If you are looking for the place to learn about Bodhrans, HERE IT IS!

The Bodhran is a celtic drum, as far as I'm concerned it's an Irish drum - but who has time to argue.
It's about as old as dirt, and lot more fun. If you're still asking "What the Heck is it?" it's a round drum 14 - 22 inches in diameter, about 2 inches thick, usually with cross bars in the back.
It's played with one hand and a tipper (a short drumstick). The other hand holds it in the back and is used to adjust tone, volume and pitch.

The head is made of either Goat skin, Calf skin, or Mylar (modern). In my opinion, the Goat skin heads are the best by far. They are thin, making them easy to manipulate for different sounds, and they give a crisp clean sound when played open. Calf skin is more durable and gives a deeper sound, but it is thick and more coarse which sometimes causes an uncontrolable scratchy noise. Being thicker, it is also harder to manipulate. Mylar heads, or other synthetic heads really don't offer much more than weather resistance. They sound pingy (a technical Bodhran term) and metalic, and are very hard to manipulate. the weather resistance dosn't offer that much of a benifit if the sound isn't up to snuff. The Goat and Calf skins both can withstand quite a bit of weathering anyway. The only real concern is a large amount of water in a small area of the skin. If this happens you will need to stretch the skin while it is wet (it's best to try and spread the moisture around first) to prevent getting any bubbles or waves in the skin.

This is the link for my instructional page, for those of you looking to learn how to play. It's up and running, but it is just the basics of playing. I'll have more on how to play, including triplets, jigs, reels and more advanced stuff.
Teach_Me

That's my update for today. I'll keep at it, so just keep coming back. Click below to go back to my main page.

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