Hey guys,

Paul's left (erratum - should be right) hand never really went below the centre of the drum and I don't tyhink I ever saw him play below the hand in all the time I knew him. His drum was always tuned to be quite high-pitched compared to many I have come across but the bass note gives the impression of being 'low' because of the Tuning relative to the really clear top.

Paul was the quintessential 'pure drop' top end player, not as flashy or impressive as the fabulous 'hybrid' players of whom we speak here, but stylistically pure and renowned in terms of complimenting the tune. It was for this reason that the Senior All Ireland ajudicator in the 2006 bodhran competition singled Paul out in the audience as being the exemplar for young players to look towards. Comhaltas are more concerned with the more 'traditional' side of the art rather than the more progressive side and this was the first real overt 'acceptance' and encouragement we had seen of Top End. Very encouraging.

I have several video recordings of Paul's playing - this is the clearest recording and the one where it seems he was most at ease. Video never seemed to capture the 'sparkle' in his playing, I miss that experience now that he is gone and I regret for the sakes of myself and everyone else that he is not around to continue to influence the pure development of the style.

P

Spot on. Thank you

quote Paul Marshall: 'Paul (Phillips) left hand never really went below the centre of the drum and I don't think I ever saw him play below the hand in all the time I knew him.' end quote

Hi PM,

I'm hesitating a bit to write this reaction because after all PP was YOUR best friend. I hope you don't feel offended.
When PP was teaching at Tubbercurry Summer School last year PP said his stick always struck the upper half of the drum, never coming down the middle line. And that he always plays above his hand.
But he also said that he played his bass sounds with an open drum, letting the fingers of his left hand touching the rim all the way down. You can see this on the video.

The best way to honour PP is to practice what he taught us, isn't it Paul?

kind greetings,

Dirk De Bleser, Belgium

Hey Dirk,

I think Paul (Marshall) meant that Paul's (Phillips)
hand never went below the halfway when applying
pressure to the skin..

I think anyway, I may be wrong :P

Cillian.

Hey Dirk,

Not sure why I would be offended LOL - Your sharp eyes help me by correcting my errors :)

Yes I incorrectly said about his left hand not going below the center of the drum - I meant that his 'right' hand (the other left :) does not go below the centre of the drum.

His left hand rarely (if ever) left the drum from what I experienced, even for bass notes, usually the heel of his left palm (or tips of fingers) remained lightly on the skin to mute the ring out of the drum.

The other thing that was remarkable about his playing is the light pressure of the left hand on the skin. Most other players of which I am aware including myself use much more pressure, I do think that this was in part why the Eckermann drum with the higher Tuning suited him so well.

Yes I think the best testament we can pay to the man is to continue on with his work as best as we understand it without being able to go back and ask <sigh> - There are certainly influences of his style in mine but I don't play or sound like Paul - PP always said "I don't want to sound like anyone else, I want to sound like me!"

He was also very keen on players working with as many influences and teachers as possible, broadening one's knowledge base and taking from that experience skills that work best for you!

Dirk, have you copies of Paul's class notes? I copied them for him several times but can't trace them on my PC.

Great to be discussing Paul P's playing style.

P

bodojo wrote:

QUOTE:
Hey Dirk,
The other thing that was remarkable about his playing is the light pressure of the left hand on the skin. Most other players of which I am aware including myself use much more pressure, I do think that this was in part why the Eckermann drum with the higher Tuning suited him so well.

Dirk, have you copies of Paul's class notes? I copied them for him several times but can't trace them on my PC.

P

Hi Paul and all,

indeed PP didn't produce his sounds by pressing on the skin: he had his thumb moving over the skin to shape the skin area. And he had his secret in the treatment the skin had undergone to make it so smooth to move across. Perhaps he told you his secret, Paul? Due to my special design of my Metloef I don't produce sound differences by pressure either. I just shape the playing area.

PP was open indeed to other ways of approaching the rhythms. In his classes he proposed his way of notation (I do have his class notes with me in my notes), but I had to translate it to the way of notification I am used to (the Stefan Hannigan method). (I tried to explain it, but it was to different from his approach.) I also have extended (Dutch) notes of his classes from the Tubbercurry Summer School. What would you want, Paul?

kind beatings from

Dirk De Bleser, Belgium