Piping on St. Patrick's Day

[OC Richard]

For many years I've charged $200 for a gig, whether it be a funeral, wedding, or what have you. That includes any gig up to an hour. If the gig runs over a few minutes I don't make a fuss over it.

I usually tack on an another $100 for each additional hour. So your three-hour gig would be a $300 gig for me.

I wouldn't myself do a three-hour gig on the big pipes. I do do a three-hour gig each St Patrick's Day, a laid-back house party where I sit in a corner and play uilleann pipes, Scottish Smallpipes, and various whistles. I even break out the big pipes a couple times.

About kilts on St Patrick's Day, it varies for me from year to year. There are years where I'm only doing uilleann gigs and I wear pants all day. There are years where I'm only doing GHB gigs and it's kilts all day. (I somewhat dislike playing the uilleann pipes in kilts, and playing the GHB in pants.)

Your proposed outfit sounds fine to me.

[seanachie]

Quality Matters too. For my wedding I did not want to get the "low bidder".
I had a piper pipe us down the aisle after Mass and I had a wonderful uillean piper with 2 additional musicians at the reception. This was a frugal wedding, but as a day always to be remembered I paid fairly and for quality. If you are a quality piper don't sell your talents short.

[ANP3]

Thanks for the help,

I don't expect to be playing for 3 hours non stop, I don't even think I could, when I timed myself last I had about 13ish min., of music memorized perfectly and that was at more or less full tempo on all the tunes, and I was beat. So, how as a Piper do I make a few tunes last a long time, I can play a huge number of tunes from sheet music, but that feels like cheating. Is it? Also, how do pipers usually play at gigs, all tunes non stop, or due to the relative informality if the gig would it be tune, socialize, tune and socialize etc.?

[OC Richard]

I don't expect to be playing for 3 hours non stop, I don't even think I could, when I timed myself last I had about 13ish min., of music memorized perfectly and that was at more or less full tempo on all the tunes, and I was beat. So, how as a Piper do I make a few tunes last a long time, I can play a huge number of tunes from sheet music, but that feels like cheating. Is it? Also, how do pipers usually play at gigs, all tunes non stop, or due to the relative informality if the gig would it be tune, socialize, tune and socialize etc.?

I suppose you'll have to play it by ear and go with the flow, playing when it seems right to play and taking breaks when you need to.

It's funny with the GHB, some clients will by analogy with other instruments hire you to play for multiple hours... but most of the public prefers the pipes in small doses. It's why so many gigs, wisely, use the pipes sparingly, say for a tune to end a service, or a dramatic beginning to some event.

I did, though, many years ago (around 1980) play for three straight hours at a wedding reception. I was placed on a staircase so that my playing could be heard thoughout both floors of the restaurant, but not blasting directly at anybody. I wouldn't have the lip to play that much now! Or probably the repertoire. I played 45min then took a 15min break, typical Musician's Union stuff.

My repertoire was pretty big at that point: I didn't have to repeat any tunes until into the third hour. And no sheet music.

But don't hesitate to use sheet music! If it's cheating, then every professional orchestral musician and studio musician on Earth is a cheater.

Like most "legit" musician, I have my "book". Every time a client asks for a tune I don't know, I write out a pipe arrangement and stick the music in my book. After over 30 years of giggin my book has all sorts of stuff in it: Andrews Sisters songs, Disney songs, anthems from various nations, hymns, Catholic music, Jewish music, plus a vast number of Irish tunes. Many's the gig where I sit and play the uilleann pipes for hours, reading through that book.

[creagdhubh]

(I somewhat dislike playing the uilleann pipes in kilts, and playing the GHB in pants.)

Makes complete sense to me, Richard.

[EagleJCS]

Pipers around here start out at US$150. That gets one piper, dressed and tuned, for one hour. How long that piper plays depends on the gig and what's requested. The fee is negotiated up from there. My piping instructor (with 30 years of experience and countless tunes) I think starts at $250 these days.

One thing I'd be sure the hosts are aware of is how loud the GHB is, especially indoors. Casual conversation within about 20 feet of you will be next to impossible. I recommend YOU wear earplugs.

I'm all for using sheet music, especially if you're not confident in having a wide variety of tunes memorized. It would be quite different if you were in a concert setting or on parade (hard for a piper to carry sheet music).

[Jack Daw]

If you're of the Grade 4 variety Masonpiper's prices sound about right. In Houston, I'm lucky to get that, although sometimes I can charge more depending on the venue. We have a glut of very good pipers in Houston as there are at least four GHB bands, and the St. Thomas Episcopal School is a piper factory; so, competition for gigs can be dire.

[OC Richard]

I'd be sure the hosts are aware of is how loud the GHB is, especially indoors. Casual conversation within about 20 feet of you will be next to impossible. I recommend YOU wear earplugs.

This gets into an issue that I have to deal with quite a bit: churches banning bagpipes altogether because they're too loud.

What these people don't realise is that there is quite a range of volume possible, even sticking with the GHB.

A really good piper, say a piper who plays in a Grade One band, is going to have a band chanter set up to be extremely loud and extremely sharp. Loud and sharp are exactly what you want in G1 band competition but not ideal for playing in a church or restaurant!

I've found over the years that a 466 chanter (that is, a chanter which plays at Concert B Flat) is far better than a 480++ band chanter for indoor gigs of any sort. The volume is much lower, the tone is more mellow, and the pitch agrees with any canned background music or live band in another room or what have you.

This really came to roost when on successive St Patrick's Days I played my 466 chanter at a daylong gig where I travelled between various locations of a restaurant chain the first year, but my 484 band chanter the second year. The reaction was very different, the people finding the 466 chanter pleasing but the 484 chanter annoying. Annoying isn't good for a gigging musician!

I have to explain this stuff all the time to church people who have banned bagpipes. Also I have uilleann pipes which are the same volume as a violin or flute, but these church people have never seen one and think it's the loud Scottish pipes. Oi oi oi.

I had to move heaven and earth to get the church people to allow me to play the uilleann pipes yesterday at my Father-in-law's funeral Mass. They could not wrap their minds around the idea of the uilleann pipes, even though I had played at that same church in the past and everything was fine.

One guy even told me that instruments were banned inside of Catholic churches during Lent. What BS... I had just played uilleann pipes along with a guitar, flute, drum, and keyboard at a different Catholic church last Sunday!

[Father Bill]

Yeah - the banning of instruments is an optional observation of Lent that is rarely used any more. As a mid-way point, my churches have no processional or recessional hymns during Lent. Some churches are more rigorous than others on that rule.

Bill+

[ANP3]

Well, my college is a Jesuit University so I hope pipes during lent is okay!

On to switching chanters, where would I get such a thing? For the future, it's far to late to get one now, but I like the idea. I would like to play at Churches, and school band concerts etc. So a more "musical," chanter may be in order. How much should I expect to spend on a thing like that?