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Píobaire, An, Volume 2, Issue 15, Page 5

Píobaire, An, Volume 2, Issue 15, Page 5
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periodical Publisher
Na Píobairí Uilleann
periodical Editor
Chairman, NPU
periodical Title
Píobaire, An
volume Number
2
issue Content
of Glenoshcen, Co. Limerick. Amore or less similar setting isfound in a Tipperary manuscriptabout the same date and is therenamed The Ace and Deuce ofMusic.Joe Byrne (tied on May 10,193!, at Aughrim, Co. Wicklow,and is buried iii the local grave-yard. A memorial stone was erect-ed over his grave by the localbranch of Comhaltas CeoltoiriEireann in October 1975.flTHE COMPLEAT TUTOR FORTHE PASTORAL OR NEWBAGPIPE (Ii)Geoghegan describes only twodrones the Bass and the Tenor. Ireceived a greatly enlarged photo-graph of the Frontispiece from theBritish Library. I could clearly dis-tinguish three drones, the 0 liC atthe back being largely obscured bythe Bass drone. This third drone isintermediate in length betweenthe other two drones. A drawingtaken from the photograph isgiven below:The drawing of the piper play-ing the pipes shows the chanter tohe tapered towards the bottom,suggesting a conical bore like ourown instrument. The chanterwould appear to be open at thebottom; there is however no refer-ence to the chanter being stopped.If the instrument was often playediii the standing position, then thechanter would naturally be openat the bottom.On page 3 Geoghegan gives thescale and fingering of the chanter(See page opposite).It is interesting that we have thecomplete fingering of the chanter.The chanter has 8 holes, the sameas the Union pipe chanter, Pre-Sn nabi y t lie top hole is placed onthe hack of the chanter and play-ed with the thumb, if we examinethe fingers of the piper in thefrontispiece. The bottom notehowever is not D hut C and wehave some indication of the diffi-culty of covering the bottom holeof the chanter with the littlefinger from a coni lnent made byGeoghegan on page 2:As to placing the Handswhich is the principal thing firstto he learnd. It must be ohservdthat the lower hole of theChanter cannot be turnd to yelittle finger, as the Flute, there-fore tIme lower hand must beplacd with the Fingers so far inon on the holes of ye Instrumentas will! be convenient for thelittle Finger to reach the lowerho le.This is exactly the situation onthe Union pipe chanter. How is itpossible to achieve U one hole be-low E and C with all the holescovered? Again if we examine thechanter carefully we find that ittapers out considerably towardsthe bottom - perhaps the boredoes likewise. This would allowfor such tuning.Another important feature ofthis chanter and reed is the factthat it can be overblown in orderto achieve a second octave afern Byrne at AugI,ri;n, Co. Wick-/ow. We are indebted to Mrs. Bren-jian, Cm-new. Co, Wicklow, for acopy of this photograph.A LONDON PIPERThe above picture was presented by Ciaran Mac Mathuna, to whom thepip er Was identified as Daniel Qyliahoney. whose stage name wasMichael OHara according to O Neill , and wI,o was born in (837 atBennondsey. He was tang /it music by his father. a native of Cork. Cananybody offer positive identification or other information, please?5
issue Number
15
page Number
5
periodical Author
[Periodical]
issue Publication Date
1982-07-01T00:00:00
allowedRoles
anonymous,guest,friend,member

Píobaire, An, Volume 2, Issue 15

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