Whether you are throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party or parade, gearing up for an Irish Festival or just interested in learning to play a new instrument, some Irish bagpipes are just what you need.
That’s right, the bagpipes are not unique to Scotland. In fact, these Irish bagpipes even have a slightly different sound and look to their Scottish cousins.
If you’ve ever been to an Irish festival or an Irish pub, you just might have heard someone playing these and never realized it. For more info on these Celtic bagpipes, keep reading below. You can even get your own so that you can make a little Irish music yourself.
Uilleann Bagpipes – Ireland’s Only Official Bagpipes
Bagpipes are one of the main musical sounds that you will hear coming out of Ireland. That’s why the Emerald Isle has it’s own official bagpipe – the Uilleann Bagpipe.
Uilleann Bagpipes are unique and stand out from the other types of bagpipes as a result of their large range of notes and their tone. Other defining characteristics include the special blend you get from the regulators, drones and chanter blend. The result is a quieter and almost sweeter sound than other bagpipes. I first heard someone playing Uilleann Bagpipes when I went to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City.
You will normally see people playing the Uilleann Bagpipes while seated. And that is almost always indoors.
If you’re interested in playing these pipes, you should know that D is what they are normally tuned to for playing. That is so that you can play with an Irish tin whistle and the two be in tune with each other.
Anxious to see some of these bagpipes? Click here to see the available Uilleann Bagpipes.
Getting Started Playing Uilleann Bagpipes
The Irish Bagpipes Starter Set
Deciding to play the Uilleann Bagpipes is not a decision to be taken lightly. The learning curve is a little steep, so it takes some real dedication to the instrument.
Because the instrument is rather difficult to pick up, it is advisable to start out with a starter set, which is a partial set of Uilleann Bagpipes for beginners.
After you have mastered the starter set, you can move on up to the next level of learning the bagpipes – the half set. Once you finish up learning the half set, you get to move to to the final tier – the full set.
The starter set is made up of: the chanter, the bellows and the pip bag.
The half set is made up of: the starter kit with the addition of drones (three pipes that match the melody of the chanter).
The full set is made up of: the starter set, the half set and three regulators (three closed pipes).
Other Cool Irish Musical Instrument
Are you in search of some more cool musical type goodies that you can also add to your own home collection? If so, then I may be able to help you out there with that quest. I suggest checking out the Traditional Irish Percussion AAR Rosewood Spoon Musical.
Personally, I have never played this particular type of Celtics instrument, however I do think that this type is very, very cool. And, it seems to take a lot of talent and skills in order to do it well. I do not exactly think that I have the patience or time to devote to that. But, if you are someone who does play these, then please leave a comment to let me know about the experience of it from your own point of view. Thank you for the time you spent reading this article.
There is 5 different types of Irish Bagpipe. The oldest and most played today in Ireland is the Piob Mór, aka Irish Warpipes. They have been in Gaelic Ireland for 1,000 years. The Gaelic Irish also brought them to Gaelic Irish Scotland where they call them Highland Pipes today. The Irish Uilleann Pipes are a more recent invention from 1700. A beautifully sounding Bagpipe with bellows and an organ of drone sounds. There is also Brian Boru Pipes, Parlour Pipes and a rare Dungannon Bagpipe from the turn of the last century. Píob Mor is the ancient national instrument along with the harp. Uileann pipes are also a national instrument and are used indoors for sessions.