How to Play the Bodhran Tipper
A bodhran is an Irish drum with its roots dating back to medieval Ireland. Resembling an oversize tambourine, players beat it using a special stick called a tipper to drum on it.
Bodhrans saw a revival during the 1960s thanks to bodhran legend Sean O Riada. Now it is hard to imagine any traditional session without at least one bodhran keeping time!
The Basics
Irish Bodhran drums are simple frame drums that produce some truly captivating rhythms in the hands of an experienced player. Playing style involves using up and down wrist movements with tipper against skin of drum, while different techniques may also be employed to enhance its sound and feel.
One of the key factors in producing an exceptional sound comes down to selecting an ideal tipper. Your personal preferences in terms of material, weight, shape and size will affect how comfortable the bodhran tipper feels while playing.
Hard bodhran beaters are typically constructed from materials such as ebony, snakewood, maple and ash; for softer sound softer beaters can be created using hot rod beaters consisting of thin dowels of wood held together with tape. Tighten or loosen their grip to alter tone as well as provide percussive clicks similar to hard tippers.
Materials
Material composition does not have much of an impact on sound production; however, it does influence how comfortable the stick feels in your hand.
Common tippers are constructed from bar ash wood, as it offers both hardness and light weight for ease of use. Other manufacturers opt for more luxurious material like olive wood that allows for smoother control.
Some tippers feature an additional core, further improving their durability and click. This can give more variation to drum sound without compromising the quality of stick. Other types include split sticks and sawed tippers which click when hit – these types are often preferred by more advanced players.
Sizes
As an introduction to bodhran playing, we strongly advise starting off with either a 14″ or 16″ non-tunable drum. This will provide a solid base and eliminate the hassle of tuning while you learn the fundamentals.
Modern Irish bodhran playing style heavily emphasizes the use of a beater (commonly known as a tipper, stick, or cipin). These lathe-turned pieces of wood come in various shapes and sizes with different handle materials and wood types to fit different handle materials or wood species; some even feature additional metal weights on their tips known as Hotrods which produce additional sounds from the instrument than those produced directly by its skin itself.
Electrical tape may also be applied to the rim of a bodhran by its drummer or drum-maker to reduce “edge-loading”, and dampen unwanted overtones caused by changes in skin tension or atmospheric conditions. This helps avoid edge loading that results from edge tension changes as well as dampen unwanted overtones caused by changes to atmospheric conditions or skin tension changes.
Options
Bodhrans can be played using hand, but modern Irish style generally favours using a special drum stick known as a tipper (or beater) to produce different tones and sounds. A variety of these sticks is available and each can produce distinctive sounds when playing your bodhran.
Sweetwater offers several models of hardwood bodhran beaters by Shaw Percussion that feature two-ridge grips for easier handling, as well as lightweight tippers made of bar ash – a hard yet lightweight wood with just the right degree of flexibility.
The Meinl FDT1 Bodhran Tipper is constructed of ash wood for optimal ergonomics and touch for mastering bodhran techniques.
