them mixed up.
Nothing says you should not start your journey in piping on a full set. The only difficulty might be that a full set is quite big and a little tricky to learn how to manœuvre when you’re getting to grips with the basic moves such as pumping, pressing the bag and learning the scales.
A practice set is the basic version of the instrument. It involves a bag, bellows and chanter. Enough to get you playing for a number of years.
A half set is the intermediate set up of the uilleann pipes: Bag, bellows, chanter and 3 drones.
A full set is the last set up of the instrument. It involves bag, chanter, bellow, 3 drones and 3 regulators.
On average I would recommend spending at least $1000 in order to get an instrument of average quality. Most instruments going for less and new online will be badly manufactured in a factory by people who are making pipes without knowing what it is supposed to sound like. Try to get a set by a reputable maker or by someone you can have direct contact with so they can help you with any maintenance.
A concert pitch of pipes (the most commonly used types) are in the key of D and will allow you to play in D, G, Em, Am and Bm comfortably (perfect for Irish Music). It is the standard key.
A flat set of pipes refers to any type of pipes that are not in the key of D. Typically they would be lower such as C#, C, B and Bb.
In this lesson, Tom will introduce the uilleann pipes.
Tom will use the notes demonstrated in the last lesson to play the simple tune ‘Mary Had a Little Lam…
Tom will introduce some further notes on the chanter.
Tom will teach the very useful tune ‘Happy Birthday’ on the pipes.
Today Tom will be teaching a simple Irish polka called ‘Britches Full of Stitches’.
He will demonstrate how to play the scale in an ‘open’ style and a ‘closed’ style.<...
Join Tom as he plays and teaches the well known Song Air ‘The Dawning of the Day’.
In this lesson, Tom will teach another well known Irish tune called ‘John Brosnan’s
Tom teaches the traditional tune ‘The Gander in the Pratie Hole’
Join Tom as he teaches Jimmy Ward’s Jig.
Tom will teach and demonstrate how to play vibrato on long notes.
Tom will use the tune ‘The Kerry Polka’ to teach an demonstrate ‘popping’
Join Tom as he teaches another piping classic ‘Fraher’s Jig’.
n this lesson, Tom will teach a Hornpipe on the pipes called ‘Off to California
Tom will teach a popular session tune called ‘The Boys of Bluehill.
Tom will teach the first Reel in this course
Tom will use the well known reel ‘The Heathery Breeze’ to introduce the ornament
Tom discusses various tips and tricks on how to maintain your pipe
