Chiff and Fipple Forums

OK.....time for the newby question: Can anyone suggest places, titles, etc for good entry level music? I looked on amazon.com....to no avail. Your suggestions will be appreciated.

I far as I am able to determine, the following is a complete list of all published uilleann pipes tutors and tunebooks:

Leo Rowsome’s Tutor for the Uileann Pipes
Leo Rowsome
The Leo Rowsome Collection of Irish Music (includes above tutor)
Leo Rowsome
How to Play the Irish Uillean Pipes
Tadhg Crowley
The New Approach to Uilleann Piping
H J Clarke
The Art of Uilleann Piping Vols 1, 2 and 3 (video cassettes)
Na Piobairi Uilleann
Uilleann Pipes CD-ROM Tutorial
Sean Potts
The Davy Spillane Uilleann Pipe Tutor
Davy Spillane, Tommy Walsh,
O'Farrell's Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes O’Farrell, edited by Pat Sky

The Complete Tutor for the Pastoral or New Bagpipe and Also For the Union Pipes Geoghegan/Colclough, edited by
Pat Sky
A Manual for the Irish Uilleann Pipes
Pat Sky
The Union Pipes - A Workbook
Denis Brooks
The Master’s Touch a Tutor for the Uilleann Pipes Seamus Ennis, edited by Wilbert
Garvin, Robbie Hannan
The Dance Music of Willie Clancy
Pat Mitchell
The Piping of Patsy Touhy
Pat Mitchell, Jackie Small
Ceol an Phiobaire edited by Terry Moylan
Tunes of the Munster Pipers : Irish Traditional Music from the James Goodman Manuscripts James Goodman, edited by Hugh Shields

O'Farrell's Pocket Companion For the Irish or Union Pipes
O’Farrell, edited by Pat Sky
A Collection of Pipe-Friendly Tunes
John Walsh
Learn to Play Uilleann Pipes with the Armagh Pipers Club
Eithne and J.B Vallely
The Uilleann Pipes. The Instrument, the Music and Playing Technique

Thomas Kannmacher
German: Die Uilleann Pipes. Instrument - Spieltechnik Musik
The Piper’s Dream
Pat McNulty
Uilleann Pipes Tutor
Marc Pollier
Move Your Fingers/The Life and Music of Chris Langan
edited by Paul Cranford, Pat Hutchinson, David Papazian
Methode de Uilleann Pipes
Marc Guilloux

Good luck!

...

There are some excellent books available via my website such as Pat Sky's "Ryan's Mammoth Collection" and various other books of piping interest at http://www.concentric.net/~pdarcy/page1/store.shtml

i will second the suggestion for john walsh's book. never have i gotten so much fun from a single music book. if you hear a tune belonging to the body of irish traditional music, any tune, say on a cd, the tune will likely be in the book. sometimes with more than 1 setting, always with multiple titles. worth every penny

meir

The best learning is not to be found in books, tutors, or videos, it is to be found at tionols, summer schools, classes of other sorts, and by listening. The videos, however, have been quite helpful and in fact, have made it possible for many to learn to play. The shortcoming of the video is, however, the lack of instantaneous feedback, opportunity to correct, and then obtain additional instantaneous feedback and corrective as well as interpretive demonstration.

They are not always pipe friendly(different key signatures), but the O'Niell
collection has alot of setingss for old tunes-1800 of them?. Does anyone else use it? I will admit, I don't always like a setting and I have a sneaking suspicion there may be some typos on some tunes. Still, it is a pretty good base reference.
I've been meaning to ask this question for a while as well:
If Irish musical style is so free, why do you get told at a tionol "NO that's not the right setting or arrangement." Who do you trust; yourself or the nay-sayers ?
Marc

yeer self .
tok .

Excellent point, marcpipes. As a solo GHB I play lots of things as I like, a combination of standard settings and some adjustments for the situation. "Free", as you call it. The average band Pipe Major would have my ears dangling from the top of his Bass Drone for modifying standard settings. But.......it is music, and by it's very nature, must be adaptable. Play on.

It all depends on how "jazzy" you're making the tune. Your version should be rooted in the melody and internal rhythm of that particular tune, the variations should be based around that. There is a big difference between varying the tune traditionally and making up some wacko version yourself that has no relation to the original tune.

You'll find some very good tunes in settings suitable for the pipes in the Ceol rince nEireann volumes available from NPU. I'd suggest Ceol rince, volume one to start with as the settings are bare bone with indications for ornamentation of your own choosing. Most important of all is of course to listen to solo recordings of uilleann piping, and even other instruments such as flute and fiddle, as much as possible. The London Pipers Club has, or had a very nice collection of tunes taught by their uilleann pipe tutors.