He began in 1976 at age 16 and studied in Scotland and here at home with noted musicians, including Eric Rigler. Like Rigler, Los Angeles resident Aaron Shaw makes his living playing Celtic pipes. El Nino has been a blessing for pipers because the pipes are better in humid weather.” The reed can go ‘funny’ when it is affected by rain. There are four reeds in the Scottish pipes and seven in the Irish. “You must tame the instrument and put it in tune and this is affected by humidity. “It’s one of the hardest instruments to play,” he said. “And the man blew into the posterior of a dog and fingered on a bone,” he explained, referring to a dog-skin bag and the wood or bone for the chanter, a shepherd’s pipe instrument like an oboe with finger holes.īut the bagpipe’s limited popularity may be due, at least partially, to how difficult it is to master. The earliest mention of the pipes was in Greek playwright Aristophanes “Lysistrata” in 400 B.C., said Rigler. The sounds have been validated by the interest from artists such as Streisand and Rod Stewart.” You don’t have to understand, but the sounds touch people all the time. They provide ancientness, happiness, melancholy. Rigler, who has played the pipes for 27 years, summed up his feeling about the bagpipes: “I come from a Scottish background and I think the pipes are beautiful, cultural instruments that illicit emotion from listeners. When asked about the name for the band, Rigler says, “It’s tongue in cheek.” Or tongue in sheep, since haggis is a dish that includes animal offal mixed with oats, which traditionally is cooked in a sheep’s stomach. His new band called Bad Haggis includes rock drums, electric guitar and bass, plus all the Celtic pipes he plays. The term “pipe major” is a British Army title and refers to the leader and playing conductor of a bagpipe band. He was the pipe major of the Los Angeles Police Pipe Band from 1994-1996 and played solo piper at police funerals. While in Scotland he was drawn to the evocative Irish uilleann pipes. Rigler, who has won many awards for his skilled handling of the pipes, lived and studied in Scotland and was a member of the country’s prestigious Battlefield Band. Some of Rigler’s most recent work was done on CDs such as Barbra Streisand’s “Higher Ground,” Tracy Chapman’s “New Beginning” and on Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh.” Rigler can be seen playing the Great Highland Bagpipe on Rod Stewart’s video, “Rhythm of My Heart,” among others. They produce a sound that is growing in popularity. “These pipes are played while seated, using a bellows.” “Uilleann means elbow in Irish Gaelic,” Rigler said. He is one of Celtic music’s most requested recording-session artists because of his talent on the Great Highland Bagpipe, the uilleann pipes, the Scottish small-pipes-"used in the 1800s as an indoor instrument played around the fire,” he explained-and the low whistle, which is like a flute. “I began playing the Great Highland Bagpipe when I was 7 but became interested at 2 because I listened to my British-born father’s bagpipe records,” said Los Angeles resident Rigler, whose mother is part Irish. They are played by Eric Rigler and were recorded at Todd AO in Studio City. When you listen to that haunting, mournful opening melody on the “Titanic” soundtrack, you probably don’t know you’re hearing the uilleann pipes (pronounced IL-lin and also known as the Irish pipes).
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