Na Píobairí Uilleann

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9 2 26 20130417 22 BACKGROUND T HE FIRST AUTHOR acquired an old bagpipe chanter, the property of his father, Francis O’Carroll (1889-1966, author of “A Gamut for Irish Melody”, 1948). That chanter, according to him was part of a ‘brown set’ with ‘bell-mouthed drones and no regulators’, taken out of a box in 1902- 3 by a woman then aged 84. It had been placed in the box when she was aged 5 and the box had not been opened since then, dating the chanter’s origin to be- fore 1822-3. (Note from my diary dated 1964). My memory was that the pipes had belonged to the old woman’s grandfather and had been put away at the time of his death. It is, therefore, quite possible that the chanter had its origin in the eighteenth century. The set had been acquired by Francis’s brother Richard J. O’Carroll (1880-1919) who at that time lived in Waterford City. He died in Sandymount, Dublin in late December 1919. 1 He played on this chanter while too weak to play a full set prior to his death from tuberculosis. The fate of the rest of the set is unknown The chanter was used as part of a practice set in the initial stages of the first author’s period as a pupil of Leo Rowsome from 1963 to 1966. It appears that at some point a hole was bored to sound the ‘E flat’ note and a key was added (possibly by William Rowsome who was a friend of Richard’s) but the key was later removed and the hole plugged which restored the chanter to original condition. ~ TECHNICAL ~ AN OLD IRISH BAGPIPE CHANTER MADE OF YEW Niall O Carroll and Ellen O Carroll 1 At the time of his death he was preparing a tutor for the Irish bagpipes. His draft is deposited with the Irish Traditional Music Archive.

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