Ten Years to the Day

[OC Richard]

While I play Irish traditional music on the uilleann pipes I do not limit myself to that one genre.

I do limit myself; I stick to uilleann pipe repertoire on the uilleann pipes and Highland pipe repertoire on the Highland pipes.

I've heard uilleann pipers try to play several Highland pipe tunes like Clumsy Lover and they just don't work for me. Likewise I've heard many Highland pipers try to play uilleann tunes like The Gold Ring and come up far short.

Seems to me that in various traditional musics there's a three-way synergy or interrelationship between tune, instrument, and performance practice; indeed the tunes were composed on a specific instrument by traditional players of that instrument and the idiosyncrasies of the instrument are built into the melodies. This is most true (it seems to me) of the bagpipes played in various traditions (the Bulgarian Gaida is an excellent example).