leprrkan:

Thanks guys... the rule about not using beer applies only to the drum, right... I mean I can use beer on the dremmER... I hope

 Ha, ha... you bet it only applies to the drum!   

I've just come back from Ireland with my latest Bodhran, another 18" with a tuneable head but this one has a double skin.  It has a really sweet tone.  It had it's first outing at a 'Paddy's Night' gig last night and was all I hoped it would be. You'll get the hang of playing and when you do you'll start looking for another Bodhran, keep this URL for future reference: http://www.irelandwoodcrafts.com/ 
 

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Life's one big song book - we just sing to different tunes at the same time!

Oooooh.... a double skin...

Kestrel has a bodhran with a double skin on it, and I fell in love with it when I played it at Claddagh Pub before the GBS concert in Columbus last year.  It was indeed very nice - I lved that deep McCann-esque tone.  I've been having trouble this season getting my own to sound great, but now that the weather's getting better it's not been acting so ornery.  I'll be excited to finally be able to let it see sunlight!

As for getting it to sound less tinny... I've heard many people say that the best thing for it is just to be played - it'll start sounding better on its own once the skin gets used to its environment and gets its daily workout (shouldn't be hard to play daily, since the things are so darn addictive, unless you're like me and live with people who don't properly appreciate the instrument).  One website I went to said to give it a year before you decide to condition it with anything, and if you've only had it a day (or so) water is the only thing you should need thusfar.  Don't worry about not sounding like Seannie - I've acheived such glory on very, very few occasions.  He plays Cooperman's drums (which could account for some differences) and has been playing probably as long as I've been alive!

(My Chemistry lab partner was enthralled by my drum when I brought it to school once on a warmish day - I told her that when the weather gets better I'll bring both of my drums to school and teach her to play!)

Just spreading the happiness...

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~Squeezy~
"Alan's true calling [is] to be a whacko percussionist... to hit things with mallets." ~ Sean McCann

squeezeboxsarah:

But the idea of actually playing my bodhran with other people is uber-exciting!  The only person I've ever played with is my dad, and he only plays the acoustic guitar.  Well, Michael Vignoles played the tin whistle with me when I picked out my drum last July (everyone clapped when we finished) and it was AWESOME!!!

 

Hey, squeezy!!

 

The West Side Irish American Club in Olmsted Falls (http://www.wsia-club.org/) has an Irish music session the first Saturday of every month from 2-5 in the afternoon.  You could play your bodhran, in public, along with real, live music!!

 

Just a thought!

 

K 

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UNCLE KEVIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*squeezyhuggle*

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~Squeezy~
"Alan's true calling [is] to be a whacko percussionist... to hit things with mallets." ~ Sean McCann

Best words of wisdom I ever got:

Playing the bodhran is really easy. All you need is practice.

 Look, if you can work out a comfortable way to hold a stick (I hold it like a pencil *shrugs*) and how to hit it? Do so. Hold it and hit it as often as you can. You'll only get better. No need for instructional booklets, just play along to songs and practice. You don't start off with an insane repetoire, you start out with one beat that's easy and automatic to you. Play it until you can do it perfectly and you'll start to realise that, hey, you're getting good! And new beats will develop by themselves and then? Triplets will come into the mix.

More advice? Don't ever try to learn triplets. You'll only frustrate yourself. Keep your wrist loose, practice a lot, and eventually they'll come in by themselves. Practice in this uncontrolled state for a while and, again by "itself", you'll learn how to control them.

 Playing the bodhran is like driving on cruise control.

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Great Big Stuff!


"I'm still in diapers, actually." - Ron Hynes

"Any people from Newfoundland? Whaddya doin' here?! Taking all the jobs?! REVENGE!" - Ron Hynes

"You're like Bob with tits." - Candace

TheYoungSpaniard:

More advice? Don't ever try to learn triplets. You'll only frustrate yourself. Keep your wrist loose, practice a lot, and eventually they'll come in by themselves. Practice in this uncontrolled state for a while and, again by "itself", you'll learn how to control them.

I only started playing the Bodhran in the late '90's.  I used a standard tipper and each beat sounded as though I was scaping the tipper across the skin.   I wanted to dampen the 'noise' of my practice so covered the tipper ends in leather and used this to get the 'feel' of both the tipper and the Bodhran. I eventually switched back to the standard tipper and was amazed to be able to play triplets.  I tried to work out how I did it... a bad mistake!  As The Young Spaniard says, triplets will just appear out of nowhere as a result of practice.  Relax and enjoy playing.  Don't be hindered by just playng along to Irish music either, why not try playing to some Rock'n'Roll as well, it's surprising how versatile you can be.

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Life's one big song book - we just sing to different tunes at the same time!

squeezeboxsarah:

  Well, Michael Vignoles played the tin whistle with me when I picked out my drum last July (everyone clapped when we finished) and it was AWESOME!!! 

I was hoping to meet Michael when I visited his workshop in Claddagh last week, unfortunately he was over your side of the 'pond', I'll get back there one day to meet him in person.  His son Paul built my latest acquisition, and what a fantastic job he made of it! 

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Life's one big song book - we just sing to different tunes at the same time!

Stediflite:

Don't be hindered by just playng along to Irish music either, why not try playing to some Rock'n'Roll as well, it's surprising how versatile you can be.

One of the first songs I followed along to was "Dragonfly", by Ziggy Marley.

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Great Big Stuff!


"I'm still in diapers, actually." - Ron Hynes

"Any people from Newfoundland? Whaddya doin' here?! Taking all the jobs?! REVENGE!" - Ron Hynes

"You're like Bob with tits." - Candace

You guys are all fantastic, thank you for all you tips and advice, I really appreciate it

Cheers

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"In this beautiful life there's always some sorrow... It's a double-edged knife but there's always tomorrow... It's up to you now if you sink or swim... Just keep the faith that your ship will come in..."



Wanna be my friend? C'mon over: www.myspace.com/leprrkan

I know I'll get bashed for this, but I thought learning the bodhran was kind of, well... easy. It takes time, and it TOOK time (about a month before I could coherently follow along to a few constant-beated songs), but I found it easy.

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Great Big Stuff!


"I'm still in diapers, actually." - Ron Hynes

"Any people from Newfoundland? Whaddya doin' here?! Taking all the jobs?! REVENGE!" - Ron Hynes

"You're like Bob with tits." - Candace

I actually was able to produce a steady beat from the first time I picked one up, but it took me a good few months to get the really cool tone changes and other tricks that make bodhran playing so cool.

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~Squeezy~
"Alan's true calling [is] to be a whacko percussionist... to hit things with mallets." ~ Sean McCann

Don't know who cares about this... maybe I'm just out to kill another thread (I'm a notorious thread-murderer).  I actually got my bodhran from Michael last July, but I just realized last week that our new computer will read my camera's media disk without any complicated camera-hookup dealie so I thought I'd let you all see my bodhran, since some people expressed an interest (well, that was when I first got one).  I guess there's nothing outwardly special about her, except that she's mine MINE MINE!!!! 

In the last picture I thought I'd include my McCann tipper just to make people jealous.

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~Squeezy~
"Alan's true calling [is] to be a whacko percussionist... to hit things with mallets." ~ Sean McCann

*considers posting a shot of her McCann tipper (thanks, Candace luv), which looks a little different, but is signed by Alan and Sean.*

*and a shot of her bodhran, signed by Ron Hynes and the entire Barra MacNeils band*

Really, I'm not bragging. =D 

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Great Big Stuff!


"I'm still in diapers, actually." - Ron Hynes

"Any people from Newfoundland? Whaddya doin' here?! Taking all the jobs?! REVENGE!" - Ron Hynes

"You're like Bob with tits." - Candace

TheYoungSpaniard:

*considers posting a shot of her McCann tipper (thanks, Candace luv), which looks a little different, but is signed by Alan and Sean.*

*and a shot of her bodhran, signed by Ron Hynes and the entire Barra MacNeils band*

Oh, no, you di-in't!!!

Honestly, Kevin was thinking about having Seannie sign his tipper, last march before he ultimately gave it to me because he didn't play his drum enough, and needed to focus on his pipes anyway.  He worried that he wouldn't be able to use it if it was signed, or the autograph would wear off.  As it is, it's my favorite tipper, so I wouldn't be able to stand not using it!

Well, I heard the Barra MacNeils were going to be at the Berea Irish Festival this year, so perhaps I'll get to see them then.  Not that I'm bragging.

(Gaelic Storm has played the festival for the past several years, but there's no word yet as to whether or not they're coming again.  I was looking forward to another GS show, so I hope they show!)

Question:  One of the reasons I like the McCann tipper (or the "McCannipper", as Kes likes to say) is because I han keep ahold of it while I play.  I have another tipper that's long and skinny that I like, but it tends to gravitate downward when I play - My hand ends up at the top of the tipper rather than the middle.  I don't hold it in the traditional "pencil" grip, so maybe that's why, but does anyone else have that problem?

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~Squeezy~
"Alan's true calling [is] to be a whacko percussionist... to hit things with mallets." ~ Sean McCann