F#GA triplets

[innerhand]

I have a little trouble with the F#GA triplets.
When I try to play the F#GA triplets,the first F#note Jumps up to the second octave.
Same things happens when I play rolls in F#. I have to use Open
style fingering to keep the notes in the first octave,but can't use open
fingering when playing the triplets(I want a crispy staccato sound, not legato)
Is it the reed that cause this? or the chanter itself?

BEST REGARDS

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

Just ignore the squeak in the tight triplet. Many pipers use light reeds, this is just part of the sound. A few obsess over this and play very stiff "armbuster" reeds to get around it. Unless you're strong to begin with, it's probably not worth the pain, unless you want to lift weights to get it.
Some chanters will begin to gargle the bottom D when you lighten the reed too much, though. What you want is a chanter that will play the bottom D at a low pressure, and use a reed that is scraped down a fair amount at the bottom, and still play the 2nd octave well. Remember to give the FGA a good amount of pressure as you play it, too. Even with a light reed you can sound very staccato-Patsy Touhey used a light reed, it was said, and you can hear his F# overblow on many of his recordings.

[djm]

I find it's the G that causes the problem. It doesn't like to be played with just one finger open, which is what you need to do to achieve the speed for a tight, staccato effect. I have the same problem with B on ABC or BCD triplets.

The way I deal with this is to intentionally lighten up the pressure on the bag just a wee little bit while doing the triplet. I found it took more practice on altering the pressure just for the triplet than it was to get the fingering right

Start by getting just the staccato fingering right (don't play it too slow, or it is bound to squeal). Play around for the feel of getting the bag pressure just right so that a quick staccato triplet rips off fairly cleanly. The triplets won't be quite as loud per sé, but if they're clean enough they will still pop out. Then practice adding a few notes before and a few notes after the triplet, so you can learn how to vary the bag pressure back and forth. Incredibly taxing on one's sanity, but worth it to get those triplets crisp.

Hope that helps,

djm

[innerhand]

Kevin djm

Thanks for the advices. I tried to play "The Gander In the Pratie Hole".
I found that in the Planxty album Liam O'Flynn's is also overblowing the first F# in the triplets.
I will slow down and try to play each note more separetely regardless of the F#'s octave.

Thanks

[Roger O'Keeffe]

Yup, it doesn't matter which octave (if any!) the notes in a tight triplet come out in. The black dots on the page should always be taken with a pinch of salt.

[Cayden]

Yup, it doesn't matter which octave (if any!) the notes in a tight triplet come out in. The black dots on the page should always be taken with a pinch of salt.

And there's methinking that it's quite different using FGA from fgA or fga, and I also think a strong reed is likelier to overblow a single fingered F or G than a lightplaying reed [simply because the strong vibration from the strong reed can't be vented through the single hole so it will jump while a light reed, like my own, is likely to stay in the lower octave]

[djm]

Peter, heavier reeds are one of the trade-offs we have to make on this side of the pond. Irish reeds just don't stand up to the dryness here (when its dry).

djm

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

I can't play a heavy reed at all, it just keeps me from concentrating on the music at all, which sucks even worse as a result...the big problem with them would be keeping the chanter in the lower octave when dealing with the hard D, which requires some work to get the hang of; but when it begins to happen it becomes second nature, pretty much. Like I said, when you get a reed that holds on to the 2nd octave without much pressure, AND can go from hard D to E to F#, you're in business. Unfortunately, if the chanter is too crudely made-no change in taper below the throat, for instance-you will need a tough reed to get the hard D at all. But not too tough, or the high e will distort...
My Bb chanter has a hard E, too. Play off the knee and grace with the A, blowing a bit harder, just like the D. The Eb, off the knee, also can give a hard E, quieter this time, if you lift the A finger slightly, creating a leak-what Lowland pipers called "pinching the back lee," very nice in slow airs. And if you play a 3rd octave d, lift the thumb and blow harder, you get a 3rd octave e. This is what the pros call a "nice stick."

[jqpublick]

Sorry, could I just insert a quick question here? Hum, kay. So how do you play an Eb? I understand it's pretty easy if you have a key for it, but my stick doesn't have any of those things, although I did tie my housekeys to it once. My roommate hit me.

Okay, really. Is there some special method to getting an Eb? Raising the RH pinkie gives me a note, that certainly ain't D nor E, but I had thought it was closer to a noise than a note. Or maybe it has to be played off the knee?

Thanks for your time and answers (when they arrive),
Mark

[Lorenzo]

Is there some special method to getting an Eb? Raising the RH pinkie gives me a note, that certainly ain't D nor E, but I had thought it was closer to a noise than a note. Or maybe it has to be played off the knee?

Something may not be quite right with your chanter or reed if all you get is noise. In the upper octave, if I lift the little finger of the lower hand I get an Eb, but the Eb raises to an E if I lift the chanter off the knee. In the lower octave, the Eb raises in pitch too, but only a quarter of a step with the chanter lifted (pressure difference).

Kevin, I cured the hard low D problem on my old McFadden chanter (Quinn rebored) by inserting an oversized brass tube (rat-tail filed out inside at each end) that was about an inch long and inserting it in the throat just below the reed seat. Benedict Koehler reeded the chanter last fall, said that the insert was the perfect thing to do, and said it was a GREAT chanter.

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

Kevin, I cured the hard low D problem on my old McFadden chanter (Quinn rebored) by inserting an oversized brass tube (rat-tail filed out inside at each end) that was about an inch long and inserting it in the throat just below the reed seat. Benedict Koehler reeded the chanter last fall, said that the insert was the perfect thing to do, and said it was a GREAT chanter.

So Quinn takes the wood out and Koehler puts it back in? Hmmm. My first chanter was a '79 Quinn-you could hear it over a jet taking off-no hard D there, until I started putting sleeves in the throat. I also put some wires in the bore before loaning it to someone, no, take it! Please! I was told Quinn wished he could make a nice little blackwood and maple fire with all those early chanters of his...
I put some cardboard in the throat of this same McFadden chanter of Larry's, for its previous owner, who bought the set from Larry, actually...you going to buy it back, Lar? This can cure those motorboat hard D blues real good, although like rushes the best thing is for the pipemaker to install a permanent sleeve of wood in the throat which is integral to the body of the chanter itself, and at least one other "permanent wooden guitar string" in the lower part of the bore as well...
This McFadden set also featured a top part of the bass reg made from a sh*t chanter which McFadden filled the holes in and recycled...pretty gross stuff. The pluggage had disintegrated over the years, too; some of the mounts looked like vacuum treated cheese. I read that he was supposed to be an excellent reedmaker, although he never could get Seamus Ennis's Coyne to do its stuff, and reportedly told Seamus he should find a substitute.

[Lorenzo]

So Quinn takes the wood out and Koehler puts it back in?

No, not at all. The throat was to large to begin with (but smaller than some Rowsomes). Quinn only rebored it to make the bottom half uniform with the top half...to correct what someone else (?) had messed up. BK's reed has a hard D w/o the sleeve, but I put the sleeve in because I think for my climate the low D is more solid.

I put some cardboard in the throat of this same McFadden chanter of Larry's, for its previous owner, who bought the set from Larry, actually...you going to buy it back, Lar?

I am that same Larry When I first got the set back, Tom Kennedy's fine reed wouldn't work above a high G until I looked up and saw this gross, redundant, mess of cardboard up inside the throat--about three inches long (and way too much material), and removed it . The high end opened up fine and worked perfect after that. Low D still fluttered but the one inch brass tube sleeve cured that problem and left the high end opened like it should be.

The McFadden set (except for the chanter) now belongs to Brian Vallely (Niall and Cillian's dad) who is having the set restored. Brian was a personal friend of both the elder and younger McFadden (this set was from the elder--both are gone now), and had never seen a full set of his. Brian has quite a few chanters so I kept this one.

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

I am that same Larr When I first got the set back, Tom Kennedy's fine reed wouldn't work above a high G until I looked up and saw this gross, redundant, mess of cardboard up inside the throat--about three inches long (and way too much material), and removed it.

After putting that in, I told the then-owner "Ok, this is just a demonstration, you should try various sizes of junk there to make it work the best, G---." Nothing doing! Damn lazy pipers.
I just purchased a CD of the Francis MacPeakes' first recordings, 1952. There were two MacPeakes, you see, both named Francis. The younger had a son, Francis, who is playing music with his son...Francis. There's a real good vaudeville routine in there! They played pipes by O'Meally and MacFadden. Not into the ol' hard D, these guys.

[Lorenzo]

The 1976 All-Ireland Champ (Trevor Stewart) also played a McFadden set for many years too. I have an old LP of his piping. I talked to him last year and he told me he plays a Rogge set now. Not a bad switch.

[Kevin L. Rietmann]

Better known as a fiddler, Sean Maguire plays or played a set by McFadden. Also a CD can be had from Outlet of Garry McFadden, kind of out tune though.