Patrick D'Arcy is my name. I play the uilleann pipes and Irish whistles professionally here in Nashville and with some bands too; namely, The Nashville Celts, The Getty's, Rattle The Knee, The Ne'er Duwels and (many moons ago) Flogging Molly. On my channel I post videos of tunes I've taught online and would like to share them with you. Also videos of traditional Irish music. I hope you enjoy it! You can support my cause by buying my albums "Wallop The Spot" - patrickdarcy.bandcamp.com/album/wallop-the-spot or "Rattle The Knee" - patrickdarcy.bandcamp.com/album/rattle-the-knee
Truly an inspiration! Do you still offer online lessons? I am out in Canada and will be getting my half set of pipes in about a month. I have a ton of music experience (GHB bagpipes, whistles, button accordions, harp) but I know that these pipes are a completely different beast and I am sure I will need a hand to get started! Not sure how much I will be able to pull from my piping experience as I have always been taught “constant pressure on the bag” and obviously that notion doesn’t work on these pipes LOL. I play a bit of border pipes so I have a wee bit of experience with bellows ….
Sounds fabulous when you play it both ways! Second way is the way we play it in our session group in Elmira, Ontario Canada 😊. Thanks for posting these fabulous videos!
Thanks for the inspiration! I am a GHB and getting my first set of pipes at the end of the month. My toxic trait is thinking that it will come easier to me with GHB experience (when I know from others that this is simply not the case LOL.. oh well … dare to dream I guess LOL). I will definitely be using your wonderful videos in the future to help me on my journey!
Thanks and yes, The Frieze Britches is a great tune. I’ll see about recording it for you. If my calculations are correct it’s a five parter. Willie Clancy, Seamus Ennis and Leo Rowsome, among others, recorded it. I’ll see if I can find a nice video and post it here too. Remember you can slow down the videos using the settings gear wheel.
Seo dhuit, a chara - This is definitely a story based on historical fact. In the old times in Ireland, you know, there were what we called the Hiring Fairs. That's where a boy or a girl would go to the Hiring Fair to hire out with a farmer as a farmer's servant or a dairy maid, or a lad just as a farmer's servant round the yard, and helping him with his work on the land. And this little girl went to the Hiring Fair one day. And what they used to do was stand in a line, all day. Nowadays, they'd call it a queue. But she stood there all day, and every boy and girl in the whole line was taken and she was left there alone. And nobody had hired her. And she was thinking of going home and telling her parents that nobody hired her. And a funny little man came up to her, with a cocked hat on him. Now you wouldn't believe it but this cocked hat was coloured pink. And he had a jacket with brass buttons on it, and that was coloured a bright vivid blue. And he had a pair of knee breeches on him that were coloured emerald green. And he had a pair of yellow stockings on him up to the top of his knee breeches. And a pair of beautiful shiny brown boots on him, and he had a big moustache like the handlebars of a bicycle and a beard that was reaching down to the brass buckle of his belt
And he said, "Did nobody take you little girl ?" "No sir," she said. "Well, would you come home with me, little girl ?" "Well sir," she said, "the way it is, my parents told me to arrange how much I'd be paid for my service with you." - because these were contracts for six months. And.....ah, he felt her biceps, and he said, "You're a strong little girl, I'll pay you well." Well they travelled up a high hill and down into a low valley, between green hedges and ditches. And they left the hard road and turned down to the soft road, between green hedges and ditches. And they came then to a place where there were trees growing both sides of the road - what you'd call in literature : a sylvan tunnel. And when they came out of the sylvan tunnel, the road took a sharp turn to the left, and they came into a clearing. And there was the most comfortable little thatched cottage you ever saw.
"What do you call that, little girl ?" he said. "Ah, the hut or the house or whatever you please, sir." "No, no," he said, "that's the Great Castle of Strawbungle."" He took a big iron key out of his pocket and he opened the door and went in. And he threw a battle (?) of turf on the fire. "What do you call that, little girl ?" "That - the hot or the heat or whatever you please, sir." "No," he said, "that's hot cockalorum." The next thing, the cat came in and stretched by the fire. "What do you call that, little girl ?" "That's a kit or the cat or whatever you please, sir." "Oh no," he said, "that's white-faced simminy." "And," she said, "if I may make so bold, what do I call you, sir ?" "Oh, my name is Don Nipiri Septo," he said, "and I think we'll put on the kettle and we'll make tea." And you can picture her, dutiful little girl that she was, over to the crock of water with the pannikin, filling the kettle. "What do you call that, little girl ?" "That's the wet or the water or whatever you please, sir." "No," he said, that's pondalorum."
And she hung the kettle on the crane over the fire. And he then took off his boots. His feet were tired after walking the whole day through the fair, and, "What do you call those, little girl ?" "Your boots, your brogues, whatever you please, sir." "No," he said, "they're my hey-down feathers." And then he rattled the knee of his knee-breeches. And, "What do you call those, little girl ?" "Ah, your breeches, your breeks, whatever you please,sir." "No," he said, "they're my fortune's crackers." And he said, "now while we're waiting for the kettle to boil, I'll show you upstairs where you're going to sleep. I'll show you your room where you're going to live for the next six months. And going up the stairs, he said, "what do you call these, little girl ?" "Ah, the steps or the stairs or whatever you please, sir," she said. "No," he said, "that's the wooden hill." And he threw open the door at the top of the stairs and he showed her her bed and her room. "What do you call that, little girl ?" "Oh, the bed or the bunk or whatever you please, sir." "No," he said, "that's the barnacle."
And they had their supper and milked the cow and locked up and away to bed for the night. In the middle of the night, there was a knock on his door. "What's wrong, little girl ?" he said. "Raise up from your barnacle, Don Nipiri Septo. Put on your fortune's crackers and your hey-down feathers and come down the wooden hill, because white-faced simminy has a spark of hot cockalorum on the tail. If we don't pour pondalorum on it quick the Great Castle of Strawbungle will be on hot cockalorum. Now, I knew that little girl years later, and whenever we'd be playing music, we'd have to be careful not to play 'The Smokey House,' because if we did, she'd run a mile. So we never played it after we found out that she was allergic to this reel. Sin é.
Ive been involved in music (choir, band, orchestra) for most of my life (27) i have never heard of this instrument but it makes so much sense. Please keep uploading!
I have a vague suspicion that Séamus Ennis heard or read the English tale of Master of All Masters collected by Joseph Jacobs and published by David Nutt in 1898, which he adapted for his own use. There's another Scots version of this story called the Clever Apprentice that was collected from a Mr Copeland, a schoolmaster from Tyrie in Aberdeenshire and published by W. Gregor in 1889 in the Folk-Lore Journal.
I had the opportunity to watch an uilleann pipe master and I've been trying to find anyone close to his skill. You are the single best example I've found.
I was 12 years old when we got our first B&W TV about Summer 1965. Séamus Ennis had an early evening program (Down The Garden Path) on Teilifís Éireann where he would relate folk stories and play tunes on his Uilleann Pipes. Great Stuff! Ar dheis Dé 😇go raibh a h-anam dílis/RIP!👼Ní bheidh a leithéad ann arís!
Thanks! They’re a Koehler & Quinn set. Chanter reed is cane, as is the tenor regulator. Baritone & bass regulators are spruce. Drone reeds are composite wood bodies with sugar maple tongues. I’m in Clarksville but get down to Nashville quite regularly.
Very nice instructional video Mr. D’Arcy. I’ve looked for this tune on NPU’s archives of instructional videos, and despite the popularity of this tune, it’s not there. I enjoy the staccatos you place in there.
@@PDarcy Hi Patrick. Sorry for delayed response. I have a practice set made by Bruce Childress. I’m a novice player at this point, but love the instrument and its history.
I was taught by Piaras Creegan at Ceoltais in Monkstown back in the 70's / 80s. Those moves you are calling 'rolls' look similar to what he used to call 'slurs'. Are they the same thing?
