Why regulators?

rorybbellows · Post by **rorybbellows** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 1:01 pm

Does anyone know why the regulators are called regulators? It seems like every other part of the pipes is called by a name that is fairly descriptive so why regulators? Maybe they should be called the "Rythm Section" or "The Harmonic Section" - any other suggestions.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 1:15 pm

It mostly has to do with the particular portion of the wrist and edge of the hand that is used to play the regulators. A major meridian connected to the large intestine runs through this area. Playing the keys stimulates this meridian, therefore the large intestine, and thus helps keep you regular.

Hope that helps,

djm

rorybbellows · Post by **rorybbellows** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 1:44 pm

Thanks DJM very enlightening. Obviously you are a great regulator player yourself but don't over do it your only a chord or two away from verbal diarrhoea.

wydeboar · Post by **wydeboar** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 1:54 pm

"Regulator" is short for regulate-you-later, which is why most go unused and out of tune.

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 1:55 pm

No one really knows.

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 2:11 pm

wydeboar wrote:"Regulator" is short for regulate-you-later, which is why most go unused and out of tune.

Maybe they should be called 'Relegated's' !!

rorybbellows · Post by **rorybbellows** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 2:41 pm

Mr Cannady says no one really knows, does he just think no one knows or does he know know one knows. Because I know someone knows but I don't know who it is!

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 2:49 pm

To quote the master,Seamus Ennis from his tutor 'The Master's touch' (NPU),"The three pipes lying across your thigh with the drones are called regulators,perhaps their tuning can be adjusted to a varying degree by the regulating pins fitted at the end of each,or perhaps because their judicious use in dance music will add verve and rhythm to the tune,thereby regulating it's speed and consistency."
Well,it's as good a theory as any!

Kevin Popejoy · Post by **Kevin Popejoy** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 2:51 pm

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 2:58 pm

rorybbellows wrote:Mr Cannady says no one really knows, does he just think no one knows or does he know know one knows. Because I know someone knows but I don't know who it is!

Been reading Wittgenstein lately? Hmm, it's up to me to provide the straightforward answer...
No one is sure why they are called regulators. The earliest mentions of them in print call them "a second chanter," so possibly they provided a form of polyphony. The earliest regulator added to the pipes was the small one, with only 3 keys, and this was the only regulator added for a long time; two-note harmonies from two regulators would come later.
"Regulate" is a term from English pipe organ building meaning to even out the volume of a rank (grouping) of pipes across its scale: to modify the various pipes so that the loudness does not vary. Kenna is known to have built an organ in a chapel in Mullingar early in his career, so perhaps he borrowed this term, intending the regulator to swell the corresponding notes on the chanter. Also, "Irish organ" is used as a synonym for the pipes from very early on. This is just a pet theory of mine, by the way.
Others have tried to figure out what the regulators regulate. Tuning, tempo? Seamus Ennis says: "Whatever the origin of the name, it is the only one." English or Irish. Nothing in the books about "rèannagùiabhlòtor" or some such Gaelic League monstrosity. Read Denis Brooks' two part article "Irish Bellows Pipes," printed in the Pipers' Review of the American pipers' club; and Sean Donnelly's "A Century of Pipemaking," which is on one of the Sean Reid Society's CD-ROMs.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:03 pm

Interesting theory, but we all know that they're named thus because the fairies ordained it so.

Until solid proof is produced to the contrary the fantastic option seems the most obvious explaination to heathens such as myself.

Regards,

H.

marcpipes · Post by **marcpipes** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:01 pm

Anything between this and the way the word "regulated" was intended in the term "well regulated militia"?

Antaine · Post by **Antaine** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:04 pm

hm, interesting thought about the organ regulator name being transferred to the pipes, but would there really be a need to swell a note...there's not that much volume difference between the notes as there would be in an unregulated organ.

my absolutely unqualified, barely-educated guess was always that originally the regulator (singular) was "pumped"...that is, hit on the up beats of the measures (using an off the knee style for the chanter), and thus "regulated" the time of dance tunes. if, at the time, everything was written for the pipes in one or two keys, a single regulator with three or four keys would be plenty enuff to turn the upbeat notes into interval chords, stressing the time even further figuring that the upbeats would be a return to the root or something closely related to it.

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:24 pm

rorybbellows wrote:Mr Cannady says no one really knows, does he just think no one knows or does he know know one knows. Because I know someone knows but I don't know who it is!

I've read the usual theories, which are at best very informed guesses that seem plausible, and yes, I'm willing to entertain them and I personally think the organ regulator theory sounds as reasonable as any. However, no one can prove their theories, and without the ability to travel back in time and interview James Kenna, Robert Reid, William Kennedy and their contemporaries it's all speculation, albeit educated speculation.

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:36 pm

I never thought the term "regulator" referred to the sticks or volume, etc., but rather to the valves with levers that regulates the air that comes out of the stick. I don't think it so uncommon to call a valve a "regulator."