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I took a trip to Marcus Hernon in Connemara and he interduced me to these gentlemen pipers:
Sean McKiernan and Tommy Canavan.

Those are Patsy Touhey's Taylor pipes. Jim Maguire will let us all know what the key on the stock does. Probably tips the bench up. Maybe it deflates the bag in a hurry - possibly a handy feature in vaudeville, for a couple of different reasons - to get off the stage without extraneous noise? comic effect? New York piper Bill Och's Taylor set has the same feature, although the key is missing. Maybe it shuts off the bore of the tenor regulator? Or opens a bottle of Watney's Red Barrel?
Great pictures, Pär! Go to http://www.piping.se/ for more.

Mike Carney did the stock and the key does let air out. This may have made it easier for Mike as he was in a wheelchair for the 2nd half of his life.

Someone had asked about innovations and pipes enhancements in a recent thread. The bass drone sound box on the Touhey set slides in/out for fine tuning. Nifty!

I didn't realize that Bill Och's Patsy Browne set had the same feature on the stock. The set was acquired in NYC.

I recognized the Touhy set instantly. Is Cannavan's set one of Moss Kennedy's creations? Looks to be in fine shape.

Sets this, sets that... blah blah. Anyway, enough of the stamp collecting.

Can you refresh the subject with a bit of talk about the actual music that these men played?... nice photos.

Regards,

Harry.

Fair enough, Harry. Lots of people on this forum do prattle on about the gear too much, although I was just asking an innocent question - Moss didn't make a lot of full sets, so it's nice to see one in good order, and even nicer to hear one in good order with a seasoned piper at the helm. Mckiernan is supposed to be a good, old-school piper, although to my regret I have never heard him play.

Did you get any good recordings of these guys, ojvoj? How about Cannavan, how did you find his playing? Maybe you might want to consider posting some of your best recordings of these two gents (with permission, of course!) somewhere we can all listen to it...

Fina bilder Pär - första gången jag har sett Patsys gamla pipor så nära. Who made the other set played by the other piper Looks like a Taylor style set.

I was disappointed to see that the Touhey set isn't completely original, a shame that such an historic set was messed about with. The Taylors would have been in the ground for 36-37 or so years when Mike Carney got the set. Anyway how did they sound, were they loud?. Were they in tune with each other the two sets or did they play solo? I bet it was a nice experience

Both are great players.

Sean has a very distinctive style, similar to Willie Clancy. He is also able to pippity-pip very nicely. The set sounds just like the recordings of Touhey and Sean finishes up a tune pressing on the regs like Patsy and it is marvelous to hear.

Tomas is a 2nd generation piper; he learned from his father. Completely innovative phrases appear in his music. He is a gem of a player. (Funny connection and the small Irish world - Sean and Cannavan (and his brother are conversing in Irish. I am introduced as from Chicago. They tell me that they have a sister living in Evanston (where I grew up and was living at the time!). I am living 8 miles north of there now.)

I´m a little unsure about the soundclips, I dont have the players permission.
Maybe I can put the soundclips out for a couple of days...
Anybody know how this things works?
It is a Kennedy that Tommy Canavan play.

Steampacket are you Tom J ?

There was actually a televison programme on Tomas and Paraic Cannavan on RTE last week. Both complained these young pipers today play so fast. Only to set out playing, as Jackie Daly put it when we discussed the film on sunday, at about a thousand miles per hour.
It made nice viewing though. Seamus Ennis learned Ceo na gCnoic from the father.

Sean McKiernan has one of the most rich and interesting piping styles in existence today IMHO. With all the swagger, pace and technical complexity of the Irish/ American greats and a dedication to tonal variation and expression that has obviously been acquired in no small part from a deep trawl of Willie Clancy's music and inspirational wellsprings.

His playing is never safe, never boring. He makes heavily ornate versions of tunes float light as a feather above that edgy (at times almost tempestious) Touhy sound.

He's truely one of the great unsung masters of the instrument.

Needless to say, in the unlikely event that you are presented with an opportunity to hear the man, you should jump at it (although, important as I think it is to hear him, I personally wouldn't put sound recordings of him up on the web without his unequivocal permission!)

Strain your neck to hear him that is unless you're exclusively into all that latter day Kenny G-ish ear candy. If so you'll be too busy at home drinking white wine spritzers, frosting your perm and praying to your heathenish Gods!

Cheers,

H.

Can someone explain the drone arrangement on the Touhy set? I can't tell from the picture. Is there a plug in the baritone drone?

t

There is no baritone drone on the set. There is a single note 'E' regulator in its spot.

I've a couple tapes of Sean, also a bit of him on a TV program hosted by Paddy Glackin. On the newer tape he plays a heap of rare tunes, crediting many of them to the old piper Mike Carney, who owned this set after Patsy Touhey died. Some real beauts of tunes, he learned these from Mike's student Tom Busby I'd imagine. His style's very punchy - a lot of thumb note gracing - but not excessively fast. Plenty of tight playing, he isin't fixated on perfect tempo but nevertheless has a beat going - like Tommy Reck. You can hear the Touhey type piping all through it, but he was a disciple of sorts of Willie Clancy before, and that still shows. A very interesting and musical old time piper, he should definitely be available in stores, along with Joe Shannon, Denis Brooks, Andy Conroy. Put him in that Master Pipers series.
Back to the ho-hum technical details - this set has only two drones, what you think is a plugged baritone drone is the fourth regulator, which plays E; its small key can be seen sticking out above the C key on the bass regulator.
Kenny G? I'm more of an Eric Dolphy man myself...