My spouse is interested in learning the Bodhran, is there any actual “proper” Technique to use? And are there any decent sites for bodhrans on the net?
Thanks
Scoiltrad’s got a bodhran tutorial CD.
I bought the scoiltrad tutorial and it is pretty basic, but OK. It does show you the basic grip, how to do triplets, etc but does not address the left hand at all. I also have the Tommy Hayes video which is pretty good - he does lot of fancier stuff the beginner will not want to mess with, but does show various grips and is a fun guy to watch.
The ceolas site is good with a lot of links http://www.ceolas.org/instruments/bodhran/ .
My feeling is the best way would be to find a friendly bodhran player who would sit down and spend some time showing your spouse how to play. I learned to play from books (none of which I can really recommend) and videos, but once I started playing along with other drummers I learned some fairly obvious things I’d missed.
The Mad for Trad CD is very good as well.
Yes I have heard good things about the mad for trad cd’s. Im wondering where these are distributed from or where i could purchase one. Music stores up in my town are not very spectaular.
Slainte: There are severalstyles of playing bodhran. The two most common are with a stick known variously as a stick, beater, tipper or cipin. One style uses one end of the stick almost exclusively, the other (which is the one most people think of when they think of bodhran) uses one end of the stick for the main beat but adds additional strikes with the other end to achieve triplets etc.
Assuming a seated, right-handed player, the drum is held with the bottom of the rim resting on the left thigh and the left hand slipped between the rear strut or crosspiece and the skin (the drum is not usually held by the strut as the left hand is used to damp the skin to achieve muting and accent).
The cipin is held in the right hand like a pen or pencil. It is held approximately in the middle. The end which would be the nib of a pen may be regarded as the ‘bottom’ end of the cipin.
If you imagine the skin face of the drum as a clock, twelve o’clock points upward, six is resting on your thigh, nine is against your chest and three o’clock points away from your body.
To play the drum, hold the cipin in the pen-style grip and put the tip against the drumskin so the stick and the plane of the skin are 90 degrees to each other. Now tilt the ‘bottom’ (nib end) of the cipin about 45 degrees toward your navel. This gives the approximate angle for holding the stick when playing.
Down strokes involve hitting the skin with the nib end. Strike about halfway between rim and skin centre, and at about 7 or 8 o’clock. The upstroke is again played with the bottom or nib end, and is played at about 7 o’clock.
The stick is NOT wobbled back and forth to make both ends hit the skin (which is what beginners usually try to do!)… rather the up and down strokes are played with the bottom end of the cipin, and the wrist movement is something akin to the movement you might see performed by someone who has just struck their finger with a hammer - a kind of loose(ish) up and down semi-rotating motion. It may also be likened to the crude, colloquial English insulting gesture used to imply that someone is a habitual self-pleasurer (if you are not familiar with this gesture please forget I mentioned it, and accept my apologies…).
The top end of the stick will eventually (perhaps after weeks of playing) come into play without you really trying. Sometimes when playing a downstroke you will find that the top end of the cipin swings around to strike the skin. This is as it should be.
I hope that is at least partly clear and a little helpful. There is no real substitute for the advice of a real player who is actually present to demonstrate the techniques, although a good video is a fair second best choice.
A couple of things your spouse should be aware of: don’t be tempted to buy a cheap bodhran with a lightweight skin. They are junk. Ideally a fairly heavy skin should be sought. Also, as bodhrans react dramatically to changes in temperature and humidity, a ‘tuneable’ drum is best as the skin tension can be adjusted to compensate for conditions that might otherwise make the bodhran unplayable. Otherwise it is often necessary to pour water on the back of the skin to loosen it before playing.
The other thing your spouse should know is that bodhran players are universally ridiculed (like most drummers) and are the butt of endless variations on old drummer jokes (Q: How do you know when there is a bodhran player at the door? A: The knocking gets faster and faster…).
That said, it is a really fun instrument to play 
For accompanying solo song or flute or whistle
I prefer to play without the stick
The Irish way is to form a “stick” with
the index finger curled over the top of the thumb
and flicking from the wrists in the same way that
Buddhi has described for the stick playing
so that the knuckle between the first and middle
phalanges strikes the skin
One can also use this movement to flick all the fingers
loosely to give a brush stroke effect
This hand method also allows for easy cross over for East Indian
and Middle Eastern hand techniques for frame drums.
Absolutely. A useful technique for comping in quieter situations.
If the player is a lady or someone with delicate skin, however, they should be aware that slight calluses or areas of hard skin may form on the backs of the fingers if this method of playing is used/practiced very frequently. It may be worth considering wearing band-aids on the fingers that contact the drumskin.
eat less salt, more fruit
rub apple vinegar and rose oil into fingers
This will make delicate skin strong …
I only like percussion accomp. in quiter pieces these days.
I am always turning down invitations to percuss becuase of this preference. I like to do drumming that is interpretative and subtle with just the occasional short, well timed burst of robustness for contrast.
Go here:
http://www.bodojo.com
or, www.bodhrandojo.com
For more drumming online:
http://www.drumdojo.com
Paul Marshal is a great guy and do visit the C&F forum from time to time.
They just started up a Bodhran forum on bodojo, kind of evolved from the old Bodranii forum. Just saw a great new clip of John-Joe Kelly that Paul posted. And if you are new to the site don’t miss the links on “Neo drumming”, very cool stuff 
Cheers!
/MarcusR
Here is a direct link to the John-Joe drum solo:
http://www.bodhrandojo.com/jjksolo.ram
Edit: Thanks for the PM, and here you go:
The Neo Bodhran link is on the tutorial section
Here is one of the clips with David Kuckhermann
Neo Bodhran
Check out Davids web site for more of this stuff 
That was some deep digging talasiga, had to think about that one for two years, ey? 
You got me going for sure! 
/MarcusR
I think this is a nice video tutorial for beginners thru advanced (70 minutes long):
“Mel Mercier with Seamus Egan, Bodhrán and Bones”
I snagged one on eBay for nine bucks…
Disclaimer: I’m not a bodhran player, just bought it to learn
something about the instrument.
Paddy League has a bodhran tutor (book and cd). I don’t think it’s available online anywhere, but he sells them at gigs and maybe you could find one on ebay? not sure about the tutoring materials, but he’s an amazing bodhran player.
Hi Marcus, CnEffers
Thank you for your most kind words Marcus, I’m flattered
Indeed, bodojo is the place to go for bodhran information - we aim to make it as user accessible and as detailed as possible if you wish to go that far.
There are some tutorial sections on bodojo but those will be supplemented over the coming months with lots and lots of tutorial video. I’ll post on the bodojo forum when I have new material uploaded. My Youtube bodhrandojo or myspace bodojo spaces, accept subscriptions where you get immediate notifications.
In terms of available commercial tutorials I recommend Steafan Hannigan’s bodhran basics - If you do buy, please purchase through the bodojo bookshop to help meet the costs of providing the site.
Thanks again Marcus for your support of bodojo and of the drum. Thank you C&F for indulging us goatwhackers
Paul