How Do You Play Irish Uilleann Bagpipes?
Though a first cousin of the Scottish Great Highland bagpipes, the Uilleann pipes (also called Irish pipes) are different. Uilleann pipes are played seated and played with bellows; Scottish pipes are played standing up by blowing into a bag. Scottish pipes have about an octave range; the Uilleann’s have a two-octave range. The Uilleann pipes are quieter, use a chanter differently and incorporate regulators. Learn the chanter. The Irish pipe chanter works differently than the Scottish bagpipe chanter. Players of the Uilleann chanter use a closed chanter by shutting the air off on the knee. Practice with the chanter until you can play several songs fluently. Try a starter set. The set consists of a pipe bag, the bellows and the chanter. The bellows must be pumped while the chanter is played. Work on this until the process is a smooth routine. Find an instructor when it’s time to progress to the next level. The instructor can instruct on some of the finer nuances, such as pipe staccato an
