The Uilleann pipes, also known as the Union pipes, are a type of bagpipe native to Ireland, although they may have not been developed there originally. Most people know only of the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe, but in fact bagpipes of various kinds are played in almost every country in Europe, and much of North Africa and Asia as well, as far east as India.

 A full set consists of a bellows, a bag, a chanter, three drones and three regulators. The bellows supplies air to the bag, and the bag is used to maintain the air flow to the chanter, drones and regulators.

 The chanter is used to play the main melody. It has a range of two octaves, and keys which enable the playing of semitones in the scale as well. The drones supply continuous tones for accompaniment, the smallest drone, usually called the tenor drone, playing the bottom note of the chanter, the next largest, usually called the baritone drone, playing an octave below that, and the largest, usually called the bass drone, playing an octave below the baritone drone.

 The regulators are built like chanters, but with keys which only sound a note when pressed by the piper with the heel of the hand, or with the fingers of the hand lowest on the chanter (right for right handers and left for left handers) when it is not needed to play the chanter (usually in slower music). The keys of the regulators are arranged in rows to provide a simple chordal accompaniment to the chanter's music. The regulators, like the drones, are usually labeled, in increasing order of size, tenor, baritone, and bass regulator. The drones and regulators are fitted into a large cylinder, the mainstock, which is tied into the bag.

 A practice (or starter) set consists of a bag, bellows and chanter.
 A half set is a bag, bellows, a chanter and three drones.
 A three quarter set is a bag, bellows, a chanter, three drones and two regulators. 

The pipes in the pictures below were made by Bruce C Childress.  You can also see them at:  www.bcpipes.com

The Low whistle was first named 'vertical flute' for its form. It is a descendant of fipple flutes developed during the 16th century, such as the baroque recorder. The first low whistles adopted the conical bore and six hole design of early transverse flutes. They were constructed of wood, and not tunable. In the late 17th century, metals such as nickel and brass were used to build low whistles. Usually the metal was rolled and soldered. Some designs incorporated a tuning slide. These metal vertical flutes were used through the 1800's. They were found in Ireland, Britain, Canada and United States. It is said metal vertical flutes were reintroduced to Irish music in the early 1970's by Finbar Furey. Some say he also coined the term 'low whistle' for the instrument.

The low whistle is a very recent (the last 25 years maybe) invention; whatever level of acceptance in traditional music it has gained is even more recent. While its recent widespread exposure in "Riverdance" et al has done much to increase the visability of the instrument, few players have found it a very usable replacement for the traditional roles of either flute or tinwhistle: generally speaking they use low whistle as a "special effects" instrument on a few selected tunes (though there are some exceptional players). Many people seem to be under the impression that the low whistle will allow a whistle player to sound like a flute without having to do the work of actaully playing the flute, which it will not.