Word: chanter
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...across his lap comes a collection of wood and brass tubes. Some of these are the drones, which sound continuously in the background; the others, called regulators, are activated by brass keys studded along their length and are used intermittently for emphasis. Last of all comes the melody-making chanter, an oboe-like device attached to the bag, with holes and keys and a double reed hidden...
...with the counter-intuitive, complicated movements that make the Uilleann pipes so damnably difficult: he presses on the bag with his left arm, periodically refilling it by pumping on the bellows with his right, occasionally hitting his regulator keys with the right wrist while simultaneously playing melody on the chanter, not using the sensitive tips but rather the relatively nerve-poor second joints of his fingers. "It feels bizarre at first," he says (since his mouth is unencumbered, he can, unlike a Scottish piper, play and instruct at the same time), "but, believe me, it's the least bizarre...
...four basic restrictions, which prohibit intoxication, gambling and illicit sex as well as eating meat. Another requirement is chanting the Hare Krishna mantra sixteen times a day. A mantra, a Sanskrit word combining mind and feeling, is a combination of transcendental sounds which are intended to free the chanter's mind from anxiety...