Im working on getting some triplets down. For you bodhran players who come here, id like to know the proper technique for these. My tipper facing 9 oclock going down (and striking) as I go toward 6 (im assuming thats a downbeat, tho i am unsure of the terminology)
As i come back up to the 9oclock position (striking on the way up) Is this where I execute the triplet? If so how is it done?
No.
The opposite of “pro” is “anti”
and the opposite of “progress” is “regress”.
Smile, we are speaking English. 
Clever devil indeed. But also note the “if”
Therefore
IF the opposite of “pro” is “anti”
then the opposite of “progress” is “regress”
my personal favorite (incorrect) saying like that is
“what is politics…let’s break down the word, shall we? You have ‘poly,’ meaning ‘many’ and ‘ticks’ which are small bloodsucking creatures…”
Slainte, if you consider the end of the tipper closest to you as the “foot” and the end furthest away from you as the “head”, the triplet is performed as:
one stroke down - one beat on the “foot”
one stroke up - one beat on the “head” followed by one beat on the “foot”
Hope that helps,
djm
well put
Only for conjoined twins.
djm
There has been great debate about how triplets are first accomplished, then used in the music. I on one hand do mostly all of my triplets with one end of the stick. I tell my students to just do a regular downstroke and turn their wrists a tad more than a regular stroke. The top of the stick will hit the drum eventually. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it right the first time, remember to slow it down and keep trying.
Hope I shed some light on the subject
Jo
So, what piperjo seems to be saying is that the triplet is done on the downstroke. This compiles into:
one stroke down - one beat on the “foot”, followed by one beat on the “head”.
one stroke up - one beat on the “foot”
- which conforms with my humble personal experience on the subject.
I think hitting with the “head” on the upbeat would require some very awkward hand movements; if not impossible at least not feasible. Although djm has got the sequence right..
Imagine doing a downbeat (9 o’clock to 6 o’clock), while angling the bodhran slightly and driving the wrist a little extra you allow the upper end (the “head”) to hit the skin right after the bottom end (the “foot”) passes 6 o’clock. Then, the bottom end returns towards 9 o’clock on the upbeat hitting the skin again, and producing something that might well be a triplet 
E.
When I was first learning (been good on the bodhran for 16 years now), the best advice I received was to not so much play the second beat (i.e., the one most folks play with the top end of the tipper) but to allow it to happen. Focus on the down and up strokes of the bottom of the tipper. Then, when they are solid, relax your grip on the tipper a bit: not so much that it files out of your hand, but enough to allow the centrifugal (or is it centripital?) force to create the sounding of the second beat.
I guess it really is a “Zen” thing. But it truly worked (and still does) for me.
You have it right there Tommy. I was taught to concentrate on getting the down and upstroke right and as that part is mastered you learn to relax the hold on the beater so that ‘‘somehow’’ the head strikes the skin and produces the triple.
Whew. Had me going for a while, there. “Bodhrán triplets”…I feared they’d started breeding like wildfire.
I was at a festival in Sidmouth a few years ago and I counted 8 bodhran
around the session table. Not a fiddler or a piper in sight and I was certainly in no mood to compete with all that drumming on my D whistle.
8 bodhrans around a table and not a fiddler or piper in sight? Imagine that! 
Is the plural of bodhran ’ bodhrans’ ? Perhaps someone could help us here. 
It could perhaps be be bodhrani .
I believe that translates to “people who beat goats” or bodhran “players”.
I am one of those percussionists who can’t play drum sets that use those two sticks and cymbols all over the place.
Bodhran, bones and eggs for me, thanks.
Bon appetit
If you haven’t yet check out Paul Marshall’s site at www.drumdojo.comgreat resource for any type of percussionist. Has a bodhran and bones section under the “Learning Zone” with useful tips for the beginner.
The triplet:
Paul droped by the whistle forum a while ago and I for one would like to read more of his comments on drums and playing ITM. Maybe its time to set up a Bodhran forum here at C&F as there seem to be quite a few whistle/flute players and pipers that occasionally sneak out a drum from the bag at the session (probably even more that wont admit it in public). Also, the Bodranii forum don’t seem to get any where even though the intention was good. Maybe it’s the “beyond ITM” label that scare people off.
Any comments?
/MarcusR
Nothing I can repeat in public 
