The Pipers' Gathering 2006
"Live From Killington Vermont"

 

 

  
CD: Live From Killington

Performances recorded from
our 2006 concerts in
Killington Vermont,
featuring some of the best
alternative bagpipe artists
in the world.

 

 

About this CD

This is the third CD put out by the Pipers’ Gathering and the second from the weekend series of workshops and concerts held in August each year at the Pipers’ Gathering in Killington, Vermont. Players come together to share their skills with piping aficionados in an atmosphere of camaraderie, laughter, music and the pure joy of spending a whole weekend playing bagpipes.

The tracks on this CD have been chosen from the music that was played at the two evening concerts during the 2006 Pipers’ Gathering. They are live, virtually unedited recordings of performances given by pipers for pipers. No attempt has been made to sanitize the playing and produce studio quality recordings. You will hear slight mistakes here and there, the odd note or drone out tune due to the reeds reacting with changes in humidity of the mountain air at Killington and the unmistakable sound of feet tapping out the tempo. Our grateful thanks go to each of the performers for allowing their playing to be used to produce a memento of a great weekend. In this world of perfectly produced studio recordings, it takes great courage for a performer to allow a live track to be offered to the public. We hope that listeners will be able to capture some of the atmosphere of this event and may even be tempted to join us at future events.

Listing of Tracks, Titles, Performers and Instruments

For more artist information and pictures, please see the 
INSTRUCTORS and ARTIST GALLERY pages !

  1. Interlude/Mr. Tollet’s Hornpipe : Jon Swayne & Becky Price, Border pipes & accordion
  2. Standing Abbey/Fairy Queen : Benedict Koehler & Hilari Farrington, Uilleann pipes
  3. Lucy Farr’s Barn Dance/James Gannon’s Barn Dance : Jerry O’Sullivan, Uilleann pipes
  4. Mo Dhachlaigh/Finbar Saunders/The Handshaker/Dr. Drone : Annie Grace, Scottish small pipes
  5. Miss Hannah Ormston/Katie Elliott’s Jig : Chris Ormston, Northumbrian small pipes
  6. Trip to Galilee : Jerry O’Sullivan, Uilleann pipes
  7. Lament of the Three Marys/Niel Gow’s Wife/The Ravelled Hank of Yarn : Jerry O’Sullivan, Uilleann pipes
  8. Keening in the Wind/Clumsy Lover : Ian Lawther, Northumbrian small pipes
  9. Ace and Deuce of Pipering : David Power, Uilleann pipes
  10. Philib Séimh Ò Fathaigh : David Power, Uilleann pipes
  11. The Glorious Thirteenth/The Star : Jon Swayne & Becky Price, Border pipes & accordion
  12. The Braes of Locheil/Lang Stayed Away : Chris Ormston, Northumbrian small pipes
  13. Wild Hills O’ Wannies/Wiliam Taylor’s Hornpipe : Ian Lawther, Northumbrian small pipes
  14. The Stamford Waltz : Jon Swayne & Becky Price, Border pipes & accordion
  15. The Coming of Spring/The Black Rogue : Benedict Koehler & Hilari Farrington, Uilleann pipes
  16. Napoleon’s Farewell to Paris/Temple Hill : Benedict Koehler & Hilari Farrington, Uilleann pipes
  17. The Sleeping Tune/Hecla/Tullybannocher/Big Duncan’s Reel : Annie Grace, Scottish small pipes
Recorded live by Bob Mills in Killington Vermont in August 2006.
Engineered and mixed by Bob Mills.
<http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bobmills>

All tracks except as noted traditional and arranged by artist.
Copyright © 2006 The Pipers' Gathering Inc.  

The Pipers Gathering Inc. has received permission for use of all tunes not in public domain. If we have mistakenly attributed a tune currently under copyright to the public domain, we apologize and would like to be informed of our error. We wish to thank all the performers on this recording for generously donating their time and skills. We also wish to thank the composers and copyright holders for their kind permission.

About the Bagpipes

Scottish Small Pipes

There is no doubt that small pipes existed in Scotland in various forms (both mouth and bellows blown) but these have all suffered a demise into near or complete extinction. The present revival started in 1983 when the celebrated Northumbrian pipe-maker, Colin Ross, designed a Scottish open-ended cylindrically-bored chanter to fi t the highly developed and sophisticated Northum- brian chanter reed, but which played with the Highland bagpipe fi ngering system. Scottish small pipes have led the present revival of bellows-blown pipes nationally and inter- nationally. In its modern form it is a bellows-blown bagpipe with three drones set in a common stock and with a cylindrically-bored open-ended chanter. The drones are tuned to the tonic, one an octave below the tonic and one in between, on the fi fth. It is currently being made in four keys, namely A, B fl at, C and D. The key of A is by far the most popular and can now be regarded as the standard for this instrument. The scale of the chanter is myxolydian having a sharpened third and sixth and natural seventh.

Northumbrian Small Pipes

The Northumbrian small pipes produce a quiet, melodious sound from a cylindrically-bored, keyed chanter. The standard instrument is pitched one tone below concert pitch and has seven keys. Chanters with 17 keys are capable of playing a fully chromatic scale over a range of two octaves. There are usually 4 drones in a common stock, three being played at any one time to produce a continuous chord accompaniment of tonic, fi fth and lower octave. The drones are fi tted with tuning beads and may be tuned to produce various chords depending on the key signature of the melody.

Uileann Pipes

Like the Scottish and Northumbrian small pipes mentioned previously, the Uilleann (pronounced "illan") pipes, from Ireland, are bellows-blown. The chanter has a complex conical bore and may have up to 5 keys. The usual pitch is concert pitch, although historically the instrument was pitched lower and pipes pitched one or two tones below concert pitch are regaining popularity. There are three drones, the smallest of which is pitched to the tonic of the chanter and the other two are pitched one and two octaves lower respectively. Three regulators, or closed keyed chanters, make up the full set of Uilleann pipes and these are used to produce accompanying chords and, occasionally, a counter melody.

Border Pipes

Border pipes are bellows-blown, have three drones issuing from a common stock, and have a coni- cally-bored chanter, in contrast to the parallel bore of the small pipes, thus allowing the pipes to play an octave higher than the quieter and more mellow small pipes. The drone arrangement is A bass, A tenor and high E alto. The key of the chanter is A, and as well as the normal mixolydian scale, there are four semitones available, namely B fl at, C natural, E fl at and F natural. These are achieved only in conical chanters and by the use of a system of cross-fingering.

A more detailed description of all these pipes and further information about the Pipers’ Gathering event may be found on the Pipers’ Gathering web site at: www.pipersgathering.org

 

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