Mmm, what high notes are you trying for? After back D, ghost d, e, f#, g should be reasonably easy to get; a and b are a touch harder; without a cn key, you can't get there. And d' is not played a lot.
Got to control the bag pressure ( hence the instrument name) and have a cooperative reed. You need to see a fellow piper for instructions if you haven't yet; OR, get to a tionol for lessons. Hopefully you have the NPU videos or the Heather Clarke book. Learning the pipes is not something to be done by yourself.
im not sure how to explain it but to get anything on the second hand you have to start on a note in the first had. For example, to get the b you would do a gracenote on the e or f# or g and then do the b. like i said, im not sure how to explain it. hopefully there is someone here who can do a better job!
i had the same problems (i started with pipes and changed to flute later) to get 2nd octave there is no airleak allowed .make shure tha you cover the fingerholes relax but propper.some players use a leather strip to cover bottem of chanter because clothes are sometimes not tight engough. good luck and happy new year
Much depends on the reed. I've seen reeds which were far too hard and the 2nd octave took a lot of pressure.
Usually reeds are adjusted so that there isn't really a break in pressure between the two registers, but more like a sliding increment in pressure. In other words, it isn't like the entire low register is played at one low pressure and the entire high register is played at one high pressure.
On most well-adjusted chanters there's a range of notes, say from G in the low register up to F# in the second register, that take about the same pressure. You have to back off the pressure a bit for low F# and low E, and increase the pressure a bit for high G. Then as you get higher the pressure gets a bit more one note at a time, from high G to high A to high B.
But on a really well-reeded chanter there isn't a tremendous difference in pressure between even low F# and high B. I've seen many beginners play high B accidently when they are trying to play low B. Of course you have to have the chanter reeded in this way, otherwise the drones would be going wildly out of tune as you played various notes on the chanter.
So switching octaves is about technique, not brute force. You have to have the fingerholes and bottom of the chanter correctly sealed.
Strangely, when pipers do the thing called the "bark", the chanter is going from the hard bottom D to E, F#, G, or even A in the second octave while the chanter is off the leg. So it isn't really true that the chanter has to be closed in order to change octaves.
But yes which high notes do you mean? The highest note usually found in Irish tunes is high B. Chanters often have a key on the back for high C but this note is fairly rare- an example of a tune that needs high C is Trim The Velvet.
A well-reeded chanter can play high D using the fingering
x oxx xoxx
But I can't recall any piper actually using this note in a tune. Problem with that high D fingering is that it's also the fingering for C natural in the low octave, and you can occasionally hear pipers' chanters squealing out a high D by accident when they're trying to play low C natural. You can hear this on at least one Planxty album with Liam O Flynn. HIs reed must have a very easy high octave to accidently play high D.
I had just mentioned hearing Liam O Flynn accidentally playing high D when going for low C natural, and just a few minutes later came across a YouTube video of Planxty where he does just that very thing. I think it's the one where they are playing Cunla.
Finbar Fury often pushes the things above the top B on purpose, It sounds great. But the genius is that he pushes the regulators to jump the octave too. This must mean he must have a really strong chanter reed. Impressive.
I'm not sure that was intentional - usually you want your regulators to stay in the first octave. If your regs overblow when you're playing a second octave passage on the chanter, they are "out of balance", meaning your chanter reed is too strong for the reg reeds at its present setting, or your reg reeds are too weak.
The piper can try opening up the reg reeds and make them harder blowing, and as long as that doesn't create other problems (like drones shutting off or a torn rotator cuff) that's fine. Sometimes the chanter reed has to be closed down slightly or lightened with very careful sanding or scraping.
This kind of activity drives most pipers insane and is almost certainly the root cause of the widespread madness among pipemakers, as well as delays in delivery of new sets.
That's the trick with reeding the regs- you want them to be quiet enough not to sound like auto horns and overpower the chanter, but weaken the reeds a bit too much and they can overblow and squeal (not being designed to overblow, the overblown notes are rarely in tune).
That's why I wonder why pipemakers haven't come up with cylindrical-bored regs. These would be inherently quieter and sweeter and less likely to overblow. The question is would they be stable enough?
Finbar does a lot of strange stuff on the pipes, but I won't believe that he is overblowing the regs on purpose until I see a video showing him doing it.
On his old c1970 LPs he has quite a few squeeks and squawks on the chanter which are obviously unintentional- at least obvious to a piper.
In my years of playing uilleann pipes I've often encountered non-pipers who think that the little blips pipers do by accident are actually intentional devices.
One such thing is the way in which, when you're playing along in the second octave, the chanter will unintentionally drop down to the first octave and you either don't do anything about it knowing that it will go back up in a few notes anyway, or you close down the chanter for a moment to make it jump back up. To a piper who knows the tune in question it's obvious when a chanter drops unintentionally (because the piper is using 2nd octave pressure but playing 1st octave notes) and it's also obvious when a piper scrambles momentarily to regain the 2nd octave. People other than experienced pipers almost always think that this is intentional.
I saw him do it on a slow air, play the regulators, all three, in the second octave. First octave first tyime through the tune. Second octave second and third time through, ending on a sustained chord in the second octave. He was squeezing really hard and holding it beautifully. There was absolutly no way it was a "little blip". I know pipes, don't play them, but am very familiar with all their sounds. Yes Finbar can be very irratic, but at his best he's phenominal, and he knows it.
high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
I'd like to know HOW.
Just only one or two times I can hear high octave during a hour practice. (T_T)
# Posted on December 30th 2007 by 2ndmoon
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
Mmm, what high notes are you trying for? After back D, ghost d, e, f#, g should be reasonably easy to get; a and b are a touch harder; without a cn key, you can't get there. And d' is not played a lot.
Got to control the bag pressure ( hence the instrument name) and have a cooperative reed. You need to see a fellow piper for instructions if you haven't yet; OR, get to a tionol for lessons. Hopefully you have the NPU videos or the Heather Clarke book. Learning the pipes is not something to be done by yourself.
# Posted on December 30th 2007 by I_Fel
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
im not sure how to explain it but to get anything on the second hand you have to start on a note in the first had. For example, to get the b you would do a gracenote on the e or f# or g and then do the b. like i said, im not sure how to explain it. hopefully there is someone here who can do a better job!
# Posted on December 30th 2007 by rob_handel
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
i had the same problems (i started with pipes and changed to flute later) to get 2nd octave there is no airleak allowed .make shure tha you cover the fingerholes relax but propper.some players use a leather strip to cover bottem of chanter because clothes are sometimes not tight engough. good luck and happy new year
# Posted on December 30th 2007 by andy3
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
Much depends on the reed. I've seen reeds which were far too hard and the 2nd octave took a lot of pressure.
Usually reeds are adjusted so that there isn't really a break in pressure between the two registers, but more like a sliding increment in pressure. In other words, it isn't like the entire low register is played at one low pressure and the entire high register is played at one high pressure.
On most well-adjusted chanters there's a range of notes, say from G in the low register up to F# in the second register, that take about the same pressure. You have to back off the pressure a bit for low F# and low E, and increase the pressure a bit for high G. Then as you get higher the pressure gets a bit more one note at a time, from high G to high A to high B.
But on a really well-reeded chanter there isn't a tremendous difference in pressure between even low F# and high B. I've seen many beginners play high B accidently when they are trying to play low B. Of course you have to have the chanter reeded in this way, otherwise the drones would be going wildly out of tune as you played various notes on the chanter.
So switching octaves is about technique, not brute force. You have to have the fingerholes and bottom of the chanter correctly sealed.
Strangely, when pipers do the thing called the "bark", the chanter is going from the hard bottom D to E, F#, G, or even A in the second octave while the chanter is off the leg. So it isn't really true that the chanter has to be closed in order to change octaves.
# Posted on December 30th 2007 by Richard D Cook
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
But yes which high notes do you mean? The highest note usually found in Irish tunes is high B. Chanters often have a key on the back for high C but this note is fairly rare- an example of a tune that needs high C is Trim The Velvet.
A well-reeded chanter can play high D using the fingering
x oxx xoxx
But I can't recall any piper actually using this note in a tune. Problem with that high D fingering is that it's also the fingering for C natural in the low octave, and you can occasionally hear pipers' chanters squealing out a high D by accident when they're trying to play low C natural. You can hear this on at least one Planxty album with Liam O Flynn. HIs reed must have a very easy high octave to accidently play high D.
# Posted on December 30th 2007 by Richard D Cook
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
I had just mentioned hearing Liam O Flynn accidentally playing high D when going for low C natural, and just a few minutes later came across a YouTube video of Planxty where he does just that very thing. I think it's the one where they are playing Cunla.
# Posted on December 31st 2007 by Richard D Cook
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
Finbar Fury often pushes the things above the top B on purpose, It sounds great. But the genius is that he pushes the regulators to jump the octave too. This must mean he must have a really strong chanter reed. Impressive.
# Posted on December 31st 2007 by ...
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
I'm not sure that was intentional - usually you want your regulators to stay in the first octave. If your regs overblow when you're playing a second octave passage on the chanter, they are "out of balance", meaning your chanter reed is too strong for the reg reeds at its present setting, or your reg reeds are too weak.
The piper can try opening up the reg reeds and make them harder blowing, and as long as that doesn't create other problems (like drones shutting off or a torn rotator cuff) that's fine. Sometimes the chanter reed has to be closed down slightly or lightened with very careful sanding or scraping.
This kind of activity drives most pipers insane and is almost certainly the root cause of the widespread madness among pipemakers, as well as delays in delivery of new sets.
# Posted on December 31st 2007 by Hanley
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
of course if the regs overblow and they're IN TUNE, I don't suppose it matters but I would find it annoying if my own set did that.
# Posted on December 31st 2007 by Hanley
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
That's the trick with reeding the regs- you want them to be quiet enough not to sound like auto horns and overpower the chanter, but weaken the reeds a bit too much and they can overblow and squeal (not being designed to overblow, the overblown notes are rarely in tune).
That's why I wonder why pipemakers haven't come up with cylindrical-bored regs. These would be inherently quieter and sweeter and less likely to overblow. The question is would they be stable enough?
# Posted on January 1st 2008 by Richard D Cook
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
Hanley, Finbar Fury does do it on purpose.
# Posted on January 2nd 2008 by ...
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
Finbar does a lot of strange stuff on the pipes, but I won't believe that he is overblowing the regs on purpose until I see a video showing him doing it.
On his old c1970 LPs he has quite a few squeeks and squawks on the chanter which are obviously unintentional- at least obvious to a piper.
In my years of playing uilleann pipes I've often encountered non-pipers who think that the little blips pipers do by accident are actually intentional devices.
One such thing is the way in which, when you're playing along in the second octave, the chanter will unintentionally drop down to the first octave and you either don't do anything about it knowing that it will go back up in a few notes anyway, or you close down the chanter for a moment to make it jump back up. To a piper who knows the tune in question it's obvious when a chanter drops unintentionally (because the piper is using 2nd octave pressure but playing 1st octave notes) and it's also obvious when a piper scrambles momentarily to regain the 2nd octave. People other than experienced pipers almost always think that this is intentional.
# Posted on January 3rd 2008 by Richard D Cook
Re: high notes with Uilleann pipes!!!
I saw him do it on a slow air, play the regulators, all three, in the second octave. First octave first tyime through the tune. Second octave second and third time through, ending on a sustained chord in the second octave. He was squeezing really hard and holding it beautifully. There was absolutly no way it was a "little blip". I know pipes, don't play them, but am very familiar with all their sounds. Yes Finbar can be very irratic, but at his best he's phenominal, and he knows it.
# Posted on January 3rd 2008 by ...