Can you play any sort of music on the uilleann pipes, or just Irish music?
As American piper Jerry O’Sullivan proved on his album The Gift, it’s definitely possible to play any kind of music on the uilleann pipes, even Bach! Some kinds of music are easier than others, though…the pipes are definitely best suited for folk music, and playing in certain keys can become very awkward, depending on how many keys one has on the chanter. On my chanter, for instance, I can’t play G sharp or B flat, because I don’t have keys for these notes, and there are no usable cross-fingerings for them. The pipes are not a truly chromatic instrument, even with a keyed chanter–a tune that might be easy to play in E minor would be brutal in F sharp minor! Also, some melodies just don’t sound good with a drone, if they modulate (change key) too often. Many things are possible on the pipes, but if you want Schubert or Coltrane, you’re probably better off hiring a string quartet or a jazz combo.
