Chiff and Fipple Forums

As stated, this is a D flute in bamboo made by Patrick Olwell and it bears the Olwell stamp. It was bought new in 2003. AFAIK the maker is still on hiatus from making these so as to focus on his waiting list for wooden flutes. Here's a sound clip from what seems like eons ago: The Rookery One popula...

For certain. Both plaid and piping were banned during the penal laws ( Act of Proscription 1746 ) passed by the English after the battle of Culloden ended the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. Banned, that is, for anyone not in a highland regiment of the (british) army. This tells us that tartans and bag...

Perhaps an over simplification regarding quality. The older pipes probably weren't crap, they just weren't viable anymore in a piping economy driven by the competitions where the standardized GHBs were given to the best players. The older style pipes were essentially banned. The 2-drone instruments ...

The kilt analogy isn't far off the mark. What Cheape probably means is the standardization of the GHB was cemented in the Victorian era. There are varying accounts of pipes with and without bass drones up into the early 19th c. There was certainly piping in the Highlands and Islands before but the i...

Ross Anderson's music page has some pastoral pipe resources including Geoghegan's tutour. Scroll down about halfway. The page is stuffed to the brim with great piping information of an academic, antiquarian variety.

It's with a heavy heart that this flute and I part ways. It has been my companion for much of my exploration into the tradition. But we've grown apart. I'm much more focused on Scottish bellows piping and since I got my delrin Copley flute I have scarcely played the Olwell for the past year. I have ...

It's with a heavy heart that this flute and I part ways. It has been my companion for much of my exploration into the tradition. But we've grown apart. I'm much more focused on Scottish bellows piping and since I got my delrin Copley flute I have scarcely played the Olwell for the past year. I have ...

......I'm being pedantic. ....... Not quite. To be truly pedantic one needs to be excessively exact and CORRECTLY so. :lol: Did that really just happen? :lol: But yeah, Brad's comments and links are pretty true. I only had a brief exposure to Breton traditions while playing with a bagad among the B...

His theatrics can verge on the ridiculous side but unfortunately that's what fills the theatre seats-- razzle dazzle. As fun and easy as it is to make fun of him his talent is undeniable. At least he cut the mullet.

That sparkle tape on his flute is rather symbolic of his career though.

See how it goes. Since you're not doing a pipe band style attack you can take your time on the strike-in. Definitely lose the tape.The bridle might be a little too high. With the Ezee/Selbie/Wygent style reeds the bridle is just as sensitive as on cane reeds so if you move it, do it a hair at a time...

With drones it's good to start with one reed at a time. Experiment with different strike pressures (or even no strike at all to see what happens) and try striking different locations on the bag. Even synthetic reeds need to acclimate so just playing the drone on it's own will free it up a little. Tr...

Take it Ezee, both drones and chanter. The Ezee pipe chanter reed costs twice as much as most but they are virtually plug and play and are easy blowers. Ezeedrone is also a reliable drone reed. You can manipulate the bridle to get a quiet sound and turn the screw to adjust the pitch. Selbies are sim...

You're right. A minor. I think I meant "Mist Covered Mountains of Home" or Chi Mi Na Morbheanna which was the other tune that I was going to suggest.

Wow. I'll take April over Paul or Barry even though their productions a little better. And even though the Nino/April performance is clearly lip/finger synched and his fingering doesn't fit the notes, he has pretty decent posture and his drones aren't splayed miles apart so it's really not a bad dep...

Here are some videos of a piper playing an Andrus Taul torupill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsej5uQLEDI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U4YvOmEXtM