The uilleann pipes (pronounced "ee-lan" or "ee-lyan"), also called Union pipes or Irish pipes, are the traditional bagpipes of Ireland. Their name comes from the Irish phrase "píobaí uilleann," which means "pipes of the elbow," because the instrument is inflated using a bellows. The term "uilleann pipes" was first used in the 20th century by a person named Grattan Flood. Some people thought the name "Union" was connected to the 1800 Act of Union, but this is not true. A poem from 1796 already used the word "union."

The bag of the uilleann pipes is filled with air using a small bellows that is attached around the waist and the right arm (or left arm for left-handed players). The bellows help the player keep the bag inflated without needing to blow constantly. They also allow dry air to reach the reeds, which helps the instrument stay in tune and last longer. Some players can speak or sing while playing. The bag is held under the opposite elbow, and the player squeezes it to control the air flow to the reeds, which create the musical notes.

Air from the bag travels to the chanter, drones, and regulators. The chanter is played like a flute, using fingers to cover and uncover holes. It can play two full octaves, including sharps and flats, because it can be blown harder to reach higher notes. The chanter is often rested on the player’s thigh, with the bottom hole closed so air only escapes through the open holes. If one hole is closed before another is opened, the sound stops briefly, creating a short, separated tone.

The three drones are simple open pipes that always play three notes spaced an octave apart. The three regulators are closed pipes that do not make sound unless their keys are opened by the player’s wrist or hand. Each key produces a different note when opened. The keys are arranged so multiple can be pressed at once, allowing the player to make simple chords for rhythm and harmony. The uilleann pipes also use many musical decorations, such as grace notes.

The sound of the uilleann pipes is different from other bagpipes. They have a sweeter and softer tone compared to instruments like the Great Irish warpipes, Great Highland bagpipes, or Italian zampognas. The uilleann pipes are usually played indoors and while sitting.

Etymology

The word "uilleann" comes from the Irish word for "elbow," which is "uillinn." The Irish name for the instrument called uilleann pipes is "píb uilleann" (or "píob uilleann"), which means "pipes of the elbow."

The first written record of the instrument was called "Union pipes" at the end of the 18th century. This name might have been used to describe how the parts of the instrument—such as the chanter, drones, and regulators—work together. Another idea is that the name "Union pipes" referred to a time when England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland were not yet joined as one country. However, this is not true because the name "Union pipes" was used before the Act of Union, which happened in 1801. It is also possible that the uilleann pipes were popular among wealthy people in Scotland, Ireland, and parts of England, and the term "Union pipes" might have come from this popularity in formal events.

The term "uilleann pipes" was first recorded at the start of the 20th century. William Henry Grattan Flood, an Irish music scholar, suggested that "uilleann" came from the Irish word for "elbow." He pointed to a line in William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice (published in 1600), where the phrase "woollen pipes" appears. This idea was shared by two earlier scholars and later accepted by the Gaelic League. However, Breandán Breathnach, another scholar, argued that it is unlikely the word "uilleann" changed to "woollen" in English before the 16th century (when the instrument did not exist) and then later became "union" two centuries later.

History

The first bagpipes that are well documented in Ireland were similar to the Scottish Highland bagpipes now played in Scotland. These instruments were called the "Great Irish Warpipes." In Irish and Scottish Gaelic, the instrument was named the píob mhór, which means "great pipe."

While the mouth-blown warpipe was still used in battles in France and other parts of Europe, it had nearly disappeared in Ireland. Around the early 18th century, the union or uilleann pipe appeared at the same time as the bellows-driven Northumbrian smallpipes and the bellows-driven Scottish Lowland bagpipes. All three instruments were much quieter and had a sweeter sound than the older mouth-blown versions. Their design required attaching a bellows under the right arm, which pumped air through a tube to a leather bag under the left arm. This bag provided air at a steady pressure to the chanter and the drones (and regulators in the case of the Irish uilleann pipes). A music book from the 1740s called this early form of the uilleann pipes the "Pastoral or New bagpipe." The Pastoral pipes were powered by bellows and could be played while sitting or standing. The conical bored chanter was played "open," meaning smoothly, unlike the uilleann pipes, which could also be played "closed," meaning with short, separate notes. Early Pastoral pipes had two drones, and later versions had one or, rarely, two regulators. The Pastoral and later flat set Union pipes developed as ideas about the instrument were shared between Ireland, Scotland, and England during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The earliest surviving sets of uilleann pipes date from the second half of the 18th century, though exact dates are not certain. Only recently have scientists studied the instrument, and many questions about its development remain unanswered. The uilleann or union pipes may have come from the Pastoral pipes (also called Border pipes, Northumbrian pipes, or Scottish smallpipes) and became popular in Ireland among the Protestant Anglo-Irish community and their wealthy pipers, who could afford such expensive handmade instruments. The Irish uilleann pipes are more complex in design, and their development likely happened among the wealthy. Many early players in Ireland were Protestant, including the mid-18th-century piper Jackson from County Limerick and the 18th-century blind pipemaker William Kennedy from Tandragee. The famous Rowsome family from County Wexford were members of the Church of Ireland until the mid- to late 19th century. The uilleann pipes were often used by Protestant clergy as an alternative to church organs. As late as the 19th century, the instrument was still closely linked to the Anglo-Irish community. For example, the Anglican clergyman Canon James Goodman (1828–1896) from Kerry had his custom-made uilleann pipes buried with him in Creagh (Church of Ireland) cemetery near Baltimore, County Cork. His friend, John Hingston from Skibbereen, who also worked at Trinity College, played the uilleann pipes. Another friend of Canon Goodman, Alderman Phair of Cork (founder of the pipers club in Cork in the 1890s), had Goodman’s pipes recovered from Creagh cemetery. Later, the pipes were donated to Cork piper Michael O'Riabhaigh, who helped revive the (by then extinct) pipers club in Cork in the 1960s.

Tuning

The instrument is most often tuned in the key of D today, a tradition started by the Taylor brothers (originally from Drogheda, Ireland, and later from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) in the late 1800s. Canon Goodman played a Taylor set. Before this, most pipes were tuned to other keys, such as D♭, C, B, and B♭, which made it difficult to play with other instruments. The length of the chanter determines the instrument’s overall tuning. Parts like drones and regulators are also tuned to the same key as the chanter. Chanters about 362 mm (14 1⁄4 inches) long produce a bottom note near D4 (the D above middle C), where A4 is 440 Hz, the modern standard for concert pitch. These pipes are a recent invention by the Taylor brothers. They usually have wider bores and larger tone holes than earlier "flat" sets, making them much louder, though not as loud as Highland pipes from Scotland. The Taylors created these pipes to meet the needs of playing in larger venues in the United States. Today, D-tuned pipes are the most common type of uilleann pipes, though many players still prefer the softer sound of older, narrow-bore pipes, which are available in pitches from D down to B♭. Before the Taylors, some pipemakers built concert pitch pipes using the narrower bores and smaller fingerholes of flat sets. Some of these instruments were designed for lower pitch standards, such as A4 = 415 Hz. The Taylors also made instruments for higher pitch standards, like the Old Philharmonic pitch of A4 = 453 Hz, which was common in late 19th-century America.

D-tuned pipes are most often used in groups, while flat-pitched pipes are more commonly used for solo playing. Sometimes, fiddlers tune their instruments down to match a piper’s flat set, but other instruments used in Irish music, like accordions and flutes, are not flexible enough to do this. It is important to note that Irish music was mostly solo music until the late 1800s, when fixed-pitch instruments became more common. Like some older pipe organs, uilleann pipes are not usually tuned to even temperament, but instead to just intonation, so the chanter and regulators can blend well with the three drones. Most fixed-pitch instruments used in Irish music are tuned to equal temperament, which can create dissonance when played with the pipes.

Instrument variations

A full set of uilleann pipes includes a chanter, drones, and regulators. A half-set does not include regulators, and a practice set does not include regulators or drones. All three types are used in professional performances.

Because the instrument is complex, beginning players often start with partial sets called practice sets. A practice set has only the basic parts: a pipe bag, bellows, and chanter. It does not have drones or regulators. The chanter can be made in different keys, starting from the "concert pitch" D chanter and going down in half-note steps to a B♭ chanter, which is called a "flat set" when the key is below D.

To play the uilleann pipes well, students must learn to pump the bellows steadily, control the pressure on the bag, and play the chanter at the same time. Because of this, beginners often use practice sets until they are comfortable with these skills. Although called "practice sets," they are also used by advanced players who want to play only the chanter with other musicians, either live or in recordings. These sets can be tuned to equal temperament if needed.

A half set is the next step after a practice set. Like other bagpipes, uilleann pipes use "drones," which are pipes that make a constant background note to support the melody. Drones are usually three in number: the tenor drone (highest note, same as the lowest note on the chanter), the baritone drone (one octave below the tenor), and the bass drone (two octaves below the tenor). The Pastoral pipes had four drones, including an extra one that played a harmony note. Drones are connected to the pipe bag through a "stock," a wooden cylinder tied to the bag with thick thread. The stock also connects to the regulators (as in a full set). The stock and drones are placed across the right thigh, which is different from other bagpipes, where drones are usually carried over the shoulder or arm.

Drones can be turned off using a key connected to the stock. Early stocks were hollow cylinders with metal tubes for regulators and air. Later, stocks were made of solid wood with holes drilled through them, which was more durable. Players can also turn off individual drones by pressing the bag slightly and tapping the end of a drone. This helps with tuning or playing the chanter alone. Drones use single-bladed reeds, unlike the double reeds in the chanter and regulators. In the past, drone reeds were made from elderberry twigs, but cane became more common in the late 19th century.

A full set includes a half set plus three regulators. These are closed pipes, like the chanter, attached to the stock. Regulators have keys (five on the tenor, four on the baritone and bass) to play chords or single notes. The notes on the regulators, from highest to lowest (assuming a D pitch), are: tenor: C, B, A, G, F♯; baritone: A, G, F♯, D; bass: C, B, A, G. The tenor and baritone regulators are placed on the front of the stock, above the drones, while the bass regulator is attached to the side.

Regulators can be used to play "hand chords" when the left hand plays the melody on the chanter. The right hand can then create complex chords using all three regulators. This is often done in slow pieces like "airs" to add drama.

The chanter is the part used to play the melody. It has eight finger holes (example: a D-pitched chanter has bottom D, E♭, E, F♯, G, A, B, C, C♯, and high D). To play the bottom D (D4), the chanter is lifted off the knee, exposing the bore. When the chanter is placed on the knee, it closes the bottom hole. Some players use a leather strip called a "popping strap" for an airtight seal. Others use a flap valve on the chanter. For most notes, the chanter stays on the knee.

The chanter can make short, separate notes (staccato) because it is sealed at the bottom. When all finger holes are closed, the chanter is silent. This is also needed to play the second octave, which requires increasing the bag pressure and then using finger holes. The uilleann pipes can create many different sounds by changing finger positions and lifting the chanter. Players who use staccato are called "closed-style," while those who use smooth, connected notes (legato) are called "open-style." Open-style playing was common among traveling musicians who played outdoors, as it is louder.

A type of vibrato and tremolo can be made by tapping a finger below an open note hole on the chanter. The bottom note has two versions: "soft D" and "hard D." The hard D is louder and is played by increasing the bag pressure and flicking a higher note finger. Most chanters are tuned so the hard D is in tune, while the soft D is slightly flat.

Many chanters have keys to play all the semitones in a scale. Four keys (F♮, G♯, B♭, C♮) are enough. Older chanters had extra keys for higher notes. Most uilleann chanters are very responsive to "half-holing" or "sliding," where notes are played by partially covering finger holes. This is why many chanters sold in Ireland do not have keys. With practice, pipers can play semitones without keys.

Notable players

• Willie Clancy (1918–1973)
• Troy Donockley (born 1964), member of Nightwish
• Johnny Doran (around 1908 –1950)
• Séamus Ennis (1919–1982)
• Finbar Furey (born 1946)
• Paddy Keenan (born 1950)
• Declan Masterson
• Michael McGoldrick (born 1971)
• Paddy Moloney (1938–2021), member of the Chieftains
• Liam O'Flynn (1945–2018), member of Planxty
• Leo Rowsome (1903–1970)
• Davy Spillane (born 1959)
• William Talbot (1792–1874)