Im going to learn the Bodran after going to an Irish pub last night .
It really was a great night, with all the musicians lined up in a row seeing how much fun everybody was having I have decided to start learning the Bodran .
I was inspired by the four or five Bodran players all beating away in time to the music and since I have no expirence in music at all It will be easy for me to learn the Bodran (which is obviously at the hart of the music) ...
Anyway found this site and thought I could get some advice on the right drum for me, i'm am considering just going for a tambourine which is basically the same thing but you get the great rattles on it as well ... Well any advices would me great .
Heheh. You truly found a unique experience if you encountered four or five bodhran players all beating away in time. Hardly anyone here can find even one bodhran player who can do that! Five at once sounds like you happened upon a convention of all the world's actual players of the bodhran (there are only five). If you could persuade them to take up residence where you saw them, and never to travel outside their own area, that would be a great day for Irish music. If you yourself could also stay with them, permanently, that would also be really good...
There was,by all accounts ,a very interesting performance at lunchtime in the University of Limerick. A concert was given by 5 bodhran players and was well attended and ,seemingly, very enjoyable.
Bodran Guy, you should know going into this that there are a good number of traditional musicians out there (and on these boards) that don't much care for the majority of bodhrán players-- some don't even like the instrument at all!
If you go to discussions and search for "bodhran" you'll find there've been several. Here are a few:
Hi there folks, thanks for the encouraging words, well some of you and thanks for the links too .
@Resodan Thanks for you links I cant understand why to quote "musicians out there (and on these boards) that don't much care for the majority of bodhrán players" everyone last night seemed to love it Except one guy playing an awkward squeeky sounding instrument the likes of which I have never seen before ...
@FIDDLE4 not really my kind of thing I like the real stuff like I heard in the pub with (the big beat thing) but thanks anyway ...
@Jonny Ward I know how its spelled but I prefer to spell and pronounce it phonetically .
Thanks again for all your help still looking around for a drum as I am hoping to pick one up and go along to the pub next week and start jamming .
You don't have to "learn" the bodhran. You either have it or you don't. In that respect it's a bit like spelling and writing comprehensibly. After getting the basics about holding the tipper and getting the beat within about half an hour most musicians should have it sorted. Good luck.
If you get a jagged knife and cut slots round the edge of the bodran you can put your own jingles in. Tear the tops off some baked bean tins and nail them into the slots. I've found it best to lick them first, otherwise they are not so jingly but tis is OK if you like beans. Make sure you nail them in from the skin side, otherwise the wood splits.
"There was,by all accounts ,a very interesting performance at lunchtime in the University of Limerick. A concert was given by 5 bodhran players and was well attended and ,seemingly, very enjoyable."
I heard about that. Apparently, paracetamol was included in the ticket price and they showed Zulu on a big screen behind the stage.
soulful bodhran players would, imho, fade out in the last few bars and match the backing base notes with appropriate toning on the skin, and see the melody instruments make the final mood of the tune...it's teamwork, I believe.
...and the punters love that sort of symbiosis...and they all want to play the bodhran!! Brilliant!! lol
Hey, bodrhanguy, which fairy hill were you under, past midnight and well in your cups, that you heard "Four or five players all beating in time..." ?
That's definitely a fairy story you have there.
The thing you have to remember, Bodran Guy, is that getting noticed is the name of the game in Irish Trad. Watch Irish step dancers competing ruthlessly, with orange tans and gaudy dresses cutting in front of each other shamelessly to get the adjudicators' attention; you have to be a bit louder and a bit more eye-catching than your goat bashing competitors. A suggestion would be this one: http://www.amazon.com/Shamen-Bodhran-Large-Hoop-Drum/dp/B002PN70O4 . Good luck.
@Stuporman, you didn't mention the wigs. You won't get anywhere at all in Irish step dancing without the wig. It wouldn't surprise me if that goes for the men as well
Learning the Bodran
Learning the Bodran
Hi there,
Im going to learn the Bodran after going to an Irish pub last night .
It really was a great night, with all the musicians lined up in a row seeing how much fun everybody was having I have decided to start learning the Bodran .
I was inspired by the four or five Bodran players all beating away in time to the music and since I have no expirence in music at all It will be easy for me to learn the Bodran (which is obviously at the hart of the music) ...
Anyway found this site and thought I could get some advice on the right drum for me, i'm am considering just going for a tambourine which is basically the same thing but you get the great rattles on it as well ... Well any advices would me great .
Thanks Bodran Guy !!!
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by BodranGuy
Re: Learning the Bodran
Windups are so boring innit ...
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by zoukboy
Re: Learning the Bodran
Heheh. You truly found a unique experience if you encountered four or five bodhran players all beating away in time. Hardly anyone here can find even one bodhran player who can do that! Five at once sounds like you happened upon a convention of all the world's actual players of the bodhran (there are only five). If you could persuade them to take up residence where you saw them, and never to travel outside their own area, that would be a great day for Irish music. If you yourself could also stay with them, permanently, that would also be really good...
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Steve Shaw
Re: Learning the Bodran
There was,by all accounts ,a very interesting performance at lunchtime in the University of Limerick. A concert was given by 5 bodhran players and was well attended and ,seemingly, very enjoyable.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by big_tab
Re: Learning the Bodran
Bodran Guy, you should know going into this that there are a good number of traditional musicians out there (and on these boards) that don't much care for the majority of bodhrán players-- some don't even like the instrument at all!
If you go to discussions and search for "bodhran" you'll find there've been several. Here are a few:
"Buying My First Bodhran"
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/25791
"Bodhran Care"
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/3219/
"Bodhran tippers"
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/24257
If you want to see what a bodhrán discussion can look like here, read/wade through this:
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/11933/
I wish you luck!
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Resodan
Re: Learning the Bodran
Take lesson's like this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOMfK1TEgaQ&playnext=1&list=PL0D111D0C707C5F63
jim,,,
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by FIDDLE4
Re: Learning the Bodran
Wasn't there an interesting thread about 'dose' bodhrans a few years ago?
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Learning the Bodran
The thread of threads, 995 replies at present.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Ben Steen
Re: Learning the Bodran
Well, not to be picky, but it is "Bodhran". You are missing the "h".
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by pipersgrip
Re: Learning the Bodran
Hi there folks, thanks for the encouraging words, well some of you and thanks for the links too .
@Resodan Thanks for you links I cant understand why to quote "musicians out there (and on these boards) that don't much care for the majority of bodhrán players" everyone last night seemed to love it Except one guy playing an awkward squeeky sounding instrument the likes of which I have never seen before ...
@FIDDLE4 not really my kind of thing I like the real stuff like I heard in the pub with (the big beat thing) but thanks anyway ...
@Jonny Ward I know how its spelled but I prefer to spell and pronounce it phonetically .
Thanks again for all your help still looking around for a drum as I am hoping to pick one up and go along to the pub next week and start jamming .
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Bodran GUY
Re: Learning the Bodran
P.S love the idea of A 5 Bodran concert ...
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by BodranGuy
Re: Learning the Bodran
GUY, just in case this is NOT a windup - the video is the "real
stuff". The session you went to is ... in Disneyland?
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Hup
Re: Learning the Bodran
BodranGuy -
Maybe you should try the Fiddle, or Trolling instead - LOL.
: ) jim,,,
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by FIDDLE4
Re: Learning the Bodran
When I was in college, I and a friend planned a 5-bodhran band, to be called Not Led Zeppelin.
Didn't work out, luckily.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by RockyRoader
Re: Learning the Bodran
You don't have to "learn" the bodhran. You either have it or you don't. In that respect it's a bit like spelling and writing comprehensibly. After getting the basics about holding the tipper and getting the beat within about half an hour most musicians should have it sorted. Good luck.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Rudall the time
Re: Learning the Bodran
If you get a jagged knife and cut slots round the edge of the bodran you can put your own jingles in. Tear the tops off some baked bean tins and nail them into the slots. I've found it best to lick them first, otherwise they are not so jingly but tis is OK if you like beans. Make sure you nail them in from the skin side, otherwise the wood splits.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by gam
Re: Learning the Bodran
You'd be as well telling him to use a grenade as a tipper. With the pin pulled out of course. It would make a loud enough noise at any session. One of those old German ones:
http://www.yourprops.com/norm-49ec6e794e82e-Band+of+Brothers+%28TV%29+%282001%29.jpeg
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Rudall the time
Re: Learning the Bodran
A Mills bomb I believe. Splendid Idea.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by gam
Re: Learning the Bodran
"There was,by all accounts ,a very interesting performance at lunchtime in the University of Limerick. A concert was given by 5 bodhran players and was well attended and ,seemingly, very enjoyable."
I heard about that. Apparently, paracetamol was included in the ticket price and they showed Zulu on a big screen behind the stage.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Steve Shaw
Re: Learning the Bodran
Trouble is - the collateral damage at a session. But you could advise him to practice on his own first before going out to a session......
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Rudall the time
Re: Learning the Bodran
The 5 bodhran concert did in fact take place in UL and featured among others Tommy Hayes and Mel Mercier. The audience seemingly loved the music!
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by big_tab
Re: Learning the Bodran
LOL blatant troll! thanks for the laugh
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by ecidralla
Re: Learning the Bodran
Ah so the audience wasn't ITM Musicians - lol.....
jim,,,
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by FIDDLE4
Re: Learning the Bodran
They might well have been Jim.. Just not session.org members.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by big_tab
Re: Learning the Bodran
Best place to learn the bodran
http://wikimapia.org/13736296/Bodrani
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Rudall the time
Re: Learning the Bodran
Not the Craiceann Inis Oírr International Bodhrán Summer School then? Safely shipped off to the islands.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Prof. Prlwytzkofski
Re: Learning the Bodran
So how do you get 5 Bodhran players to play in harmony ?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
You shoot 4 of them..
and once you've shot 4 of them, you might as well shoot the last one, just in case the person is fertile.
But on a serious note: I do have a lot of time for the bodhran, if it's treated with the respect it deserves.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Theirlandais
Re: Learning the Bodran
I'm thinking of setting up a Bodhrán and Guitar forum. Clearly there is a need that TheSession.org is not meeting.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by harmonic miner
Re: Learning the Bodran
You could always learn the Bodhran from tape...but I don't know the sound quality since I've read the best way of taping a bodhran is with duct tape.
Sorry.....this thread concept lends itself to even the most discreet of us taking a cheap shot!
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by zippydw
Re: Learning the Bodran
Awkward squeeky sounding instrument? Whose fiddle was it?
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by underthetoaster
Re: Learning the Bodran
...gimme some skin.
bodhran go bragh
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
...in the right hands.
(or the left hands, dependin on yer point of view)
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
"The 5 bodhran concert did in fact take place in UL and featured among others Tommy Hayes and Mel Mercier. The audience seemingly loved the music!"
Ah, that's different. You didn't tell us there was music there as well!
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Steve Shaw
Re: Learning the Bodran
bodhrans matched symbiotically to guitar rhythm help fiddle players enormously who don't have an intrinsic rhythm (well, an Irish one anyway.)
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
Good man Flynner.. You're flying!
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by big_tab
Re: Learning the Bodran
how're ye, tabber.
flyin' it, yea. tryin' anywa
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
Bodhrans matched symbiotically to guitar rhythm?
I was thinking more like parasitically. Like those species of vines which wrap themselves around trees and slowly suck the nutrients out of the tree.
Hmmmm..... That could be a good thing...
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Learning the Bodran
you wish. eh.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
that needs a "?" I reckon.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
And some capital letters, while you're at it.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Learning the Bodran
big letters is it?
capital idea!
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
this sounds like it is getting positively orthographic.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
Only thing I hate, is last note freaks on a Bodhran. Everything ends in a Big Bang - lol..
jim,,,
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by FIDDLE4
Re: Learning the Bodran
soulful bodhran players would, imho, fade out in the last few bars and match the backing base notes with appropriate toning on the skin, and see the melody instruments make the final mood of the tune...it's teamwork, I believe.
...and the punters love that sort of symbiosis...and they all want to play the bodhran!! Brilliant!! lol
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
...especially if the punters are women...
women love base notes; if you know what I mean.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
*never* be the first to end in a *big bang*, fiddle 4...
good tip.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
Hey, bodrhanguy, which fairy hill were you under, past midnight and well in your cups, that you heard "Four or five players all beating in time..." ?
That's definitely a fairy story you have there.
# Posted on February 4th 2011 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Learning the Bodran
Here ya go, bodranguy,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7UzN8UvI5g
But you'll have to do some serious bodybuilding to carry it.
Let us know how you get on.
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by oldstrings
Re: Learning the Bodran
Call that a drum? THIS is a drum...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-gDNK9WYc4
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by gam
Re: Learning the Bodran
And if you cant find your bodhran you can always get yourself a woman and try this.....!
http://youtu.be/6s51aD0_HMk
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by Free Reed
Re: Learning the Bodran
That's some sexual tension. I hope they find what they want. Probably after the camera was off.
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by Ben Steen
Re: Learning the Bodran
yeah, they've probably slacked off now.
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Learning the Bodran
Yeah, OK gam, that's a drum, and some funny whistles to go with it.
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by oldstrings
Multi-cultural night @ Mustard's
Béla Fleck - Music of Mali
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNyolhLJqhI
I stumbled on this while searching for a YouTube w/Oumou Sangare.
If you don't like it, that's what you get for clicking a link in a bodran thread.
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by Ben Steen
Re: Learning the Bodran
The live version of the hand dance is better. LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC3Iwiwy88g&NR
The way it ends is good. I've wanted to do that to a couple of bodhrán players from time to time...
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by Reverend
Re: Learning the Bodran
The thing you have to remember, Bodran Guy, is that getting noticed is the name of the game in Irish Trad. Watch Irish step dancers competing ruthlessly, with orange tans and gaudy dresses cutting in front of each other shamelessly to get the adjudicators' attention; you have to be a bit louder and a bit more eye-catching than your goat bashing competitors. A suggestion would be this one: http://www.amazon.com/Shamen-Bodhran-Large-Hoop-Drum/dp/B002PN70O4 . Good luck.
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by Stuporman
Re: Learning the Bodran
BodranDude, you're keeping the laughs going. lol
...
Re: Asking someone to leave..How?
Posted on October 20th 2002 by jrathbun
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/833/comments#comment15186
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by Ben Steen
Re: Learning the Bodran
@Stuporman, you didn't mention the wigs. You won't get anywhere at all in Irish step dancing without the wig. It wouldn't surprise me if that goes for the men as well
# Posted on February 5th 2011 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Learning the Bodran
The idea that bodhrans are disliked by Irish musicians is a myth invented by people who know absolutely nothing about Irish music.
It then became a popular belief with newcomers, who to appear trendy and knowledgeably also pretended to dislike bodhrans.
Purists steeped in the tradition, such as myself, smile knowingly as these fools.
# Posted on February 6th 2011 by bodhran bliss
Re: Learning the Bodran
well put, bliss.
# Posted on February 6th 2011 by mcknowall
Re: Learning the Bodran
Maith an fear Bliss!
# Posted on February 6th 2011 by big_tab
Re: Learning the Bodran
Hit the nail on the head bliss, well said.
# Posted on February 6th 2011 by piobagusfidil
Re: Learning the Bodran
It's banter, boys.
# Posted on February 6th 2011 by Ben Steen
Re: Learning the Bodran
It's just a little bit of fun...
PUT THAT BLOODY DRUM DOWN ! !
....well, maybe.....
# Posted on February 8th 2011 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Learning the Bodran
Thank you, fans.........
# Posted on February 10th 2011 by bodhran bliss