bodhran
3 posts • Page 1 of 1
I am thinking of getting one.
by rachelnguyen on Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:19 am
Hi Daniel,
I am heading to Newfoundland Canada next summer with a bunch of old family friends who play fiddle and I am thinking of picking up a Bodhran too! We have a teacher here in RI. I might check out a workshop or two to get some pointers. My drum is definitely the djembe, but it might be fun to jam with my friends this summer.
I'll keep you posted if I come across any good cds or books.
Rachel
I am heading to Newfoundland Canada next summer with a bunch of old family friends who play fiddle and I am thinking of picking up a Bodhran too! We have a teacher here in RI. I might check out a workshop or two to get some pointers. My drum is definitely the djembe, but it might be fun to jam with my friends this summer.
I'll keep you posted if I come across any good cds or books.
Rachel
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rachelnguyen - djembefola
- Posts: 102
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by jqpublick on Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:00 pm
Hey drummer;
I used to play bodhran so here's some things to try.
First, think of holding the tipper (that's the stick) like a pen. I usually keep about one third of the tipper's length above my fingers (with the tipper held vertically on the same plane as the drumskin) and swing the tipper like a pendulum. It's important to me that both hits (away from you and toward you) are even in volume and tone.
You'll have to toy with your hand placement and angle of attack on the skin quite a bit to get something that sounds like "thump, thump" instead of what I usually get, which is more like "thump, tink, thump, tink."
If you hold the tipper loosely enough the top end (with a small dip of your wrist) will bounce off the skin in between the lower end's strikes. That will take a while to get used to, though. I found this happens most easily when I'm holding the tipper loosely and (this is the toughish bit) not thinking about hitting with the top end of the tipper. Consider them something akin to accidentals and that might help.
Listen to a band called "Flook"; the bodhran player's name is John-Joe Kelly and he's stupidly great at it.
Oh, and depending on how your bodhran is made there'll either be two crosspeices on the back of the drum, or one, or none. I prefer the ones with none because you can use your supporting hand (held against the back of the skin) to vary the tone, volume and attack of the stick.
If your drum has support sticks on the back slip your supporting hand in between the sticks and the skin (palm on the skin) and hit the drum. Move your support hand (as I'm right-handed my left hand supports the drum) around. Experiment. For example, you can start with your support hand at the bottom of the skin and slide it up the skin toward the top of the drum as you strike with the tipper, which will raise the note of the drum.
Mostly it's a loose tipper, a loose tipper hand wrist, and a combination of varying attack and support hand tomfoolery. There are a couple of websites out there for bodhran players, this one's even got some basic instructions:
http://www.bodhranii.net/rudiments_basic.htm
As far as I have been able to glean, however, there seem to be no standard methods of play or rhythms or anything like that; the closest I can come to a fixed rule is that generally you should 'follow' the song. There's something else to think about.
Hope this helps!
Mark
I used to play bodhran so here's some things to try.
First, think of holding the tipper (that's the stick) like a pen. I usually keep about one third of the tipper's length above my fingers (with the tipper held vertically on the same plane as the drumskin) and swing the tipper like a pendulum. It's important to me that both hits (away from you and toward you) are even in volume and tone.
You'll have to toy with your hand placement and angle of attack on the skin quite a bit to get something that sounds like "thump, thump" instead of what I usually get, which is more like "thump, tink, thump, tink."
If you hold the tipper loosely enough the top end (with a small dip of your wrist) will bounce off the skin in between the lower end's strikes. That will take a while to get used to, though. I found this happens most easily when I'm holding the tipper loosely and (this is the toughish bit) not thinking about hitting with the top end of the tipper. Consider them something akin to accidentals and that might help.
Listen to a band called "Flook"; the bodhran player's name is John-Joe Kelly and he's stupidly great at it.
Oh, and depending on how your bodhran is made there'll either be two crosspeices on the back of the drum, or one, or none. I prefer the ones with none because you can use your supporting hand (held against the back of the skin) to vary the tone, volume and attack of the stick.
If your drum has support sticks on the back slip your supporting hand in between the sticks and the skin (palm on the skin) and hit the drum. Move your support hand (as I'm right-handed my left hand supports the drum) around. Experiment. For example, you can start with your support hand at the bottom of the skin and slide it up the skin toward the top of the drum as you strike with the tipper, which will raise the note of the drum.
Mostly it's a loose tipper, a loose tipper hand wrist, and a combination of varying attack and support hand tomfoolery. There are a couple of websites out there for bodhran players, this one's even got some basic instructions:
http://www.bodhranii.net/rudiments_basic.htm
As far as I have been able to glean, however, there seem to be no standard methods of play or rhythms or anything like that; the closest I can come to a fixed rule is that generally you should 'follow' the song. There's something else to think about.
Hope this helps!
Mark
- jqpublick
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- Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2007 12:20 am
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