Word: brittons
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...temperamental; they can break down in dozens of ways without warning, and the prudent performer is always ready for a crisis. "Can anybody help me with this reed?" calls out Sandy Jordan, a Virginia-accented neophyte and the only woman in a room filled with bearded young men. Timothy Britton, a piper, pipemaker and transcendental meditator, comes over to have a look. "The reed's cracked," he says after a quick inspection. "Here, try some Krazy Glue." More trouble from across the room: a cigar-chewing piper, improbably named Roy Rogers Jr., has a mysterious air leak. "Blow some smoke...
...tall and thin, with curly blond hair cascading over his ears and neck, a mustache and a goatee, a thrift-shop tweed coat, a 1940s-vintage wool overcoat and a single earring. Britton will lead today's workshop on the fine points of piping technique. He is something of a phenomenon: only 26, he has been a master piper for a decade. He did have an unfair advantage: his father George was a folk musician and music teacher before it was fashionable and was a founder of the venerable Philadelphia Folk Song Society. Tim started on baritone ukulele before...
...year later, when he met a misanthropic Uilleann piper named Tom Standeven, he had the flash of inspiration many Irish pipers describe: "I was just blown away. I knew instantly that I wanted to play this instrument." Recalls Britton: "Tom was like a high priest with a new disciple. He told me that a piper has to be a woodworker, leatherworker, metalsmith and reedmaker just to maintain the instrument, and that I would have to learn Gaelic to understand the rhythm of piping. Basically, though, I had really long hair at the time, and I think he was afraid...
...Standeven refused to tell this unworthy kid where to get a set of pipes. Remembers Britton: "It took me three years to get my first set." Once he had them, though, he learned quickly and, by the age of 16, had resolved to become a pipemaker himself. That he did, with great success. Like children, bagpipes always belong, in a sense, to those who brought them into the world. Thus, while some of the musicians show off Kennedy's pipes, or Quinn's, about a quarter of those present boast a set of "Timmy's pipes...
...preliminaries are finally over, the pipes assembled and tuned, and it is time to do some serious piping. Britton straps himself into his instrument like a fighter pilot getting ready for combat. First comes the bellows, a smaller version of the fireplace variety, belted next to his body and held under his right arm (whence comes the name: Uilleann is based on the Gaelic word for elbow). The bellows replaces a Scotsman's lungs in filling the leather bag that drives the sound. The bag goes under his left arm; out of it and across his lap comes a collection...