Hard D and soft D - and informal survey

[nwhitmer]

While at the East Coast Tionol in East Durham, NY, October 2006, I took an informal survey. I asked experienced/advanced pipers about their use of the low note: hard D and soft D. The survey was by no means scientific or consistent but it was amusing, even informative. I spoke to between 15 and 20 pipers. Questions I wanted to ask included:

In your playing do you use one to the exclusion of the other? If both, what percentage of the time do you use one or the other and, musically speaking, when?
Can you control the use of hard & soft D, that is, play one or the other at will?
What intonation (playing on pitch) problems have you encountered with hard & soft D?

At least three-quarters of the pipers I asked used hard D most of the time. Perhaps half of the pipers asked said they used hard D "100 percent" of the time.
Of those who used soft D, a couple mentioned using it mainly in airs & slower pieces. One player, who prefers hard D, says he uses soft D when the music seems to require a low D played without a grace note, most usually a slower piece.
A couple hard D "100 percenters" said hard D "just sounds right" whereas soft D does not. One player mentioned the interaction between the drones & the more prominent harmonics in hard D as being the sound to go for.
At least two players mentioned different kinds of hard D. A hard D and a harder D with the same chanter & reed setup. I presume they could do this by subtle control of bag pressure.

Almost everyone said they could control the use of hard & soft D. Some of the 100 percenters regarded the question as immaterial and wouldn't or couldn't answer.

Responses to questions about intonation were the most intriguing. One player stated categorically that he had never played a chanter which had both hard & soft D's in tune. Another player said that hard & soft D's on almost all chanters can be managed, that it was not much of an issue. I took this to mean that, if out of tune, they could be brought in tune with the right bag pressure. These were the two extreme responses.
About half the players acknowleged tuning problems. If a problem, then soft D is flat relative to hard D. I do not recall an exception to this.
Several 100 percenters said that on their chanters soft D was out of tune; that was why it was not used.
Without exception players said that if only one of the D's can be in tune it must be the hard D. An in-tune soft D and out-of-tune hard D is not acceptable.
At least one eminent pipemaker was named whose chanters were alleged to be designed to play hard D only.


By now I am sure you are dying to know what my answers to the survey are. If not, skip this paragraph. In my playing I use soft D about a third of the time. I use hard D for emphasis, at the end of a phrase perhaps, for example. I might play a cran, all soft D, except for the last note: dum-da-da-da-BAP. I want a chanter where the D's are, if not in perfect pitch, at least managable. I played hard & soft D's on my chanter in an advanced class at the Tionol. Consensus seemed to be that soft D was right, hard D perhaps a little sharp. In any case the chanter sounds right enough to me. If the hard D really is a hair sharp that just makes it more "edgy." I would regard an inability to play both hard & soft D's as a musical limitation.

Care to "take the survey?"

Nick Whitmer

[Cayden]

Hard D all the time. Don't think I have encountered any chanter with hard and soft D at same pitch, usually soft D is flat although one of my pupils has a Rowsome chanter where the soft D is the one in tune with the rest of the scale (extremely annoying that). Don't care for the sound of soft D at all.

[L42B]

I would say that I would be an intermediate piper. However most of the tutors that I have had have used a variety of both. So Mikie Smyth and Jack Brennan have influenced me a lot in that sense. On beat I like to use a hard-d and off-beats a soft-d, it gives a realy nice affect on the Harvest Home hornpipe i.e. 4/4 DADA-dada-DADA-dada and then in variations do the opposit i.e. 4/4 dada-DADA-dada-DADA therefore giving colour to your tune. One downside though with the bottem D is if you use regulators I find that the chanter tends to automatically overide into hard-d.

Cheers L42B

[The Sporting Pitchfork]

Pipers in control of hardness?

Sounds a bit wanky, if you ask me...











(Oh for Pete's sake...SOMEBODY had to say it...)

[Joseph E. Smith]

Reed permitting, Hard D 3/4 of the time, soft D 1/4.

I have a number of chanters which will play hard and soft D's with only a small difference in tuning (2-3 cents worth at most). I am happy with the fact that the distance in tuning between the two D's isn't greater. I feel it is partly the chanter bore, but mostly the reed that determines the ease or availability of hard D's.

Soft D's have thier place too. It is partially a matter of taste, but by my way of thinking, the hard or soft D are yet more colors upon the tone pallet, and should be used tastefully and appropriately... too much of either gives me a rash.

[snoogie]

Hard D almost all the time, especially at the end of a phrase as mentioned above. Soft D when the tune warrants it or just for contrast.

Hard D and soft D should be controllable at will, otherwise, I'll work on the reed until they are.

I didn't think it possible to get both in tune at the same time, since the hard D is sharper than soft D.

-g

[oliver]

I only play the hard D. Not interested in the soft D, which I think is a colourless note.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I didn't think it possible to get both in tune at the same time, since the hard D is sharper than soft D.

-g

You can get them there, or at the very least close. Hence the art of rushing.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I only play the hard D. Not interested in the soft D, which I think is a colourless note.

To each their own I suppose.

I am of the mindset that suggests every sound the chanter can produce (with only one or two exceptions) can be, and ought to be, used in playing these pipes.

There is a wide range of tones and colors available and to deny them is limiting your own potential and ability when playing the Uilleann Pipes.

Drive fast, take chances, 186,282.397 miles per second is not just a good idea... it's the law.

[Hans-Joerg]

On the vast majority of chanters I made reeds for (long, long ago) I found it quite hard to get a control over the bottomn-D-sound quality:
When you play downwards in a scale you normally get a soft-D, but when you jump down (mostly via the A-grace) you get a harsh-D.

Concerning the differing tunings: There is this old (and I find quite important) "paper-roll" thing. A little paper roll (or whatever) in the chanter´s foot tends to get the harsh-D easier and flattens it a bit, so then the reedmaker has to pay a bit less attention.

Cheers,
Hans

[boyd]

Well I agree with Peter Laban.

Its gotta be a hard D all the time. Fair enough if Paddy Keenan has a soft one ( ) but any good piper I've met has been hard.

And all the players I have recordings of [150+ CD's plus loadsa private recordings and radio stuff] have hard D's...even the Paddy Keenan style players.

I think a better debate might be around whether or not to have a hard lower E !!!

Boyd

[oliver]

I only play the hard D. Not interested in the soft D, which I think is a colourless note.

There is a wide range of tones and colors available and to deny them is limiting your own potential and ability when playing the Uilleann Pipes.

I'm not denying anything, neither am I saying it's not another colour or tone, it's just that I find the note dull. I just don't see the point in playing the soft D, as I don't really like it plus it adds another tuning problem...

[PJ]

I'm about 50:50. I like the hard D but the soft D has its place too.

On the CD Live from North Hero, Benedict Koehler plays the air, the Lea Rig and mixes hard and soft Ds very nicely.

[glands]

Go listen to P. Keenan execute a soft D long cran and finish it off with a hard D. Brilliant stuff.

I use both. Would say the soft is likely to show up in some of my airs or if in the middle of a phrase of a dance tune.

[Pat Cannady]

I try to hit hard D most all of the time and almost always consider soft D a mistake.