does anyone know how to get straps to hold the bodhran while standing and have freedom of movement to use your hand at the back for tone changes...etc i saw two bodhran players using them while playing on :the celtic woman " show on p.b.s. and also on "gaelforce" i think
thank you martin
I have attached a brass strap (from a marine or hardware store) with two screws through the frame into a small piece of backing wood. I then clip on a standard adjustable guitar-type strap and sling it over one shoulder. I then only have to slightly stabilize the bodhran with my left hand; no more than when it is on my knee.
Next you'll have the uillean pipers standing up !
You can always go back to the old hand stays in one place but tenses/relaxes the skin technique.
This moving your hand up-and-down stuff isn't traditional you know ( ducks ).
Just attach a strap to a point on the rim, hold the drum in your standing up comfortable position with the point of attachment on top. Find a comfortable length and position for the other end and attach.
Send a bottle of Jamesons for full working drawings
If you can elevate one foot slightly, on a monitor perhaps, and rest the drum on your thigh you should be able to get some freedom of motion without strapping yourself in. It'll help if you can grip the drum between upper arm and body, giving you an arc of motion with the forearm. It won't be quite as free a motion as if you're sitting, but it's one reasonable compromise. I'm not sure I can imagine how a strap would help at all. How would you strap yourself in?
I mounted two 'D rings' about 40 degrees apart on the rim. I use a double sided velcro strap through each D ring. One strap goes around my waist and fastens to itself thus holding the bodhran to my body. The other D ring has another velcro strap that goes around my neck and left shoulder. With both straps snugged tight enough, I can stand and walk around with both hands free to play my bodhran as I want to. I works well. I use 3/4 inch wide DOUBLE SIDED velcro straps long enough to go around my body and over lap about 10 inches. The D rings require one hole drilled through the rim for each D ring. The D ring has a metal strap around the straight side of the D ring with a hole through the metal strap through which the screw is through.
I have also rigged a system using a stick-on wafer type transducer (inside rim) and a velco fastened Microvox microphone (outside rim facing skin) with both going to a K&K Sound belt clip dual channel pre-amp that is inputted to a belt-clip radio mic set-up. I can walk around with no wires trailing me and play my Bodhran. The two mic set-up like this is supposed to give a truer Bodrahn sound.
I hope this helps.
Just funnin Tom, cause, & here's a wee site secret, we all actually LUV, the Bodhran here!
Fact is, most of us have Bodhrans of our own, here, & we regularly play them, but only in the privacy of our own homes.
We often fantisise about being Christy Moore & sing Diddly Idle Dee to the beat of the Bodhran, the 'heartbeat' of ITM...........................................................................
Is this making things worse, or better?
Between you & me Tom, but you must swear, on pain of death, not to tell anyone else I told you this - OK. Right, fact is, I teach the Bodhran to kids in local schools & it's a great instrument for getting kids, especially those wee macho boys, interested in ITM.
Also, a fact which might surprise some folks who live outside of ye olde Norn Iron, I teach Bodhran in - SHOCK HORROR! pauses for scarey music - den de den den DENNNNNNN! - as many Protestant schools as Catholic schools!
But when it comes to playing it myself, I stick to my Christy Moore impersonations
I once saw an ideal setup for a bodhran player that wanted to strut around on a stage beating the thing, I think it was on a film about hornpipes called 'One Flew Over THe Peacock's Feather' (or was it The Cuckoo's Nest - all these tune names blur into one to me).
It was a white pullover affair, with arms rather longer than the average pullover. At the end of each arm were some dinky leather straps . When the wearer, put the garment on, the 'arms' could be crossed over in front of the body and kept steady with the straps, which were fastened at the back. It would only take a small modification for the straps to be lengthened until they came back round the front and attached to a pair of D Rings nailed to the side of the bodhran. You wouldn't even need the drill holes in the rim as the six inch nails could be 'self'tapped' using a two-pund lump hammer.
A stick-on wafer type transducer could be superglued to the side of the beater's face so that he could be released to go to the toilet/have a fag/scratch his nose etc.
Altogether a satisfactory arrangement.
I can't recommend trying to play seriously and standing up. One of the unique features of the Bodhran is the full range of tone and expressiveness when played WITH the music. On "Celtic Women," both players were pressing the back of the bodhrans with flat hands for a bit of tippy tap sound. They knew how to do fast triplets. But compared to a Johnny McDonagh? Tommy Hayes? They could have done the same triplets on pizza boxes.
Now if you want to go real traditional, Bodhran players had crossbars for standing, dancing and playing. They even had contests. Tommy Hayes speaks about these marches, parades and contests at his workshops. That was always LOUD and therefore outdoor stuff.
Geoffwright: some of the novice bodhran players I know if their wrists were tied behind their back would either bite the tipper and play with their mouths, or get their shoes and socks off and play with their feet. Something needs to be said about incorrigibility.
They sound like those 'terrorists' shackled like slaves on the transport planes to Guantanamo Bay, because if they weren't they'd have bitten through control cables and electrical wires etc....
Come to think it, the terms 'terrorist' and 'novice bodhran player' are pretty interchangeable.
:-0
Aye Tracie, now that I think about it, there are all those rare spots throughout Brittany where 'everyone' has to stand to p*e - & to do everything else as well!
It's a bit of a challenge to read through the comments by all these amateur comics, isn't it? Picking on bodhrans & bodhranists is SO yesterday...
Here's what I came up with: I went to a local guitar shop and bought a set of "straploks" -- they're the screwposts that guitarists use to attach their guitar straps to the guitar. I was able to substitute the straploks for two of the screws holding my bodhran's crossbars in place...say at 12 and 3 o'clock. Then I purchased a guitar strap (went for the extra-long) and attached the "female" parts of the straplok system to the two ends of the guitar strap, positioning them on opposite sides of the strap. The strap clips onto the drum at the screwpost at 12 o'clock, comes over my left shoulder, around my back to my right side, across my abdomen, and clips into the drum on the post at the 3 o'clock position. It's worked very well for me, holding the drum in place so I can have the freedom to move my left hand. When my band plays out, I use the same type of clip-on mic that horn players use, and the freedom to move around is great. I've had a few players in my area adopt the same technique. Feel free to email me if you want more info.
Does that mean I'm classes as an "amateur comics" now? - If so, Whoooooppeeeeeeeee! That's my credit rating up another notch then, on the big Mustard page!
I think one of the tortures that they use on Iraqi prisoners is binding them up as you described and playing Rap music. I think they have gotten more than a few confessions this way.
When I start into my bad jokes, my buddies buy me drinks to shut me up. It works for them, and it works for me. So I guess I'm a pro.
thanks to the folks who gave sincere advise or suggestions
for the comics i am praying for you as i write this that you are all better musicians than comics
This is undoubtedly the Funniest thread I have encountered on session.org, since I first saw the light, & the midwife was tipsy wi' joy, as she danced round the floor with her slip o' a boy...singin' ..........
bodhran straps for playing while standing
bodhran straps for playing while standing
does anyone know how to get straps to hold the bodhran while standing and have freedom of movement to use your hand at the back for tone changes...etc i saw two bodhran players using them while playing on :the celtic woman " show on p.b.s. and also on "gaelforce" i think
thank you martin
# Posted on October 14th 2005 by bodhranmartin
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
I have attached a brass strap (from a marine or hardware store) with two screws through the frame into a small piece of backing wood. I then clip on a standard adjustable guitar-type strap and sling it over one shoulder. I then only have to slightly stabilize the bodhran with my left hand; no more than when it is on my knee.
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by oldstrings
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
The best bodhran straps would be ones you attach to the ceiling and the other end around the neck of the bodhran player. You'd need a stool though.
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Borrow the straps from a local Lambeg Drummer!
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Next you'll have the uillean pipers standing up !
You can always go back to the old hand stays in one place but tenses/relaxes the skin technique.
This moving your hand up-and-down stuff isn't traditional you know ( ducks ).
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by Guernsey Pete
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
"This moving your hand up-and-down stuff isn't traditional you know ( ducks )."
It's also a bit rude!
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by Ron P
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Just attach a strap to a point on the rim, hold the drum in your standing up comfortable position with the point of attachment on top. Find a comfortable length and position for the other end and attach.
Send a bottle of Jamesons for full working drawings
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by mcknowall
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
"Next you'll have the uillean pipers standing up !" - Aye & ladies standing to P*e!
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
"Strap" is "parts" backwards. Similarly, "sdrawkcab" is "backwards" backwards.
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by cyber-bullying is a criminal offence
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
& rekcuf yllis is.............................
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Only joking MaxF - after all, you still have all your own hair - Wow! - excuse me while I turn green with envy!.........................
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
If you can elevate one foot slightly, on a monitor perhaps, and rest the drum on your thigh you should be able to get some freedom of motion without strapping yourself in. It'll help if you can grip the drum between upper arm and body, giving you an arc of motion with the forearm. It won't be quite as free a motion as if you're sitting, but it's one reasonable compromise. I'm not sure I can imagine how a strap would help at all. How would you strap yourself in?
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Use the monitor as a stool... brilliant!
# Posted on October 15th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
I mounted two 'D rings' about 40 degrees apart on the rim. I use a double sided velcro strap through each D ring. One strap goes around my waist and fastens to itself thus holding the bodhran to my body. The other D ring has another velcro strap that goes around my neck and left shoulder. With both straps snugged tight enough, I can stand and walk around with both hands free to play my bodhran as I want to. I works well. I use 3/4 inch wide DOUBLE SIDED velcro straps long enough to go around my body and over lap about 10 inches. The D rings require one hole drilled through the rim for each D ring. The D ring has a metal strap around the straight side of the D ring with a hole through the metal strap through which the screw is through.
I have also rigged a system using a stick-on wafer type transducer (inside rim) and a velco fastened Microvox microphone (outside rim facing skin) with both going to a K&K Sound belt clip dual channel pre-amp that is inputted to a belt-clip radio mic set-up. I can walk around with no wires trailing me and play my Bodhran. The two mic set-up like this is supposed to give a truer Bodrahn sound.
I hope this helps.
# Posted on October 16th 2005 by AlleghenyTom
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Tom, can you still do the 'FUNKY CHICKEN' with that yolk strapped to your belly?
# Posted on October 16th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Just funnin Tom, cause, & here's a wee site secret, we all actually LUV, the Bodhran here!
Fact is, most of us have Bodhrans of our own, here, & we regularly play them, but only in the privacy of our own homes.
We often fantisise about being Christy Moore & sing Diddly Idle Dee to the beat of the Bodhran, the 'heartbeat' of ITM...........................................................................
Is this making things worse, or better?
Between you & me Tom, but you must swear, on pain of death, not to tell anyone else I told you this - OK. Right, fact is, I teach the Bodhran to kids in local schools & it's a great instrument for getting kids, especially those wee macho boys, interested in ITM.
Also, a fact which might surprise some folks who live outside of ye olde Norn Iron, I teach Bodhran in - SHOCK HORROR! pauses for scarey music - den de den den DENNNNNNN! - as many Protestant schools as Catholic schools!
But when it comes to playing it myself, I stick to my Christy Moore impersonations
# Posted on October 16th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
I once saw an ideal setup for a bodhran player that wanted to strut around on a stage beating the thing, I think it was on a film about hornpipes called 'One Flew Over THe Peacock's Feather' (or was it The Cuckoo's Nest - all these tune names blur into one to me).
It was a white pullover affair, with arms rather longer than the average pullover. At the end of each arm were some dinky leather straps . When the wearer, put the garment on, the 'arms' could be crossed over in front of the body and kept steady with the straps, which were fastened at the back. It would only take a small modification for the straps to be lengthened until they came back round the front and attached to a pair of D Rings nailed to the side of the bodhran. You wouldn't even need the drill holes in the rim as the six inch nails could be 'self'tapped' using a two-pund lump hammer.
A stick-on wafer type transducer could be superglued to the side of the beater's face so that he could be released to go to the toilet/have a fag/scratch his nose etc.
Altogether a satisfactory arrangement.
# Posted on October 16th 2005 by Ottery
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Attach a pair of braces to the yoke and you could watch it pogo while you stand still ( For the over 50's of course)........
# Posted on October 16th 2005 by Ian Stevenson
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
I can't recommend trying to play seriously and standing up. One of the unique features of the Bodhran is the full range of tone and expressiveness when played WITH the music. On "Celtic Women," both players were pressing the back of the bodhrans with flat hands for a bit of tippy tap sound. They knew how to do fast triplets. But compared to a Johnny McDonagh? Tommy Hayes? They could have done the same triplets on pizza boxes.
Now if you want to go real traditional, Bodhran players had crossbars for standing, dancing and playing. They even had contests. Tommy Hayes speaks about these marches, parades and contests at his workshops. That was always LOUD and therefore outdoor stuff.
# Posted on October 17th 2005 by CeolCairdeas
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
I would recomend the straps are around the wrists and behind the back.
# Posted on October 17th 2005 by geoffwright
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Geoffwright: some of the novice bodhran players I know if their wrists were tied behind their back would either bite the tipper and play with their mouths, or get their shoes and socks off and play with their feet. Something needs to be said about incorrigibility.
# Posted on October 17th 2005 by CeolCairdeas
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
They sound like those 'terrorists' shackled like slaves on the transport planes to Guantanamo Bay, because if they weren't they'd have bitten through control cables and electrical wires etc....
Come to think it, the terms 'terrorist' and 'novice bodhran player' are pretty interchangeable.
:-0
# Posted on October 17th 2005 by Ottery
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
"Ladies standing to p*e"?
Yes, I've been in pubs where ladies had to do that, levitation not being an option.
# Posted on October 17th 2005 by Tracie
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Aye Tracie, now that I think about it, there are all those rare spots throughout Brittany where 'everyone' has to stand to p*e - & to do everything else as well!
# Posted on October 17th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Martin --
It's a bit of a challenge to read through the comments by all these amateur comics, isn't it? Picking on bodhrans & bodhranists is SO yesterday...
Here's what I came up with: I went to a local guitar shop and bought a set of "straploks" -- they're the screwposts that guitarists use to attach their guitar straps to the guitar. I was able to substitute the straploks for two of the screws holding my bodhran's crossbars in place...say at 12 and 3 o'clock. Then I purchased a guitar strap (went for the extra-long) and attached the "female" parts of the straplok system to the two ends of the guitar strap, positioning them on opposite sides of the strap. The strap clips onto the drum at the screwpost at 12 o'clock, comes over my left shoulder, around my back to my right side, across my abdomen, and clips into the drum on the post at the 3 o'clock position. It's worked very well for me, holding the drum in place so I can have the freedom to move my left hand. When my band plays out, I use the same type of clip-on mic that horn players use, and the freedom to move around is great. I've had a few players in my area adopt the same technique. Feel free to email me if you want more info.
# Posted on October 18th 2005 by tgponeill
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
'Amateur comics'?
Bloody cheek, and from a self-confessed lager drinker!
# Posted on October 18th 2005 by Ottery
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Does that mean I'm classes as an "amateur comics" now? - If so, Whoooooppeeeeeeeee! That's my credit rating up another notch then, on the big Mustard page!
# Posted on October 18th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
classed - ok so I still can't spell. Spelling'll be my next notch.................
# Posted on October 18th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Ottery:
I think one of the tortures that they use on Iraqi prisoners is binding them up as you described and playing Rap music. I think they have gotten more than a few confessions this way.
When I start into my bad jokes, my buddies buy me drinks to shut me up. It works for them, and it works for me. So I guess I'm a pro.
# Posted on October 19th 2005 by CeolCairdeas
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
thanks to the folks who gave sincere advise or suggestions
for the comics i am praying for you as i write this that you are all better musicians than comics
# Posted on October 19th 2005 by bodhranmartin
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
you are welcome, bodhranmartin
I would pray for them too, BUT ta hell wit em!
# Posted on October 19th 2005 by AlleghenyTom
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
This is undoubtedly the Funniest thread I have encountered on session.org, since I first saw the light, & the midwife was tipsy wi' joy, as she danced round the floor with her slip o' a boy...singin' ..........
# Posted on October 27th 2005 by wvwhistler
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
Having a little padding around the cross bars really helps me when I'm strolling around as in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXLo7hrOrCc
What I need now is a wireless mic setup.
-- boron (bow-rawn)
# Posted on June 24th 2006 by b0dhran
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
terrorist should not be confused with novice bodhran players
terrrorist have sympathisers, novice bodhran players..
# Posted on November 1st 2010 by Christmass
Webmaster
The recommendations for suicide need to be deleted.
# Posted on November 1st 2010 by Ben Steen
Re: bodhran straps for playing while standing
joking aside
buy a leather shoulder holster for a mobile phone
you can then modify
2 different modifications
short strap to top of bodhran from holster
simple and effective
or
above plus short strap to trouser belt
more control but more restrictive
# Posted on November 1st 2010 by Christmass