Jigs

He is never sober but when he is either sleeping or piping, for his repast partakes too much of the pot to keep him sober in his feeding. He is generally more careful how to get a coat for his pipe than his child.Richard Brathwaite, “A Piper,” Whimzies (1631)


Uilleann pipesIt is customary to end a play (or website, in this case) with a jig. Academic pursuits aside, I’m passionate about the traditional folk music of Ireland and the related musical traditions of Scotland, Northumbria, Galicia, Asturias, and Cape Breton. I play uilleann pipes (the traditional bellows-blown Irish bagpipe), piano, guitar, tenor guitar, tenor banjo, mandolin, flute, whistles, saxophone, bodhran, bass guitar, Scottish small-pipes and border-pipes, but will happily pick up anything within reach if left to my own devices...

I am occasionally coerced into playing with Captain Bullhead Ceilidh Band. Back in Australia, I played with David Hyams and the Miles to Go Band (2008–15), and put on occasional concerts with other Irish folk musicians in Perth as “Morris and the Cuttlefish.”

I have composed a traditional-style waltz, two reels (here and here), two jigs (this and that), a polka and a so-called ‘slip polka’. I’m slowly, but surely, working on recording an album. Watch this space!

Prof Brett Greatley-Hirsch
School of English, University of Leeds
Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT
United Kingdom

Email: b.d.greatleyhirsch@leeds.ac.uk