If you wish to learn how To play the Irish uilleann pipes
there are three avenues of tuition you can take. This is
assuming that you have already acquired a practice set of
Uilleann Pipes to play.
The first method of tuition is to get lessons from a teacher
in your area. This may sound logical but finding an
Uilleann Pipes teacher will depend on what part of the world
you live in. As Irish Traditional Music become popular
spreading all over the world there are now people interested
in and playing Irish music on the Uilleann Pipes in Japan,
Australia, Germany and the U.S.A to mention just a few.
If you live in Ireland where the pipes originate it is easy
enough to get lessons in Dublin, Cork or Galway. Yet even in
Ireland you may have trouble finding a teachers in Donegal,
Kerry, or Lietrum. The main Piping association in Ireland is
Na Piobairi Uilleann or N.P.U for short. They have a data
base of all their members who teach. They also run the
piping classes at the “Willie Clancy Summer School” which
has one full week week of teaching Uilleann pipes every
year. Classes in Dublin through the school term and organize
piping weekends around Ireland with the help of their
members. If you live outside Ireland and wish to get lessons
from an Uilleann Pipes teacher things get a lot harder. Your
best bet is to find out where the nearest pipes club is to
where you live. If you are in the Boston area of the U.S.A.
for instance there is a Boston pipers club you can go to for
lessons . But if you live in Idaho U.S.A. you may have to
travel hundreds of miles to find a teacher.
The second way to learn Uilleann Pipes is by purchasing a
tutor Book or CD/DVD tutor. For the piper who lives in an
area with no teachers this is their main method of teaching
themselves. There are now many self teach tutor books for
the Uilleann Pipes on the market, This shows how popular the
Uilleann Pipes have become in recent years. Some-tutors have
been around for many years and give basic to advanced
methods of playing the instrument with tunes for you to
play. The more modern tutor book have an audio c.d. included
in the package. This has the advantage of the pupil being
able to follow the music aurally as well as with the
notation. It also helps with tuning the pipes and keeping
the correct tempo. Some tutor books also have alternative
notation for pupils who can not read music. The tutor with
the c.d. included is therefore the one that most teachers
would recommend to pupils who have no way of face to face
tuition.
DVD and Video tutors are now on the market and these have
the advantage of being able to see on the screen how the
tune is being played by the performing DVD teacher. As the
DVD and Video is recorded in real time you do not get as
many tunes to learn as you would from a printed book. You
must also be honest with yourself when deciding what level
of skill you have before you make your purchase. If you are
a beginner on the pipes and buy an intermediate DVD/Video
you will get a great shock as you may not be able to play
anything on it. It can take many years to get to an
intermediate level on the Uilleann Pipes so know you skill
level before you purchase. Most DVD/Vidio tutors for the
pipes come with notation and finger charts. Therefor you
have the advantage being able to see the tutor and read the
music. Piping DVD’s and Video’s are now as popular as the
tutor with audio books.
The third method that can help you is on the internet. This
can come in many forms such as - tutor and information web
sites, uilleann pipe blogs, piping audio and video links.
some sites are free while others want a fee. Video of
pipers is put up on myspace or Utube and there are many
piping club web sites from all around the world who chat and
swap tunes with each other over the internet. Some tutors
even teach by video conferencing.
With all this help available a budding piper should be able
to find a suitable method of tutorial to help them “Learn To
Play The Uilleann Pipes.
I am a tutor of the Uilleann Pipes who travels Europe, USA
and Canada teaching and playing Irish music.
Did you find those tips on Uilleann Piping useful? You can
learn a lot more about how my free web site tutor can help
you http://www.uilleannpipestutor.com here.
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