Hello all

Brand new to the form and I hope this is the correct form for this.


Years ago I used to play the drums and had quite a large kit and was into bands like U2 and Rush and such but as years went by life just removed that in the typical ways it does.

Over the past few ladder years though I’ve been kinda tabling in my Irish roots and have become quite an avid fan of the Corrs and their music and have most of their albums and DVD’s now as well as haven gotten into other musicians and sources of modern and traditional Irish music.

So with this in seeing how so much can be done with a Bodhran I thought it might be nice to pick this instrument up.

As far as any real knowledge of the Bodhran though outside of the obvious I have none and with my geographical location finding anyone around here that can help me is sparse as well.

I have a few sources though but I thought I might try here too.

So I was wondering if anyone had any info they could give me on the Bodhrans Caroline used.

I don’t think they were all the same so I was wondering if anyone knows:

What sizes she may have used?

What type, tunable or not?

Any brand names?

Any info on the types and sizes of the tippers she used?

I know this info may be scarce but any information would be helpful.

Thanks for any help

As far as I know she uses a lot of Malachy Kearns bodhráns. I'm pretty sure the now famous inscribed bodhrán she used in the earlier days was made by him aswell. Any one I've seen her play seems to be an 18 inch tunable, which would be the norm with professional players. But sometimes it can be hard to tell.

As far as beaters are concerned I'm sure she's used many different types to achieve different sounds and probably just her hand sometimes for softer beats. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

I hope this information is of some help to you and welcome to the board

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Thanks for the reply Melissa and for the welcome to the board.

And thanks for the link.

Actually I had a long talk with one of my contacts last night about the Bodhrán. He is a bit of an older gent who is actually a friend of my parents from their flying days but has become a good friend of mine over the past few years.

He has been playing the Bodhrán for a long time and in mainly very traditional circles.

Put it this way, he is old and traditional enough that he has never even herd of the Corrs, actually he’s never even herd of U2 either!

At any rate he filled me in on a lot of stuff and I am hoping to pay him a visit next week so he can show me a few things.

But as far as the Bodhráns go I really do like those Kearns drums and my hope is really to get one from Ireland too but the only thing is I do see that they are kinda meant for pros and while very fairly priced for that still might be a bit high for me as a beginner.

My only other next lower option I’ve seen so far though seems to be the middle eastern stuff which and not to sound prejudice or anything, I just think I could not feel right about using to play Irish music with so I may do it in the end.

Thanks again for all the help Melissa and I wish you and yours a very happy holiday season.

Yes, i know plenty of those sort, haha

The Malachy Bodhráns are beautiful to play, there's a lovely texture to them!
Try this site, Waltons. You can get a cheap one there for beginners, I have used them, and they're quite good, the cheap one's are fine for starting out on, eventually you will need to upgrade. But I don't know how shipping costs will work out for you though.

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I have a Malachy kearns one but mostly Caroline used tunable one and Malachy's aren't (at least not mine). They look nice but the tunable ones have thicker skin and a softer, more mellow sound so if I was to buy a new one and take it up again I'd definitely go for a tunable one!!

The regular (non tunable) ones are fine in Ireland, cause it's always damp and humid, but it's a bit of a disaster in a hot country or where the air is dry. I keep mine in Sweden in my parents' house and in winter with the heating etc. the air gets really dry and the skin of the bodhran gets really, really stiff and the sound is really hard, I was almost afraid it'd break. Had to bring it into the bathroom with shower on to "steam it". Was not happy with it!

But it depends on where you live and you can get certain conditioner for the skin and steam it and stuff. I'd still say go tuneable, they sound nicer! But that's just me

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"Your dreams are you, without them we are nothing."
- Sharon Corr

You can get tunable Malachy's but they're quite expensive, I'm aiming to get one in the summer because they have a lovely sound to them. But they cost between €170 and €300.

Good point about the weather conditions about the non-tunable ones. I have a non-tunable one that went very, very tight in June when we had the hot weather, but then as soon as the damp weather came back it went too loose and my hand nearly went through the skin, it can be hard to keep it at a good texture.

So you should think about your climate aswell when buying

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