Irish Bodhran For Sale
The Bodhran is an Irish traditional frame drum featuring natural goatskin skin stretched over a wooden frame. This drum serves as the rhythmic heart of Irish music and is suitable for beginners as well as experienced players.
No matter whether it’s new or used, when searching for the ideal bodhran to buy, look for quality goatskin as this will guarantee a rich and soothing tone.
Roosebeck Bodhrans
Roosebeck’s team has made the bodhran an indispensable component of Irish music, helping make it one of the most beloved instruments across Celtic and beyond.
Roosebeck bodhrans feature a fixed crossbar in their frame for support and ease of use, known as a T-bar, to allow players to play on either side of the head simultaneously while also helping prevent atmospheric conditions from loosening it too easily. A mechanical tuning system based on banjo design allows drummers to tighten or loosen tension on their drumhead depending on weather conditions allowing for constant control over tension control of their head no matter the temperature outside.
The Bodhran is an ancient instrument and no one knows precisely when or why it first started being played as a musical drum. Frame drums can be found in Egyptian tomb paintings and Central Asian carvings as well as being utilized extensively throughout Ireland for winnowing grain or ritualistic contexts.
Waltons Bodhrans
Waltons offers an affordable range of high-quality bodhrans that cater to beginners and advanced players. Each boasts sleek frames for optimal musical tone production and handpicked goatskin heads featuring simple tuning mechanisms. Each comes complete with a hardwood beater and carrying case for additional beginner convenience.
The Bodhran is an instrument with great symbolic meaning to Irish tradition that can add rhythm and depth to a performance. Typically used with flute, this Celtic musical tradition often forms part of festival and session performances.
The bodhran first achieved wide recognition during the folk revival of the 1960s. Originally it was played using hands or sticks, and used in rituals. One such ritual involved hunting the wren on St Stephen’s Day when groups of men would go door-to-door playing traditional music in exchange for food or money – known as mummers or “wren boys”.
Dundalk Bodhrans
No matter whether it be used in traditional or contemporary Celtic rock groups, or as part of global fusion projects – the bodhran has become a cornerstone of Irish musical culture over the last seventy years. While its appearance may have evolved considerably over time, its roots remain deeply ingrained within tradition.
Traditionally, drums were played using either one’s hand or a stick called a cipin to keep time and boost spirits of fighting soldiers during wartime, or at ceremonies or for entertaining local residents.
As the late 20th century progressed, bodhran players adopted new techniques. Experimenting with finger rolls and rim shots to produce intricate rhythms led to changes in how bodhran players played it: less emphasis was put on rhythm than melody phrasing; these advancements enabled players to achieve higher tonal variations and eventually helped broaden its popularity across Ireland.
Irish Bodhrans
The bodhran has rapidly emerged from humble origins to become the core instrument of Irish music, thanks to Sean O Riada. He popularized it through Ceoltoiri Chualann ensemble in the 1960s while also writing extensively about it.
At that time, he promoted the bodhran as a key component of Irish folk music, sparking an unprecedented surge of interest in traditional Irish music that continues today. Nowadays, no trad session would be complete without its signature instrument — a bodhran drum played either with either hand or stick called cipin; one side covered with goatskin for pitch control while open-ended side allows players to place hand over drum head to control pitch. Bodhran players have introduced various innovative techniques into their performance repertoire.
