Free Uilleann Pipe Mp3 downloads

The uilleann piper Patsy Touhey was the most celebrated Irish traditional musician of his day. Born in 1865, he flourished in the USA as a professional entertainer and became a prime mover of the Gaelic music revival in the States. Today his music is a byword for unsurpassed virtuosity. His crucial importance to the history of Irish traditional music is that he is the earliest traditional musician of whom we have a substantial body of sound recordings, giving us a unique insight into the incredibly rich world of traditional music making in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The largest single collection of recordings of Touhey’s music is the Busby-Carney collection, which is now held at the Irish Traditional Music Archive. This collection contains private cylinder recordings made by Touhey himself and often featuring spoken introductions by him. A remastered selection from the collection is given here.

ITMA Refno.	Track Title
20409-CYL	The Munster Gimlet (jig)
20410-CYL	The Humours of Ennistymon (jig and reel)
20411-CYL	Humours of Whiskey (jig and reel)
20412-CYL	The Sword in Hand (reel)
20413-CYL	Poll Halpenny (hornpipe and reel)
20414-CYL	Harrigan's Fancy (reel)
20415-CYL	The Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow (slow air)
20416-CYL	The Dandy Reel
20417-CYL	Fasten the Leg in Her (jig and reel)
20418-CYL	My Love is in America (reel)
20419-CYL	Garryowen (slow air and reel)
20420-CYL	Brian the Brave (slow air and reel)

Some Tips on getting & keeping your pipes playing

http://www.uilleannreeds.co.uk/reeds.htm

Heat is your enemy!!!!!
Don't leave your pipes in a direct heat source, such as in sunlight in the back of a car, near a radiator or stove, under stage lights etc. - this will affect your reeds badly either temporarily or permanently.

If you live in or are playing in a hot and dry climate and your reeds begin to choke up, leave your pipes in a bathroom overnight (but not in the bath!!) with water in the bath. Keep a large piece of peeled cucumber or potato in your case. Soak the inside of your bellows just before playing or remove the clack valve holder and put a piece of wet rag or sponge in the bellows and replace the clack valve.

If your reed slips don't make that characteristic "clink"sound when you drop them onto a hard surface then the cane is probably underseasoned; microwave the slip for about 4 to 5 seconds and leave to cool, it works.

Split your slips out of the cane tube as soon as you can and leave to settle down for as long as possible. Make reed blanks and leave them for days, weeks or even months before you cut the head down and voice them. Never try to get the best out of a reed on the day that you make it, give the cane time to adjust to its new form. Time and patience pay off.

if your pipes begin to "act up"at a smoky, sweaty session or wherever resist the urge to "fiddle"with your reeds; rather leave your set to sit and rest for a few minutes or so, or even put them away and leave them overnight if you can- its amazing how often they come back to themselves without drastic adjustment.

After a while a chanter reed may become leaky with age, then coat the binding with nail varnish or glue.
Use oboe reed wire (available from woodwind suppliers) to cure any air leaks just below the bridle, the classical woodwind players do it to get a bit longer out of a reed so why not us pipers.

Keep all keys 100% airtight (very important). There is no need to re-pad with leather, sealing wax and heat any more, just use an old computer mouse pad to cut the pads from and glue them on. If a regulator key begins to leak use an elastic band to seat it properly until you can fix it. Leaks are the other great enemy (apart from bodhran players of course ;-)

Crowley Pipemakers

Uilleann Pipers and Makers by John Mitchell

The Crowley name is synonymous with the art of uilleann piping and pipe making. It is a name which is highly respected within the world of uilleann piping and is known near and far. Their love for all things Irish and especially the uilleann pipes was the driving force behind all their work. They readily passed on their vast knowledge of piping and pipe making to any up and coming aspiring pipers and pipe makers. This generosity of nature played no small part in keeping the art of uilleann piping and pipe making very much alive in their native city of Cork.

The Crowley brothers came from Saint James Square, Blackpool. Tadhg was born in 1899 and his brother Denis in 1908. Tadhg began to learn the bag pipes at the age of sixteen. He was associated with two pipe bands, The Lee Pipe Band and The Brian Boru Pipe Band. At this time most bands were playing marches and Scottish pipe music. It was Tadhg’s love of his own native music that led him to transcribe all of the 1001 tunes from the famous Chief O’Neill’s book, into bag pipe settings. Original manuscripts of this huge task thankfully still survive at the time of writing this. By the early 1920’s Tadhg had developed an interest in repairing bag pipes and drums for local bands. It was around this time that he began to learn the uilleann pipes, his for love, at the Cork Pipers Club. In 1926, he repaired a set of uilleann pipes for Henry Ford’s father. These pipes are now in the Ford Museum in Dearbourn, Michigan. Henry Ford wrote back to Tadhg, which led to Tadhg working in Ford’s factory for six months.

…the Crowley name is highly respected within the world of uilleann piping and is known near and far…

That same year Tadhg was toying with the idea of going to the States. He had all of his papers ready and his uncle in the States had a job organised for him. One evening he went for a walk up to Sunday’s Well and looked out over the city. His love for his city and music won out, he decided not to go. Instead he decided to go into the uilleann pipe, bag pipe and drum making business full time.

Self taught, he first made a set of uilleann pipes for himself. Denis, his brother, was also interested in piping and pipe making and assisted his brother in the business. They ran their business firstly from their home, and in 1933 they moved it to 10, Merchants Quay, Cork. Due to rapidly growing demand for Crowley uilleann pipes, bag pipes and drums the Crowley brothers opened a workshop in Maylor Street, in the late 1930’s. Their 10 Merchant Quay premises remained as a music shop.

Tommy Clapham, a wood turner, and Denis Clapham, a drum maker (Tadhg’s brothers-in-law), both came to work in the workshop. The workshop had three wood lathes, a metal lathe, a band saw, a circular saw and big stocks of African black wood, Spanish cane and brass for fittings and keys. It was Tadhg Crowley who first used cupped keys on his chanters and regulators. The cupped design gives better sealing as it stops the leather pads from spreading out. This method has since been used by other pipe makers. He got this from clarinet makers.

Tadhg made a set of silver plated pipes for Micheal O Riabhaigh and Moss Kennedy. One of these sets was displayed at a trade fair in the City Hall. These pipes had an interesting feature as one of the drones which could be tuned to the note G, which would then harmonise with tunes being played in the E minor mode on the D chanter.

Tadhg taught both Micheal O Riabhaigh and Moss Kennedy their piping. He also taught Moss the art of uilleann pipe making. Micheal O Riabhaigh went on to revive the Cork Pipers Club in 1963.

Mary (May) McCarthy, piper and dancer, taught Tadhg’s daughters dancing in the Crowley home in the later 1940’s. Sean Wayland (chief founder of the Cork Pipers Club) was a good friend of Tadhg’s, and kept in regular contact with him by letter. A photograph of Sean always hung in the Crowley home.

Throughout his life Tadhg readily promoted all things Irish, especially our music and dance. He regularly played at dances at “An Grianan” and the A.O.H. Hall. Tadhg died all too young at the age of fifty two (1899 - 1952), leaving a young family behind. Denis, his brother, ably assisted him throughout his musical instrument making career. Denis continued to make uilleann pipes up until his death in 1966. The Crowley name is still strongly associated with music in Cork. Michael Crowley, Tadhg’s son, runs their family business from their premises in McCurtain Street, Cork.

The Cork Pipers Club is indebted to, and would like to thank the Crowley family, who so selflessly promoted the art of uilleann piping and uilleann pipe making in Cork during those lean years of the 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s when our Club was not functional.

Veronica Ryan,

Secretary,

Cork Pipers Club