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Píobaire, An, Volume 1, Issue 20, Page 8

Píobaire, An, Volume 1, Issue 20, Page 8
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periodical Publisher
Na Píobairí Uilleann
periodical Editor
Chairman, NPU
periodical Title
Píobaire, An
volume Number
1
issue Content
little town I live in, within these eight years past.Thus ends the simple sketch of the life of WilliamKennedy in his own unadorned narrative. His modestyhowever has induced him to suppress several particu] ars very much to his credit, as one of the most ingen-ious improvers of the Irish bagpipe.This imperfect national, instrument, as it is a nation-al one, deserves with the Harp the peculiar cultivationof those who feel the musical strains of their ownisland, whether melancholy or gay, whether amorous ormartial, which it modulates to the delight of the nat-ive. We are all acquainted with the sympatheticeffect of national, music on the Swiss when engaged inforeign warfare, far from his native mountains; oneair in particular, which if he was employed in def-ence of his country, would no doubt excite him tonoble daring, has been known to occasion an incurablelonging for a return t6 his country: such a sympathymight be directed to better and more patriotic pur-pose than that of hiring him to fight the battles ofothers. The effect of the bagpipes in rallyingFrazervs regiment at Quebec, in the victory gained byWolfe over the French, has been recorded in the anecdotes of that battle; and the inspiring airs of thewounded piper, in the glorious victory of Vimiera, isa fact too recent to require repetition. Would thatthe Scotch General Dalrymple had felt the electricinspiration of the Highland Piper and his Pibrach ?Pennant derives the Irish pipes from a period of veryremote antiquity, and the observation of that mostindefatigable antiquary is confirmed by the very earlytestimony of Aristides Quintilianus. The compass ofthe Highland bagpipe is confined to nine notes, whilethat of the Irish extends to more than two octa ies.The modesty of our blind mechanic, as we have saidbefore, has prevented him from enlarging on severalpoints which we shall here beg leave to notice, illus-trative of his ingenuity as an improver of this inst-rument. In this respect, indeed, he deserves thecharacter of a discoverer, as his additions to theIrish pipes will do away many of their imperfections,and he has had the great merit of adapting them withsimplicity, for the management of the instrument isnearly as easy as formerly. To the chanter he hasadded keys, by which some flats and sharps, not capableof being before expressed on the instrument, are nowproduced with ease, He has also added E in alt, beingone note above the original compass of the instrument.Two additional notes are given by him to the Organstop, and some of its notes are now capable of beingvaried from naturals to sharps, according to the keyon which the tune is played.The basses or drones, as they are commonly called,formerly only in correct tune when playing on someparticular keys, are now constr cted so that theirnotes can be varied as the key varies on which thetune is played.There is also another alteration worthy of notice;by the addition o.f two large keys, managed with thewrist, a part of the basses, or all of them, can bestopped and opened at pleasure. The particulars ofthese most ingenious alterations would require termstoo technical to be introduced here, hut they shallbe the subject of a future number,contd: page ic,,
issue Number
20
page Number
8
periodical Author
[Periodical]
issue Publication Date
1975-02-01T00:00:00
allowedRoles
anonymous,guest,friend,member

Píobaire, An, Volume 1, Issue 20

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