Playing

From Uilleann Wiki

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1 Bag and bellows
2 Basic Fingerings
3 Separating Notes
4 Ornamentation
5 Styles

Bag and bellows

For the beginner

How you use the bag is fundamental to your playing and it is worth spending some time looking at this aspect of piping. Often beginners start with just a practice set. The downside of this is that the beginner may develop poor bag technique and end up playing from the bellows. Playing from the bellows is initially easier than using the bag but this habit must not be allowed to develop as it results in problems later in your piping career.

A good first step in piping is playing long notes. An A is a good note to start with as the beginner can often have problems sealing the chanter, making a low D slightly awkward at the first stages.

Fill the bag using steady strokes, opening the bellows completely on each movement.

Remove your top hand ring finger to sound an A. Do not move your bellows arm.

You are listening for a steady, unwavering note, with a good tone. Steady and unwavering is easy to spot, to recognize a good tone requires some experience.

As you play the A your bag will go down. When you judge that it has gone down by one bellows full of air, transfer one full stroke of the bellows into the bag. It may take you a few minutes to judge this exactly. Each time you refill the bag keep your bellows still until you need to use them again.

There are two main skills to be learned here.

The first is to maintain an even pitch and timbre from the chanter as the bag goes down. This requires a certain degree of physical strength which may take a few months to develop, depending on your build. As the bag goes down it will feel as if you are squeezing harder in order to keep the chanter even. There is the temptation at this stage to use a small pump of the bellows to make life easy for your bag arm. Do not give in to this.
The second skill is to maintain an even pitch and timbre from the chanter as air is transferred from the bellows. This requires a very slight easing of arm pressure on the bag, as the air moves over.

Air from the bellows must be at a higher pressure than that in the bag in order for it to transfer over. Be careful not to over fill the bag and leave it initially at a higher pressure than it needs to be at, resulting in more unevenness.

Hold a note for a couple of minutes before giving yourself a break; try it on all the notes in the lower octave. If problems persist as you refill the bag, check for a sticky inlet valve. If you have to work very hard to keep a note going, check your bag for leaks.

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Basic Fingerings

These fingerings should work for the first octave notes and the second octave up to B on most concert pitch chanters.

	NOTES
Fingers	D	E	F#	G	A	B	C	C#	d
Th
L1
L2
L3
R1
R2
R3
R4
Bell

Sometimes C natural in the lower octave requires other fingerings. Possibilities are:

	NOTES
Fingers	C	C	C
Th
L1
L2
L3
R1
R2
R3
R4
Bell

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Separating Notes

Notes are usually separated by one of three methods.

Playing a grace note above the notes to be separated. This is usually referred to as a cut.

Playing a grace note below the notes to be separated. The finger movement that produces this is referred to as a tap or sometimes a pat.

Playing silence. The finger movements that produces this can be a tap or something from a more closed fingering. By varying the "silence" a player can get effects ranging from crisp stacatto to an almost un-noticed, subtle control of phrasing.

The difference between the same use of a tap in the last two is determined by whether any open holes or the bell are available to sound a note below the finger(s) doing the tap.

The Cut

A cut is played by very quickly removing and then replacing a finger placed above the note to be ornamented.The finger only moves a small amount from the chanter and in experienced players hardly any movement is seen.

The choice of which finger is used to cut a particular note is linked to the style of the player and (by more advanced players) the degree of accent required.

Most player tend to use a cutting note which is fixed for each melodic note. e.g.When cutting a G the note A could always be used as the cutting note.

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