Information & Resources

 

Irish Uilleann

Na Piobari Uilleann 
Information, CD, book & video orders, numerous links, photos of pipers. Pipes for Sale ads. A central resource.

 

The Irish Uilleann Pipes E-Mail List
If you have an interest in the Irish uilleann bagpipe and you want to get in on the conversations of other people from around the world who have that same interest, this is the list you want to be on. You may want to try the SET UILLEANN DIGEST option if you want one message that contains all of the messages as opposed to all of the messages appearing in your mail box at once. 

 

 David Daye’s Uilleann Pipe Web Site
This site is very complete and include frequently asked questions, plans for the homebuilt Pennychanter, instructions for joining the uilleann piper's listserve and a whole lot more. Arguably the best and most complete uilleann pipe web site. 

 

David Daye's Penny Chanter web site
Uilleann pipe chanters made out of alternative materials.

 

Pat Darcy’s Uilleann Pipes Obsession Page
Great pictures, collection of articles & materials not found elsewhere, news of Southern California Pipers’ Club and a whole lot more!

 

Uilleann Pipes Reed Making Guide
An introduction to making reeds for the Uilleann pipes, with photos.

 

Scottish & Northumbrian Smallpipes, 
Lowland & Border pipes

Bellows-blown Pipes Discussion List 
This is a discussion list for players and fans of Lowland pipes, Border pipes, Scottish and Northumbrian Smallpipes and other bellows-blown bagpipes.

 

Northumbrian Smallpipe Discussion List 
This is a very informative Internet newsgroup that can be joined by sending a subscription request to nsp-request@cs.dartmouth.edu mentioning the word "subscribe" in the title/subject line.  After registering, simply use the address<nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu> to post to the group

 

Miscellaneous

Aron Garceau's Bagpipe Painting and Etching Page 
This is a very interesting site where Aron pulls together many different sources of bagpipe iconography and representations. The purpose of this page is to make readily available old works of art that are not as easily accessible or well known enough to be printed in major collections.

 

Music For Robin
Robin Blecher, who produced a series of successful Celtic and British concerts in the Boston area, and owner of the Temple Records US label, died in February, 1985 at the age of 34. She was a highly respected, dynamic elf of a person whose energy went to helping the folk community.

A group of people in the folk music business, including Billie Hockett, Robin's mother, decided that there should be a memorial to celebrate Robin's life. Early on, the organization was called the Robin Blecher Memorial Fund and in March, 1995 it was incorporated as Robin Blecher Celtic Arts, Inc. (RBCA), a.k.a. Music for Robin, a non-profit corporation. Of the original founding group, only Billie is still with the organization.

Since 1985, RBCA has been presenting six to eight Celtic and British concerts a year featuring performers or groups with outstanding artistic excellence. Artists have come from England, Scotland, Wales, Galicia (a Celtic region of Spain), and Brittany (the Celtic region of France). Participatory ethnic folk dances of the region are sometimes added after the concert portion of the program. The United States is home to many ethnic artists, some of whom are included in our events.

In addition to the concert program, RBCA serves the Celtic and broader folk music community with resources on this web site mainly within a 100-mile radius of Boston.

 

Songs Collected by Donagh MacDonagh 
Back in the 40s and 50s my Dad did a programme on Radio Eireann called Ireland is Singing.
Songs for the programme were sent in by listeners and the staff would set them to a tune (for
the most part the songs did not come with any indication of the correct tune) and they would
be sung on the programme. This resulted in a major body of songs, many of which are not
commonly available elsewhere. The original, mostly handwritten, sheets are at the Department
of Irish Folklore in University College Dublin. For over 30 years, the typewritten copies have
been sitting on my shelves while I tried to figure out how to make them more widely available.
The Internet provides me with the ideal way to do so and this site is the result.

You can download the entire collection of 300+ songs in a 250k (not 250MB) zip file.

 

An ABC Primer
John Chambers has done a nice job of explaining this interesting way of notating tunes. 

 

PipeShow
Igor Sandere is a French piper who plays French, Irish and Scottish pipes and has been working on a web site of his own called Pipeshow. The site text is in French but that won't stop the piping enthusiast from finding their way around. It has many great pictures of beautifully made pipes and their makers contact information. According to Igor, the site is:  "...dedicated to two differents aspects of piping :
  1. The good relationships between pipers illustrated by many galleries of quality black and white pictures took during pipes workshops or festival, and 
  2. Pipe making, featuring pipemakers, hosts and a large virtual museum of currently played instruments (many close shots for each set of pipes).

 

 

Folk Spoke

Our Chairman Emeritus, Rick, becomes an Internet Sensation as a Folk Spoke!

 

 

 

 

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