Top end is an emerging style of bodhrán playing, particularly popular with North of Ireland players but becoming seen everywhere. The style has arisen from seminal developments in drum skins. It has encouraged stylistic, technical and academic study elevating the bodhrán into a performance instrument capable of displaying virtuosity, a far cry from it's pulse-keeping roots...

The style is characterised by the tipper being held above the drum and striking of the uppermost part of the skin, often in the top few centimetres of skin, as the graphics show. Unlike the Kerry style, the top of the tipper is not required to make contact with the skin and triplets are accomplished with technique and hand speed. In pure top end the tipper won't pass the center point.

The left hand tonality is the second defining aspect of top end playing, it is the voicebox of the drum and through movement, pressure and delicate touches, the drum can be coaxed into producing an extremely wide and dynamic vocabulary of sounds from deep booms & pitch bends to high pops & trills. Good bodhrán playing is all about seducing the sound from the skin.

The tippers used tend to be thin, 7-12" long, in the range of 8-12mm diameter and of a hard wood. Often a section of a violin / cello bow is used, most of these will have a slight natural curvature which players may find advantageous (or irritating). Striking the drum in this manner with a tipper of this type produces a 'popping' sound that when used in conjunction with the left hand covers multiple octaves in pitch. The drum shown here is a 12" Metloef which I have nicknamed the popcorn drum for this reason.

The stick is held between the tip of the thumb and the middle knuckle of the first finger, some players hold it between the thumb tip and the finger tip. I have seen another style of grip where the hand is held more like a fist enclosing the tipper. The '05 Down & Ulster junior Champion Niall Quinn plays very effectively in this style.

Tippers usually have a top section that extends beyond the thumb as shown above, this permits the use of Kerry-style triplets. My own preference (left) is a shorter tipper which I use in a pseudo-Limerick style, the tipper top is held at the thumb in this case. This latter grip I find to be somewhat lighter and faster but at the cost of triplets.

The other favourite tipper type is a homemade 'hot rod' made from bamboo barbeque skewers. Generally 7 or 19 are used. read how to make one... Lengths vary from 7-10". This gives a fatter bassier sound but there is a 'click' that comes from the bunched skewer ends hitting each other. The skewer tipper is gorgeous sounding and is light enough to permit good speed. Players will carry an assortment of beaters of different sizes and weights, I've seen hairbrushes, paint and pastry brushes all pressed into service

Playing the top end style involves making the 'strumming' hand movements indicated in the graphics, with the drum being struck on both the downstroke and the upstroke (forward and backward to be precise). Most of the action and required flexibility is in the wrist but the whole lower arm does rotate. As with drumset playing, fingertip control is used for fine tuning the stroke and providing control.

A common and useful stroke is the Down Down Up (DDU) stroke and the many variations that exist there. There are several exercises on the rudiments pages. Most commonly, the top end is blended with the conventional Kerry style, there are many ways of combining styles in your rhythm arsenal and you start making stylistic decisions.

The drummakers whose drums are used for this style generally prefer the use of thin goatskins, the preferred skins come from the lambeg drum read more... A Lambeg skin is hand scraped to an even thinness and treated with the maker's secret formula. Rob Forkner of Metloef treats his skins in a multi-stage process that makes them softer and more flexible

There are few makers in the world who make drums that I can personally recommend. I can only recommend those I have played. O'Kane, Metloef and Eckermann stand above the rest. My personal & professional opinion is that Waltons or Roundstone instruments are fit for display only.

I recommend that you don't get a bodhrán from a shop, there are many makers producing drums. Good makers will usually sell directly makers links...,and will custom build or will have a range of tried and tested designs. If you make bodhráns and want me to review one of your drums, please send me one, I'll and other players will try it and I'll review it here on the dojo.

Preferred drums for Top end style.

Seamus O'Kane - Dungiven, Co Derry, N Ireland. The originator of the use of the Lambeg skin. One style of drum, plain construction, screwdriver tunable. Super consistent in sound and construction, this is the global standard against which 'Top end' drums are judged. Seamus has a huge waiting list and is not taking new orders

Metloef - Rob Forkner - Texas USA - Custom built, warm sounding, multi octave drums, beautifully constructed and finished, Lambeg skins or kangaroo skins used generally. Very reliable drums for sound and build. Rob is the originator of the thumbscrew method of toolless tuning, thank you!. We designed & Rob built the Gemini drum, I also have a 12 x 5 popcorn bodhrán which is my favourite squeeze. Rob makes top drawer instruments- I have 3

Norbert Eckermann Austria - tabla bodhrán - beautiful finish, reliable throughout for sound and build. The left hand skin is polished to a glass-like shine and is silent. It is a full sounding drum and reacts well to both tipper and skewers. The skin is fairly hard which gives extra clarity and bite. There is a secondary skin under the outer edge instead of tape, this gives supreme definition to the upper octaves.