Editing Uilleann pipes (section)

==Tuning==
The instrument is most usually (nowadays) tuned in the key of D, a tradition begun by the Taylor brothers (originally of [[Drogheda]], Ireland, and later of [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]) in the late 19th century. Canon Goodman played a Taylor set. Up to then, most pipes were what would be termed as "flat sets" in other keys, such as D{{music|b}}, C, B and B{{music|b}}, tunings which were largely incompatible with playing with other instruments. The chanter length determines the overall tuning; accompanying pieces of the instrument, such as drones and regulators, are tuned to the same key as the chanter. Chanters of around {{cvt|362|mm|in|frac=4}} in length produce a bottom note on or near D<sub>4</sub> (D above [[middle C]]) where A<sub>4</sub>&nbsp;=&nbsp;440&nbsp;[[Hertz|Hz]], i.e. modern "concert pitch". Such pipes are a relatively recent invention pioneered by the Taylor brothers. They typically have wider bores and larger tone holes than the earlier "flat" pitch sets, and as a consequence are a good deal louder, though by no means as loud as the Highland pipes of Scotland. They were developed by the Taylors to meet the requirements of playing in larger venues in the United States; today they are the most common type of uilleann pipes encountered, though many players still prefer the mellower sound of the earlier style narrow-bore pipes, which exist in pitches ranging from D through D{{music|b}}, C, and B down to B{{music|b}}. Pipemakers before the Taylors had, however, built concert pitch pipes using the narrower bores and smaller fingerholes of the flat pipes. Some of these instruments seem to have been designed with lower pitch standards in mind, such as A<sub>4</sub>&nbsp;=&nbsp;415&nbsp;Hz. The Taylors also built many instruments with higher pitch standards in mind, such as the Old Philharmonic pitch of A<sub>4</sub>&nbsp;=&nbsp;453&nbsp;Hz that was commonplace in late 19th-century America.

The D pipes are most commonly used in ensembles, while the flat-pitched pipes are more often used for solo playing – often [[Musical styles (violin)#Fiddle|fiddle]]rs will tune down their instrument to play with a piper's flat set, but the inflexibility of other instruments used in Irish music ([[accordion]]s, [[flute]]s, etc.) does not usually permit this. It is noteworthy that Irish music was predominantly solo music until the late 19th century, when these fixed-pitch instruments began to play more of a role. Like some older pipe organs, uilleann pipes are not normally tuned to even [[musical tuning|temperament]], but rather to [[just intonation]], so that the chanter and regulators can blend sweetly with the three drones. [[Equal temperament]] is almost universal with the fixed pitch instruments used in Irish music, which can clash with the tuning of the pipes.