Instruments:

The Uilleann (Irish for ‘elbow’) Pipes are probably the most elaborate bagpipe in the world. In its present form it dates from roughly the early C18th.

Originally known as the Union Pipes they took on their present form by the start of the nineteenth century. They can be found in a variety of pitches from B flat through to E. I play a D 'concert' set and a 'flat' setpitched in B.

Originally all sets were pitched around B or C- it was not until the demands of playing without amplification to concert hall audiences which required an increase in volume that they started to appear in D.

The pipes are generally constructed from hardwoods such as African Blackwood, Ebony or Boxwood. Keys are manufactured from brass or silver and mounts now from artificial ivory.

The full set consists of bag, bellows, chanter, 3 drones and 3 banks of regulators, each consisting of, usually, 4 or 5 keys.

It is the regulators that are unique to the Uilleann Pipes. Whilst playing the melody on the chanter it is possible to play single or multiple keys on the regulators with the side of the lower hand, providing chordal or harmonic accompaniment.