Musical style in uilleann piping: a study of possibility and meaning

This thesis investigates the concept of musical style as it pertains to the tradition of the uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes). It is centred around five case studies of prominent contemporary uilleann pipers, derived from ethnographic interviews and musical analysis, in dialogue with relevant theories from the fields of ethnomusicology, musicology, anthropology, and cultural studies. The understanding of musical style which emerges is one which cannot be confined to a purely sonic or musicological realm. Rather, it exists between musicians, instruments, communities, identities, geographies, and histories, negotiating and translating between interior and exterior realities.