Troy Donockley Official Website. Solo Albums: Pursuit of illusion, Unseen Stream, Instruments: Uilleann Pipes, Low Whistle, High Whistle, Tin Whistle, Penny Whistle, Bouzouki, Cittern, Appears with: Celtic Classics, Iona, Maddy Prior, Barbara Dickson, Lesley Garrett, Moya Brennan

Troy Donockley is a highly talented multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger. He plays the uilleann pipes, low whistle, penny whistle, guitar, cittern, bouzouki and keyboards. Troy has two solo albums: The latest is The Pursuit of Illusion and his first, The Unseen Stream.

Troy Donockley is also a member of the Celtic Rock group, 'Iona' and was the founder member of 'You Slosh'. Troy has recorded and performed with many leading performers including Lesley Garrett, Maddy Prior, Barbara Dickson, Moya Brennan, Midge Ure, Mostly Autumn, Status Quo, Del Amitri, The Enid, Alan Stivell, Rick Kemp, Katrina & the Waves, Joanne Hogg, Kathryn Tickell and Maartin Allcock; usually playing uilleann pipes and/or low whistle. He has also performed live with Lesley Garrett

Most recently, Troy is featured as the only living composer on the 'Celtic Classics' album. He has two tracks included; 'Fragment' from his most recent album 'Pursuit of Illusion' and also 'Overture - The Journey North' from the, as yet unreleased 'Rheged Symphony'

Uillean Pipes: Thought of as the traditional instrument, the uilleann pipes (pronounced 'ill-awn', the Irish for 'elbow') are actually an Irish version of an instrument found all over the world. Nonetheless, the uilleann pipes were in danger of becoming extinct until their revival in recent decades. The full set of this complex instrument involves bag, bellows, chanter, three drones and three regulators. Uilleann (pronounced ‘ilen’) pipes are Irish bagpipes. The word uilleann comes from the Irish for elbow and has only been in common usage since the beginning of the twentieth century, prior to that they were known as Union pipes. The exact history of the instrument is not to well documented, but it is known that a lot of development went on during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by which time the instrument was pretty much in the form that we know it today with the exeption that the bores were narrower than todays ‘concert pitch’ sets and most sets would have been pitched lower than today’s concert pitch. Flat pitch / narrow bore sets are still made and played today and are preferred by many for their tonal qualities, but for anyone wishing to play with other instruments, in sessions or in a band, a concert pitch (D) set is more practical. Uilleann pipes differ from their more numerous and well known cousins the Highland pipes in many ways: The air is supplied by bellows not mouth and they are played sitting down. The chanter (tune playing part) is stopped against the upper part of the players leg, allowing it to be silenced. This allows for staccato as well as legato playing and a wide range of ornamentation. The chanter is also able to play two full octaves with sufficient accidentals available by cross fingering to handle most traditional tunes. Keys can be added to make the chanter fully chromatic. The drones are attached to a common stock which is fitted with a stop key, allowing them to be switched on and off whilst playing. This can be used for dynamic effect or to silence the drones when playing a piece in a key unsuitable for drone accompaniment (The drones play the tonic note, ‘D’ in a concert set, in three different octaves). The final feature unique to uilleann pipes are the regulators. These are essentially closed ended chanters usually three in number which are fitted to the same stock as the drones. They are played by pressing keys with the wrist or back of the hand whilst playing the chanter, or with the fingers if one hand can be disengaged from the chanter for a while. They allow a fairly limited range of chordal accompaniment to be added to the music but in skilled hands can add a new dimension to a performance. ( They are very difficult to play). Virtually all uilleann pipes are hand made by individual makers, and the sheer number of parts to be made and fitted for a full set means that they can never be a ‘cheap’ instrument.

Low Whistle: The Low Whistle, popular today as a result of the success of Riverdance, was first made in the early 1970s by Bernard Overton, from aluminium tube. The instrument is usually tuned to D, an octave below the usual small D penny whistle, and twice as long (more or less the same size as a flute).

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