Uilleann Pipe Practice Sets

The Irish Uilleann Pipes are a remarkable part of the bagpipe family. Most often tuned like the whistle and flute for the D scale, pipes are made up of several distinct parts.

The melodic chanter, upon which the tunes themselves are fingered, forms the key foundation of the instrument. With the bag (for air retention) and bellows (to supply air) alone, this forms the "practice set," which allows the learner to develop fingering, bag pressure control, and bellows tempo required to advance on the instrument. We have constructed an affordable practice set for students and have a small collection of chanter, bag, and bellows options to learn their nuances as you determine what practice set may be right for your own use if you choose to continue with the instrument.

Drones are the single note accompaniment which produce a constant D (in the case of uilleann pipes, usually over 2-3 octaves), which can usually be tied in or added to practice sets as learners feel ready and able. The addition of 3 drones to a practice set is called a half set.

Finally, up to 3 more regulators can be added alongside the drones, which have keys to allow additional notes to the chanter's melody and drone accompaniment. When all 3 regulators are present alongside the full compliment of drones, the set is referred to as "full."

Because of the progressive and complex nature of uilleann pipes, it is said to take 7 years to reach a competent stage of musicianship, and if sets are selected from reliable makers, they can usually be built up part by part over time as each stage is reached. Our team will be thrilled to help you along your journey, as uilleann pipers will need to not only understand how to play their pipes, but the crucial steps in maintaining the kit such as bag and stock upkeep, reed adjustments, tuning, and balancing the parts.

The complexity of these sets also requires an extensive level of craftsmanship, and most makers are also accomplished pipers in order to allow them to fine tune the inherent variances. This unfortunately means that almost all instruments of even beginner quality are a minimum of $700 for just a practice set. However, we have found a few unique exceptions! Some extremely kind and talented 3D modelers have made copies of their chanters which are compatible with some larger availability bags and bellows, and we've found one in particular that is very reasonable to print and reed. While the chanter is not as loud and lacks the depth and character of concert quality pieces, we are now able to at least offer these at the cost of printing from some local makers. 3D printed materials, however, are somewhat more delicate by nature than a solid chanter, and we have also found the Bagpipes Galore Delrin chanter and set can be found still more affordable than bespoke practice sets. These can allow a much more affordable entry into Irish piping than we've previously seen by almost half, and it is absolutely thrilling to be able to offer this to our local community. We have both options on hand for trial so that you can make the most informed decision, and we can guide you through the nuances of this decision as both starter sets have potential pros and cons to weigh as you plan into your growth as a musician.