How to Get Started on Learning to Play Uilleann Pipes

The Uilleann Pipe Practice Chanter like the Uilleann Whistle Chanter made by Song of the Sea  follows a tradition that has been around a long time for the Great Highland Bagpipe.

Here are some things to ponder:

    -How much do you want to spend to see if this Uilleann Pipe is something you want to invest your time and money in?  Remember that a tin whistle is easier to play, has no great finger stretch, costs between $6-$12 and for the same amount of time invested you will be able to play circles around any other wind instrument on Earth.

But a whistle will never sound like an Uilleann Pipe (because it does not have a reed).

    -Do you enjoy small hurdles in life as you start a new project or are you the type of person that goes to the hang-glider dealer and immediately looks for the nearest, half mile vertical drop?

    -When you jump over a hurdle for the first time in your life,( I used to run high hurdles, I thought my track coach was totally nuts suggesting that I try them), do you go out in street clothes, don't warm up and don't take a practice run up to the hurdle as you gleefully spring into the air?  What are your chances of ripping your pants, twisting your ankle on leather heeled
shoes, ripping muscles in the center of you that you didn't knew even existed and then have your nose be the final thing that slows you down.?
 
        These are weighty things to consider.  You use a practice chanter to get you rolling from a dead stop. That's right, the chanter is not like most modern band instruments that are heavily engineered so there is hardly any finger stretch and you use the first finger pad of the fingers that you use.  Pipe chanters are different, their holes are where they are really supposed to be with no extra, cams, rods or connectors to secondary exhaust vents.  What that means is that you have to put your fingers in a position that you would not normally consider normal.  "Pipe fingering" for many people seems like some sort of torture, the first time they try it.  Enough people squeal when we have them try Highland Pipe fingering, you should see how big their eyes get when we have them try Uilleann Pipe fingering.

        It is true that you don't normally use the second segment of your finger to pick up blueberries or strawberries but given a few days of gentle handling, (let go of that death grip), you find the logic in not having your fingers splayed out in pretty arcs coming down to the chanter held by your "fingertips".  You want to have your fingers lay as flat as possible so there will be no strain in them. Remember an Uilleann chanter has a wider spread for you fingers then a Highland chanter and you need to use the second segment of your fingers, left hand index and middle, right hand index, middle and ring finger along with the first finger segments of your left hand thumb and ring fingers and right hand little finger, to cover all the holes you need to cover.

        Just how difficult is this? You have a chanter with wide fingering, a bag under the left arm and a bellows under the right arm.
If you wore a baseball mitt like a hat and alternated tossing a softball and a football up 6 inches, directly above the left or right hand that held them, and not dropping anything, that might be close to feeling comfortable with holding a set of Uilleann Pipes.

It's do-able, but you have to both concentrate and relax.

        You can figure this all out with a real chanter from a practice, half or full set in your hand but wouldn't it be prudent to see if this fingering becomes comfortable for you and you can happily play six different tunes, on a practice chanter of some type.  That's why I came up with the Uilleann Whistle Chanter, which is just a chanter or can also have a drone.

When you get your set of pipes you can either keep, sell or pass on your practice pipe to the next curious possible piper.

       I think it would be a lot more fun if atleast one person from every street on this earth played Uilleann Pipes and whether you start with a practice instrument or a complete instrument the number one thing is to get started, turn the TV off for one hour, put a smile on your face, strap on your pipes and go for it.
Edward Damm