I want to play the Uilleann Pipes

I have a near fatal obsession with pipes. I love all the pipes (and all the drums), the Great Irish Warpipes, the Scots lowland pipes and the Great Highland Bagpipes, the Breton Veuze, the Galician Gaita and the Italian Zampogna.

But the most beautiful, the most haunting of all are the lovely Uillean Pipes of Ireland.

Their harmonic structure is different from other pipes, they're sweeter and quieter, to be played indoors. They can lilt, tap out a reel or accompany a singer. They can whirl you into a dance and they can also stop you dead with a heartbreaking lament.

In the Uillean Pipes I recognise the cry of the exile.

• Highland Bagpipes are played standing, Uilleann pipes are played sitting.
• Highland Bagpipes are for the outdoors, Uilleann pipes are for indoor playing.
• Highland Bagpipes are a military instrument. Uilleann pipes are a social instrument.
• Highland Bagpipes have standardized ornamentation. Uilleann pipers create their own versions of tunes and ornamentation.
• Highland Bagpipes are (usually) learned from written music. Uilleann pipers (usually) learn by ear within their tradition.

The Uilleann Pipes are distinguished not only by their sweet tone, but by their wide range of notes.

The chanter has a range of two full octaves, including sharps and flats, together with the unique blend of chanter, drones, and "regulators."

The regulators are equipped with closed keys which can be opened by the piper's wrist action, so you can play simple chords, giving a rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment.

The Pipers themselves add to a melody with individual ornamentation based on multiple or single grace notes.

Yes, I could learn to play the Uillean Pipes if I devoted a lot of time and energy, patience and persistence, as well as a few years of practice into the exercise. If I had 15 years to hone my skills.

Learning the Uilleann pipes is a challenging task and demands total commitment. The difficulties of learning are partly mechanical (a truly daunting musical instrument to master), and partly practical. It's difficult to obtain a set of Uilleann Pipes in Australia. Furthermore, the Uilleann Pipes are never played by isolated beginners; there is always a teacher.

To learn the Uilleann Pipes I'll have to move to Ireland!

The Uillean Pipes are at their most expressive when melancholy.

Davy Spillane, acknowledged master of the Uillean Pipes, can call your heart right out of your chest in Caoineadh cu Chulainn. My heart anyway.

The Uilleann Pipes are inflated by bellows attached to one arm, ( 'Uilleann' means "elbow" in Irish) so you always have dry reeds. When you inflate a bellows with your breath, the reeds become wet.

Dry reeds give the Uilleann Pipes the. widest range of notes of any form of bagpipe in the world. This finer reed can overblow into the second octave.

The second octave has a sweet tone, unique among pipes, which really defines the character of the Uilleann Pipes.

The ability to play in a normal musical range means you can play anything at all on the Uilleann pipes, jazz, country music, rock, classical or whatever.

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Banned by foreign forces and at stages becoming virtually extinct , the Uilleann Pipes are still one of the most amazing pieces of musical machinery ever designed. And I want to play them!