my sister is a bodhran player and every time she is at a session with multiple players they all take turns with each set. OR, if she plays with a bodhran player regularly, they will actually play together, just as long as they are doing the same thing!!
i havent had experience with different sessions, just the one, but whenever im there its always taking turns. it is a very polite thing. except when youve got five fiddlers, to whistle players, a concertina, a banjo, two accordions and a set of pipes...then pretty much everyone can play their bodhrans at the same time and it doesnt matter.
To be honest, it's most bodhran players' idea of hell, too. Hence the conspicuous politeness.
We bodhranists take great pride in accurately and appropriately placing our individual booms, clicks and clicketys. If some other bugger starts putting booms where you're clickety-ing and vice versa, it all becomes a bit pointless . . .
I always try to sit next to the new bodhran player and introduce myself. Forces us to not play over top of each other, allows us to trade licks, me to learn if they're better, and me to advise if they're not.
I prefer to sit with other bodhran players (I also refuse to call myself a bodhrani), I always feel we can understand each others' grunts and gestures better than I can understand the sentient speech of the melody players...
You got it, Candace! And kidcharlemagne, that's exactly the problem you've described there. Some good ideas here. I've tried the "sitting next to" thing and yes it's worked when the other player is a listener (like I try to be, too). If they're just a drum-banger, though, there's problems.
i agree with eoino. even before i started playing, i always thought that a good bodhran added a whole new level to a tune. and i, as well, refuse to call myself a bodhrani. it sounds really silly.
Simmer down folks! Of course we all know a good bodhran-player is as much a musician as anyone else and that Geoff's talking a load of old toot. He's just putting a big spoon in and stirring it. But we also know there are some wannabes out there who "play" bodhran but who don't seem to have any musical sense, just as there are such folks playing any other instrument you care to name. It's just that the apparent simplicity of the bodhran (all you have to do is hit the thing, after all?) attracts more of the wannabes. So I understand where Geoff's remarks are coming from.
And it's probably the wannabes I was thinking of when I started this thread. What do you do when one turns up at your session? To be honest and to give credit where credit's due, I've often found that when they realise there's already a bodhran player who's actually good, they'll keep their case zipped and just listen. Some I want to encourage to play, other bodhran-toters I want to discourage, though. They're probably the ones who just bang along regardless.
New bodhran players
New bodhran players
What do regular session bodhran players do when a new bodhran-player turns up? It's not happened often at our session but it happens sometimes.
\())
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by greenman
Re: New bodhran players
my sister is a bodhran player and every time she is at a session with multiple players they all take turns with each set. OR, if she plays with a bodhran player regularly, they will actually play together, just as long as they are doing the same thing!!
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by picking up that fiddle
Re: New bodhran players
i havent had experience with different sessions, just the one, but whenever im there its always taking turns. it is a very polite thing. except when youve got five fiddlers, to whistle players, a concertina, a banjo, two accordions and a set of pipes...then pretty much everyone can play their bodhrans at the same time and it doesnt matter.
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by Bard
Re: New bodhran players
Looks to me as though the smiley face is a picture of a bodhran.
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by Candace
Re: New bodhran players
Duelling bodhrans sounds like my idea of hell.
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by geoffwright
Re: New bodhran players
To be honest, it's most bodhran players' idea of hell, too. Hence the conspicuous politeness.
We bodhranists take great pride in accurately and appropriately placing our individual booms, clicks and clicketys. If some other bugger starts putting booms where you're clickety-ing and vice versa, it all becomes a bit pointless . . .
K.
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by kidcharlemagne
Re: New bodhran players
Politely defer to the new player. You may learn some new tricks. If they suck, teach them some new tricks.
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by baxdrum
Re: New bodhran players
I always try to sit next to the new bodhran player and introduce myself. Forces us to not play over top of each other, allows us to trade licks, me to learn if they're better, and me to advise if they're not.
I prefer to sit with other bodhran players (I also refuse to call myself a bodhrani), I always feel we can understand each others' grunts and gestures better than I can understand the sentient speech of the melody players...
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by dirtyheel
Re: New bodhran players
Unfortunate that we have no musk glands with which to mark our territory.
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by Sean O'Hare
Re: New bodhran players
You got it, Candace! And kidcharlemagne, that's exactly the problem you've described there. Some good ideas here. I've tried the "sitting next to" thing and yes it's worked when the other player is a listener (like I try to be, too). If they're just a drum-banger, though, there's problems.
())/ (a left-handed bodhran player
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by greenman
Re: New bodhran players
i agree with eoino. even before i started playing, i always thought that a good bodhran added a whole new level to a tune. and i, as well, refuse to call myself a bodhrani. it sounds really silly.
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by Bard
Re: New bodhran players
Simmer down folks! Of course we all know a good bodhran-player is as much a musician as anyone else and that Geoff's talking a load of old toot. He's just putting a big spoon in and stirring it. But we also know there are some wannabes out there who "play" bodhran but who don't seem to have any musical sense, just as there are such folks playing any other instrument you care to name. It's just that the apparent simplicity of the bodhran (all you have to do is hit the thing, after all?) attracts more of the wannabes. So I understand where Geoff's remarks are coming from.
And it's probably the wannabes I was thinking of when I started this thread. What do you do when one turns up at your session? To be honest and to give credit where credit's due, I've often found that when they realise there's already a bodhran player who's actually good, they'll keep their case zipped and just listen. Some I want to encourage to play, other bodhran-toters I want to discourage, though. They're probably the ones who just bang along regardless.
\())
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by greenman
Re: New bodhran players
Hmm...my last entry was in response to some replies that have been deleted. Sorry if that makes it look confusing!
\())
# Posted on November 13th 2004 by greenman
Re: New bodhran players
The owner of this site is clearly a Stalinist. What's the point in deleting just one lister's messages when all replies to those are left intact?
# Posted on November 28th 2004 by MacCruiskeen