A community hub for Celtic piping in Australia

In this newsletter you'll find the latest news and reports about all that's happening in the world of Celtic Piping in Australia and around the world.

 

 

Celebration of this year's International Uilleann Piping Day in Melbourne was held at the Exford Hotel, in Russell Street. The venue was chosen because two noted pipers of the nineteenth century, John Coughlan and Owen Cunningham, both written into O'Neill's Irish Minstrels and Musicians, had regular gigs there in the 1860s. The proprietors and staff at the Exford were most welcoming and they were keenly interested in the occasion, for it gave them a slice of the pub's history they did not know.
 

The afternoon's proceedings began with a workshop for beginners, conducted by Dundalk piper Conal Duffy, currently visiting Australia. Pat Lyons gave an excellent run down on the history of uilleann pipering in Victoria, in which Coughlan and Cunningham were prominent players (pardon the pun). Matt Horsley ran an interesting discussion about the ins-and-outs of playing the pipes and approaches to the music. One participant commented that, having played the Highland pipes for years, the uilleann pipes have given her permission to play tunes with latitude, not in a rigid, enforced manner. A good handful of players of Scottish small pipes also attended. Geoff Jones took them through their paces in a workshop. The small pipes are bellows blown, so they were deemed uilleann for the day (which indeed they are, as uilleann means 'of the elbow').

The climax was a concert featuring Matt Horsley (Gleeson C), Alan Parker (McNicholl D), Brendan Lewis (Lambe D), Andrew Teusner (Wooff B), Pat Lyons (Wooff B-flat), and the delightful duo 'Duck, Duck, Goose', Sarah Wade (Hamish Moore small pipes) and Jess Foot (oboe), treating us to duets of Swedish and Breton music. Conal Duffy (Mullaly-Curran D) closed the concert with The Fox Chase, a fitting choice, as Coughlan used to play it for the finale to his performances.

Some twenty pipers turned out for the event (one from across from Tasmania). The concert was attended by about 50 people. In all, it was a great afternoon of pipes and pipering. Its four hours passing way too quickly. And I'm sure a couple of other pipers were with us in spirit. It felt like they were.

Keep an eye on the new Celtic Piping Club YouTube channel.
More videos coming soon...

 

 

We were very fortunate this year in Adelaide, as Na Píobairí Uilleann sent out a brilliant young piper from Waterford, Mark Redmond. Mark is a lovely young man and an amazing piper. He brought a D set with him made by Benedict Koehler, which was modelled on a Willie Rowsome set, and had the sweetest sound. Mark had put in much work to ensure the tuning of this instrument was just spot on, and a joy to hear.

After picking Mark up at the airport, we took him to the Belair National Park, where we were able to find a couple of Koalas lazing around in some Gum trees, and Mark also managed to find a stumpy-tail lizard, and a bearded dragon, quite a nature walk for Mark’s first day. The second day we took Mark to the Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens - Elley’s and my favourite place in the world. Mark was amazed by the colour the gardens put on for us.

On the Friday night we headed into the Irish Hall in the City for a session, and it was great to see Kathy and Craig Fischer there, and I took a video of Craig and Mark playing together. The session was well attended by pipers, unfortunately Connor Hoy couldn't be there as he was overseas for dancing championships.
 

Pipers at the Adelaide Irish Club
(Photo courtesy M. Redmond)

Saturday morning saw us at the Adelaide Central Market, where we played to the passing crowd. We took video’s of our performance as they would become some of the first videos the Irish would see when they awoke. In the evening of Saturday we held a concert in the Cabra College Chapel, where we played a selection of tunes, and Mark played a selection by himself. The music was well received, with a somewhat disappointing crowd.
 

On the Sunday we held a workshop again at Cabra College Dance studio. This was well attended by the Adelaide Pipers, and Mark talked about current piping tends in Ireland and other information that was well worth hearing. He also taught a lovely tune, before we called it a day and headed to Sally Morris’s house where Sally and her lovely family put on tea for all of us. I later drove Mark to John Murphy’s house, where we watch Ireland lose to Argentina, Mark wasn't happy.

On Monday morning  I sadly drove Mark to the Airport where he headed back to Ireland. It was lovely to spend time with Mark and chat about Piping and my aspirations to make the instrument. Mark loved Adelaide and was very lucky with the weather experiencing a 37 degree day. He did say he would love to come back one day.
 

 

 

This month's tune, like many others, has numerous variations. Here are a couple of relatively traditional settings. One in the Irish style, suitable for the uilleann pipes, and the other arranged to better suit the range of the smallpipes. Maybe you could try playing them together on both instruments at your next session and see if they work together or what alterations may be required. Enjoy!

Click music for a printable version

 

Try adding triplets for some variation. For example, the 1st line (of the Irish setting) becomes:
 

 

 

Do you run a piping session or get to any folk sessions where pipers are welcome, or would like to write about a piping-related event? Click here to send us an email...we'd love to hear from you.

That's all for this newsletter 

Until next time...

Your friends in piping,
The Celtic Piping Club crew