Uilleann pipes

Tuning

A set of uilleann pipes is sensitive to bag pressure, temperature changes, and player skill, and can have some of its notes out of tune; even the most accomplished players do not play in tune all of the time. Uilleann pipes can nevertheless blend well with other instruments, most notably the fiddle and bodhrán, an Irish drum.

Instrument Variations

Starting out - The "Practice Set"

Uillean pipes are hard to learn, and beginners are typically prompted to start out with a "Practice Set". This consists of a) the pipe bag, b) the bellows and c) the chanter. The chanter is available in keys ranging from the "concert pitch" D chanter in half-note steps downward to a B-flat chanter, the latter of which regularly is referred to as a "flat set" (as are any sets below the key of D).

In order to play the pipes effectively, the student must master the art of pumping the bellows, keep ing a constant pressure on the bag and playing the chanter simultaneously. Therefore, the beginning student will normally play on this practice set for about a year before advancing to a "half set". Despite their names, "practice sets" and "starter sets" are also used by many professional pipers in order to play single melodies, or to accompany orchestra or other various ranging musical styles that are not based on the "organ point".

The next level - The "Half Set"

A "Half Set" is the next stage up from a practice set. As with other forms of bagpipes, Uillean pipes use "drones", which are usually two or more pipes accompanying the melody of the chanter with a constant background note. The pipes are generally equipped with three drones: a) the tenor drone—the highest sounding pipe, b) the baritone drone and c) the bass drone—the lowest sounding pipe, one octave below the bottom note of the chanter. These drones are connected to the pipe bag by a "common stock". This is a hollow, rather short but wide piece of pipe tied into the bag (as any other stock) by a thick yarn or hemp thread. The drones connect to the common stock as do the "regulators" (see "Full Set" below). The common stock and drones are laid across the right thigh. This is distinct from other forms of bagpipes, with which the drones are carried over the shoulder or over the right arm.

The drones can be switched off. This is made possible by a key connected to the common stock. The piper is able to switch on and off various drones individually (applying slightly more pressure to the bag and tapping the end of a drone) or all of them at the same time using this key. This makes the instrument more versatile and usable not only as a half set but also as a practice set applying the use of the drone switch. The drones, unlike the chanter and the regulators, use a single-bladed reed (the actual part creating sound—mainly scraped from cane).

Another step - The "Full Set"

A "Full Set" is, as the name mentions, a complete set of Uilleann pipes. This would be a half set with the addition of three "regulators". These are three closed chanters also protruding from the common stock. A regulator uses keys (five on the tenor and 4 on both baritone and bass reg) to accompany the melody of the chanter with (limited) chords or single notes for emphasis on phrases or specific notes. The regulators (regs) are added to the common stock: the tenor and baritone regs on top of the drones and the bass reg on the side of the stock (facing the knee of the piper). A student of the pipes will not upgrade to a full set for at least three years, due to the difficulty of playing a melody, pumping the bellows, keeping constant pressure on the bag and playing the regulators at the same time. The regulators obviously cannot be played with any finger of either hand so they are played with the palm of the right hand. Some pipe makers also add another E regulator or a "double bass" regulator. The regs use the same double-bladed reed as the chanter.

The Chanter

The Chanter is the main part of the Uilleann pipes. It is used to play the melody. The Uilleann pipe chanter differs from any other bagpipe chanter. It has nine note holes (example given of a D pitched chanter): Bottom D, Eb (E-flat), E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D' (also called "back D"). The chanter is set on the right knee and sowith closing off the bottom hole. To achieve the "bottom D" the chanter is lifted off the knee. For all other notes (except for off-the-knee passages) the chanter stays on the knee. For a full chromatic scale either crossfingering or additional keys can be used. Another characteristic of the chanter is that it can produce staccato notes because the piper seals it off at the bottom. Also a vibrato can be achieved by tapping a finger below the open note hole on the chanter. The bottom note also has two different "modes", namely: "bottom D" and the "hard bottom D". The hard bottom D sounds louder than the bottom D and is accomplished by applying slightly more presure to the bag. The latter is used more frequently. The chanter uses a complex double-bladed reed. This is the actual "instrument" and without it there would be no sound from the pipes. The Uilleann pipes reeds are also often called "the piper's despair" for the immense difficulty of maintaining and tuning (and even making) the reed.

The Name?

It was originally called "union pipes "when it appeared at the beginning of the 18th century.
The word 'Uilleann' was invented in 1904 by Henry Grattan Flood, a scholar. He believed the name "union" came from the genitive declension of the Irish word for "elbow" : uillin (i.e. 'of the elbow').

He cited to this effect Shakespear's play " The Merchant of Venice"published in 1600 (Act IV, sc. I, l. 55) where the expression "woollen pipes" appears.

It was however shown by Breandán Breathnach that it would be difficult to explain the anglicisation of the word 'uillin' into 'woollen' before the XVIth century (when the instrument did not exist as such) and then its adaptation as 'union' two centuries later. See "Folk Music and Dances of Ireland", Cork, The Mercier Press, 1971, p. 77.