I know I've seen a mention or two on here from people that can play, and I'm curious about how hard an instrument it is to learn. I have bit of a hard time keeping track of the beats in my head for "normal" instruments and in reading sheet music, but I'm thinking that something that started out as a mainstay of peasants who often couldn't read words, let alone music, I might not have the same problem. Am I way off in that thought? For those of you that play the bodhran, do you (or have you in the past) played any other instuments? How do they compare as far as the learning curve? Thanks for any help.

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've been playing for a number of years and it's mostly a matter of having a sense of rhythm.  If you have a sense of rhythm then it isn't too much harder to progress to being able to hold the tipper properly and actually strike it across the drum head. 

I originally learned how to play bodhran when I was drunk, and I've been playing off and on now for about (tries to do the math in my head) 7-8 years or so.

My first instrument was a guitar and let me tell you - I suck at that.  Still.

My next instrument was a recorder - again, I sucked at it.  Asthma + recorder = squeaks and squawks.

After that came the ukelele.  Almost three years of that in elementary school.  Oh the joys of the Langley. BC school district in the early 80's.  I HAD to learn it or fail the music part of my school year.  Anyhow, I got pretty good with that stupid excuse for an instrument and learned to read treble clef.  I probably couldn't play too well now though.

I fooled around with various other instruments (fiddle, mandolin, tin whistle, djembe, and doumbek...to name just a few) over the years, but I've always been drawn to percussion.  Perhaps it's because I can keep different beats with all four limbs, I don't know.  But when I first had a bodhran and tipper place in my hands I was in love.  Yes, my perceptions were partially coloured by how much I'd had to drink that night...but I remembered that I enjoyed myself.  I played it sober and was told by my first teacher that I had a knack for it.

I can't really say that having any other musical instrument experience really helped me.  You can either keep a beat or you can't.  But it's sure fun trying!

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Don't feed the idiots or they'll continue being idiots...

Hey,

Thank you for your help. I can keep a beat, say when I'm listening to a song or whatnot, it's when I'm trying to do the note count thing readin music that I get all muddled. I'm going to grab one off of eBay and give it a try. Any suggestions on a good DVD to learn from, or should I just kinda goof around with it at first?

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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

Hi Leprrkan,

For many years I've been 'interested' in Irish music.  Following a chance remark, I was bought my first bodhran, basis model to get me in to it.  I bought a tutorial by Michael O'Suilleabhain on Amazon, a really good buy to understanding the basics and appreciating tipper techniques.

You say you can keep a beat, but at this stage with the bodhran it's more about the 'feel' of the rhythm than following a beat.  Sometimes less (in terms of beating) can be excellent.  Hold the tipper as you would a pencil, use it like a pendulum.  Once you've mastered the basic use of the tipper in just getting a 'hit', as opposed to a scrape across the goat skin, you will suddently find that you start hitting the occaisional 'tripple' - it's all down to practice and being relaxed when you play.

Have a listen to some 'Patrck Street' instrumentals and try to beat to these, it's a good grounding and I find them really good the practice to with a good selection of reels, jigs and hornpipes. 

Gental persistence, without trying the beat the skin off the frame, is the key

I now have a Paraig McNeela 'tunable' bodhran which is a wonderful instrument and I'm now looking to buy a Brendan White double skin tunable bodhran which I feel is the next step in the progression.  I'll hopefully have this in time for 'Paddy's Night'.

Once you're into playing the bodhran you find yourself serching for tippers that suit you - I prefer a tipper that is quite long and has a 'weight' to allow me to feel the throw.  A short lightweight tipper would be useless in my hands.  I also prefer an 18" bodhran as opposed to the 16" model.  It's all down to perception to start with before you can make an informed choice.
 

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

Playing the bodhran is simple in comparison to other instruments. As long as you can keep a beat (like you said you can), hold the stick correctly, and strike the drumhead, you're golden.  It's really that simple. Unfortunately, there are alot of myths about how to play bodhran on the internet. One myth that has been believed to be true (worst thing that a could happen to a myth), is holding the tipper like a pencil. First of all, everybody holds a pencil in a different manner, and second if you hold it like a pencil there's now freedom. Think about how loose a bodhran player's hand is when he plays in comparison to how tense your hand is when you grip a pencil.  I'll post a video with this theory since I've yet to see a video that accurately depicts this very easy style of playing.  ... I'll post sometime this week... stay tuned

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Look around
Hear the sounds
Cherish your life while you're still around

-Dream Theater

 Hi Tofee35,

We all have different styles, the truth of what you belive to be a myth works for me.

I think the generally accepted description of holding a pencil or pen would be a three contact point grip using the thumb, forefinger and middle finger in a central position along the length of the tipper.  This is what I refer to.  In my experience - and it is only this to which I refer - you have to hold the tipper firmly in the grasp so that it is not mobile between the gripping fingers, all the freedom of movement should be with from a combination of a relaxed wrist, arm and shoulder.  The fingers and thumb are almost immobile (i.e. held in an almost fixed position gripping the tipper) whilst playing with the mobility comming form the resultant wrist action.  Don't hold the tipper so rigidly tight that you end up with the equivalent of writers cramp though!

A very good video (now available on DVD) explaining a lot about bodhrans and styles/techniques of playing is the "Absolute Beginners Guide to Playing the Bodhran" by Conor Long produced by CW Productions, Waltons Musical Galleries Ltd, 2 - 5 North Frederick Street, Dublin 1, Ireland.  Have a look on www.folkharp.com for this product on DVD at $24.95.  He describes holding the tipper as you would a pen and demonstartes the same, theory becomes reality and explods the myth.

 

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

You're right in your description... I sort of just meant not to take it literally... It'ls like the grip in golf - its the foundation. If its off, then nothing will be completely right or comfortable with the rest of  the motion. So, yes in the respect that 3 fingers cradle the tipper, yes, its like holding a pencil

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Look around
Hear the sounds
Cherish your life while you're still around

-Dream Theater

 w00t!

 I got my Bodhran yesterday ! ! ! !  I think the first song I may try to "learn" is The River Driver, since it has only the drum as the guys are singing and I can hear the beat really clearly.

 Out of curiosity, Toffee or Bonnie, or any other Bodhran players out there... if you have any beginners instructional books or DVD's you'd like to off-load, I'd be interested in possibly buying them... the local Irish store where I bought the drum ordered a book/DVD for me as well, but Walton's never shipped it, so I'm s.o.l. on that front

 For those of you who are going (or may be going) on next year's Ships and Dip, is there anyone interested in getting together on  a slow afternoon (before the concerts get started or on a shore day) and having a kitchen party? I love the sound of it and think it'd be fun...

Cheers ;o)

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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 love the idea of going to S&D next year, but I'm a college student, so I don't have much money to spare for that sort of thing!  My transfer university this fall is $23,000 a year just for tuition!

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!!!

I'd love to spend my birthday doing nothing but alternately beating on my drum, reading a great book and watching Hanson videos on YouTube, but with the stepdad home, that's not really feasible.

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~Squeezy~
Bobby loves me, this I know, because my Seannie tells me so...
"Alan's true calling [is] to be a whacko percussionist... to hit things with mallets." ~ Sean McCann

leprrkan:

Out of curiosity, Toffee or Bonnie, or any other Bodhran players out there... if you have any beginners instructional books or DVD's you'd like to off-load, I'd be interested in possibly buying them... the local Irish store where I bought the drum ordered a book/DVD for me as well, but Walton's never shipped it, so I'm s.o.l. on that front

I really got a lot out of the Mad for Trad tutorial, but I haven't been able to find it. I probably lent it out, never to be seen again. Once I got the hang of the basic rhythms, I played along with the Great Big DVD a lot.

Jefe:

 Once I got the hang of the basic rhythms, I played along with the Great Big DVD a lot.

Same here.  The first song I ever faked really well was Process Man.  Now my favorite ones to do are the GBDVD version of Donkey Riding and C&P&G's Old Polina.

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~Squeezy~
Bobby loves me, this I know, because my Seannie tells me so...
"Alan's true calling [is] to be a whacko percussionist... to hit things with mallets." ~ Sean McCann

So, I have yet another question for all you with experience... I've been fooling about a little with my drum and I'm not sure what it's supposed to sound like.

When I hear Sean play (or other bodhrans) his drum sounds much deeper, almost like a bass drum on a regular drum kit. Mine on the other hand sounds more like a tom or a snare without the metallic clicking... it's higher in pitch I guess. Is that normal? I tried bracing my hand inside the frame and pressing lightly against different spots on the head (as Wikipedia advises ), but that eleminates all the reverb and sound which I don't think is what I want to do. I didn't do anything to the drum aside from take it out of the box, should I have prepped the head somehow? It's not a tunable head if that helps and it's a 15" drum rather than 18"... Any ideas or am I "worried" about nothing?

I've been drumming the beat to The River Driver all day in my car, I just have to try and do it on the drum now

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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

some people say put lanolin on it or mink oil or other stuff. My teacher said nothing but water and a hair dryer will do to fix the tone. I'm sure others will join into the discussion.

Anne

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And when the winds of change begin to blow,
I'll whisper, "You're my lighthouse" in case you didn't know.

Sons of Maxwell

visit my website!:
Anne's Philly Phan Site at http://www.gbsfanatic.com

 Keep at it, it's only day one of the adventure...   

Anne's Teacher has the right idea, just use water if the skin becomes too taught. Lanolin or dubbin may work but it may also make the skin translucent.  Never use anything such as milk or beer.

Don't use too much water otherwise you'll need the hairdryer...  Always apply the water to the back of the skin as well.  Best way is to wet your hand, shake the excess off and rub your hand on the back of the skin.  After a few minutes the skin will 'soften' and the tension on the skin will release.  A 15" drum will always have a higher tone to that of an 18"...

 

 

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

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

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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