Here's a video of themThey're similar to bagpipes but are much less common. They are fed air from bellows pumped under the right arm. They are also warmer and less harsh sounding. There are more features available to uilleann pipes, but they're totally optional and I'm going to start without them for learning and because they're expensive. They look easy to play, but are apparently one of the hardest instruments to play. The player must constantly pump air from the bellows into the bag and constantly keep pressure on the bag feeding into the chanter (tube with a reed and finger holes). You must also vary bag pressure to hit certain notes. Anyway, I'm stoked. I like a challenge.
The only ways to obtain a set are to buy an unplayable (but affordable) Pakistan set or locate one of the few (ten in the US) pipe makers and order them. They're custom made and it takes a few months (sometimes upwards of a year) to receive them. They're very hard to make and hard to make well.
I've finally decided to call up one of the pipe makers (Patrick Sky) with a more affordable set. It plays the same, but lacks "bells and whistles." It's going to run about $800 and have a two month build period. I'll probably send the payment early next week.
Woo.
