 This is the North
Kerry or simply 'Kerry' style of play. It is the most traditional stick style
that is employed.
Kerry is the defining bodhran style, it is universally used and is the most common form of playing .
The exciting 'top end' style is fast sweeping the
bodhrán community. A majority of top players now use an amalgamation of Top
end and Kerry - 'Top N
Kerry'.
Bodhrán - Basic "Kerry" technique
Paul Marshall ©2005
Any
playing references assume that the reader regards the right hand as the dominant
hand, if you are left handed, simply reverse the handing.
Holding the
drum
The drum is
normally played when sitting. In the case of a right handed player it will sit
on the left knee with the frame pointing directly ahead or slightly to the
right, it is supported by the left hand inside the drum and held snugly against
the front left side of the chest. The edge of the drum will ususlly find a
resting place in the crook of your elbow. This method is the same whether cross
bars are employed or not, the use of cross bars really is to facilitate left
hand pressure for tonal use or to hold the drum when standing, but this is much
less common because of having to execute both left hand supportive and tonal
requirements simultaneously.
Which hand is
used where?
The dominant hand
(usually the right) is used to strike the drum with the  Tipper and the
sub-dominant hand (left) is used to modulate the sound of the drum by changing
tensions and muting the skin inside the drum.
Playing
technique
The most common
style is the Kerry style where the bottom of the stick strikes the drum for the
main rhythms and the top of the stick swings over to make triplets or other
ornamentation. The style demonstrated here is the Kerry Style.
 Right Hand
 The bodhrán has a
unique and distinctive playing style. The tipper is held loosely in a pen-like
grip somewhere around the middle of the stick.
 The
hand holding the tipper is turned in slightly, maybe 20-30 degrees toward the
inner wrist. The tipper should be somewhere around horizontal and parallel with
the drum head this is the basic starting position.
Imagine an axis
running from your elbow through the middle of your wrist, rotation of the
 arm about this axis will cause the hand and tipper in the
position above to rise and fall, tracing an arc in the air (see animated image)
The bottom of the tipper will strike the drum head on the leftmost point of the
arc on the way down and again but slightly lower on the upstroke. You will
notice too that my thumb seems to stay fairly close to the centre of the drum in
this basic stroke. When playing my hands do move over the surface of the drum
however this is a good general reference point.
To a casual
observer the movement looks not dissimilar to strumming a guitar.
These images have
been taken from a player's point of view.
  
.........Top of arc....................Bottom of arc
.......Arc extension to cause triplet
The ubiquitous
triplet
The most common
form of rhythmic ornamentation is the 'triplet'. The triplet is an additional
strike on the drum accommodated into the basic playing technique. It is the
logical next-step after the up/down strokes and is very distinctive, it is used
no matter what time signature is employed although the musical effect does vary
slightly.
As you progress in
your playing you will find many ways of playing triplets (or even quadruplets),
however the following should be enough to get you started.
- The 'extra' stroke
occurs between the downstroke and the upstroke and is achieved by rotating the
hand holding the tipper very slightly further around anticlockwise than on a
normal downstroke. The effect of this is that the upper portion of the tipper
comes around and makes contact with the skin, it's no more complicated than that
and it is a natural motion, see the images above.
- The most common
difficulty experienced by progressing players is in controlling the triplet so
that it only happens when you want it to. I'm sorry to tell you that this is
purely a question of time spent practising.
- A quadruplet is
achieved by rotating the arm even further on the downstroke so that you can
achieve an upstroke on the return with the top end of the tipper. This to me is
is seriously difficult to execute smoothly at playing speed!
The
Rim
It is possible also
to play on the wood shell of the drum. There are many different ways of doing
this, some for selecting individual accents by moving the tipper to contact on
the rim or you can turn the drum around and play the entire rhythm directly onto
the body. It may take a few minutes to get an angle that suits both tipper and
rim 'hitability' but the tipper actually only needs a very small area to play,
and you should find a comfortable and accessible position. NB a book is a good
practise drum :)
Other
Styles
- Top end style - exciting Northern style using the
bottom end of the stick and top end of the drum
- Limerick style -
Where the stick is held with the top in the hand and the body pointing back
toward the player. If you can imagine the kerry grip above but with all the
stick below the thumb
- Roscommon style -
there is no tipper and the drum is struck with the right hand knuckles.
Left (voice)
Hand
The left hand has
two main purposes;
Support. Where it
keeps the drum upright and held comfortably but firmly to the player's body.
This can be a tricky part for new players or a new drum, particularly if the
drum doesn't have a crossbar. Practise lots, spend time getting used to the drum
and it will soon provide you with a comfy familiar position.
The second role of
the left hand isn't usually the most instantly obvious or visually impressive
contributor to the sound from a non-drummers perspective, yet it is probably THE
most important aspect of a bodhrán player's personal style.
 I explain this role is
by drawing a parallel to our own voices where the voice box creates the sound
and the mouth shapes it; a bodhrán tipper will create the sound and the left
hand will speak its message. This is why I call the left hand the 'voice'
hand
There are many
discussions and propositions as to appropriate positioning and activity of the
left hand, any motion on the left hand may cause sound by rubbing over the skin.
As an observer and a player whose left hand has free range on the drum, I think
that the general rule is to find a position that is comfortable and readily
gives you the range of tones you need.
Some listening and
watching as well as a good amount of experimentation will give you a reasonable
range of left hand activities to select from. Some you will use all the time,
some occasionally, some almost never.
There is nothing
like really getting to know your drums voices, experiment, be
intimate
- Do nothing
- Just leave it open
and boomy
- Muting
- Using the left
hand to kill the resonance of the skin providing a very useful tonal
variance
- Changing pitch
- Using the left
hand to change the size of the vibrating area of the drum and thereby the
pitch
- Using the left
hand to apply greater or lesser pressure to the drumhead and therefore adjust
pitch up or down respectively
- Bending pitch
- Using the heel of
the hand to slide a bass note upwards. Indian tabla style
- Bass lines
- Using pitch
changing techniques to play specific low pitch patterns to match/complement the
tune being played by other musicians
- Melodies
- Using point of
finger in centre of drum to press and play specific-pitch patterns to match the
tune being played by other musicians (extremely difficult but worth a
laugh)
- Harmonics
- Using the point of
the finger at different points on the head to isolate a particular frequency
when struck
- Pops
- making a very
small area of drum head in the triangle between your index finger and thumb at
the top of the drum that is hit with the tipper
- Finger drumming
- As the name
suggests, bringing all kinds of middle eastern or roll variations
- Slaps
- using the flat of
the hand to slap against the back of the skin
- Thumb rolls
- Old tambourine
players trick, emits a groaning sound. (You don't need to be an old tambourine
player or play an old tambourine tho' :)
- ....More....
- Use your own
imagination :)
Tools and
toys
A bodhráni has a
range of tools at his or her disposal, the most obvious of which is tippers. I
am compiling research on different tippers, styles and effects, if you can help,
please
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Right
hand
- Various styles of
tipper
- Brushes
- Rods
- Switches
- Shakers
Left
hand
- Brushes
- Switches
- Claves
- Snares
- Shakers
As a
framedrum
And of course to
make it ultra versatile, the bodhrán can also be used as a framedrum and played
in myriad styles from around the globe Check Out N.Scott Robinson's piece 'Travel By Hand' on
the Yahoo Group Framedrum
CD
|
Playing Styles 
