OK OK, I lapsed, but it’s rather fun and only for using at home when I’ve had enough fiddling, and what an Englishman does in the privacy of his own front room behind the net curtains is, well, you know.
I think it may actually help when listening to new tunes, because I can get the rhythm alone, and then the notes, or something.
Anyone else have any daft excuses?
I don’t have a Bodhran, but I should get one, my penknife isn’t getting used often enough. 
j/k, I think in the hands of a few select masters, Bodhrans can be great for certain tunes. Besides, like you said, in the privacy of the home…we all have our vices
Corin
So Martin,was it an impulse buy-one of those ones labelled ‘Guinness’ or with some kitschy ‘Celtic’ design,or was it a ‘proper’ one??
The bodhran is very cool. It’s usually played with a funnily shaped stick called the “tipper”, but we’ve discovered that using a sharp implement (such as a penknife or a kitchen knife for the larger models) greatly improves the sound!
A bodhran player that I give grief to from time to time was showing off her new improved drum yesterday, and mentioned its thick skin, and that thick skins on bodhrans are a Good Thing. I added that the same measure applies to the people who play them, to which she could only agree.
She didn’t use the term “thick head”. She’s learning to watch her words lest I grab an opportunity.
Didn’t the Pope finally concede that the rhythm method doesn’t work? 
djm
Of course the funny thing about Bodhrans is every good ITM musician I know bashes Bodhrans like we all do. But most of them actually can play one quite well. They’re all closet Bodhran players!
Corin
Not an impulse buy! It has no design at all, just plain goatskin. I’m not too keen on the designs either! A couple of things over the summer nudged me over the edge into wanting one, and I took a trip up to Hobgoblin in London to select one.
It’s only a £40 16" job, but tuneable. I wasn’t quite ready to splash £150 or more on a bodhran just yet - I’m no John Joe Kelly.
‘…to say John Joe Kelly plays the bodhran, is like saying Mount Everest is a bit of a climb’
FWIW, I fully plan on buying one at some point. My whistle teacher showed me his and taught me the rudiments of playing. I’m a drummer originally and I figure I need to add it to my repertoire.
Of course, thanks to this place, I have no intentions of taking it out in public.
Actually, Bodhrans can be quite useful. I’ve heard that the goatskin heads can be made into halfway decent moccasins in a pinch… 
Bodhrans can be used as ass hammocks this is when you sit on one, quite comfortable. Now for a joke:
Q: What is the best thing to play a bodhran with?
A: A Razor Blade.
I in reality have no problem with the bodhran in fact I own one myself.
BAD BOY!.. DIRTY BOY… GO TO YOUR ROOM!
Frankly I find that in the years that i have played the bodhran, it has vastly improved my piping. It is not a matter of getting a grasp on the rhythm, but the ability to hear alternative rhythmic patterns in the music that has come from really focusing some time to the percussive arts.
Plus if the bodhran in question is an Alfonso… they smell like feta cheese… hmmm… cheese… baaaaa
Around 1985 I purchased a bodhran in Minneapolis Minnesota from the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor. They had a brand of drum named: Boreal. It is a fine drum that has served me well for nearly twenty years, though its calfskin head needs replacing as it has developed ‘permaflaccidity’
…'course, it doesn’t help living in Florida. I have yet to play one of Albert’s drums, though I have heard very good things about them.
I am getting bored with the tired ‘slag the bodhran’ attitude… just as I have with the same toward bagpipes, concertinas and nosewhistles…well, maybe not nosewhistles. The bodran can go a long way toward teaching rhythmic fundamentals within ITM for those who play ‘melody inclined’ and accompanying instruments. I have found it an invaluable device in this regard.
“so this guy and a bodhran walk into a bar…”
Ok, I never thought this would actually happen at our session. This guy walks in with a Bodhran, during an interlude, he sits down with us and says “can any of you guys tell me how to play this? I just got it today.” He then proceeds to thump on it , out of rhythm. The funniest thing is that this guy turns out to be a cellist in a string trio.
There is some truth in this but I would be wary of giving too much credit to the bodhran when it comes to teaching melody instrument players rhythm. The most subtle and profound rhythms in the music has always been generated by good melody players. At the end of the day, bodhrans and other percussion instruments can only make an approximation of the abovementioned subtle rhythms at best. To me, lilting and listen to lots of good players is still a far superior way to learn rhythm in ITM, fundamental or no.
I agree, the intricacies of rhythm in ITM are already there within the melody. Perhaps I could have stated my thought differently…something like: the bodhran is an instrument that can aid the player in interpreting the intricate rhytms within ITM. My over-all point is, the more one knows about the function and purpose of each instrument they play, or play along with, the more complete and refined their understanding of the music they are playing. Knocking an instrument because of the deeds of the poor player and the inconsiderate is, to me, like puching one’s own nose to spite their face… fruitless.
Hurrah to you. Well made point.
Here’s a roll on my kangaroo skin bodhran …
Enjoy.
I own seven bodhrans from 25" Halprin, to a 14" Grady (which is my main session instrument.)
I would like to add to what Eldarion and Joseph E. Smith have already eloquently said, I also at one time danced to the music, in Ceili and Step and now Set dancing, that went a long way in learning to play the bodhran and understanding what the other musicians and dancers wanted or needed.
When I taught bodhran, the first thing I asked every newbie is “do you play another instrument in ITM or do you dance to the music.” This always gave me an indication on were to start with them, that they had some understanding of the music. Non dancers/musicians always gave me a hard time, because most came in thinking that it was an easy way to play and join in playing Irish music. I shot that down fairly quickly!
The bodhran can be in the right hands an instrument that can enhance, drive and maintain a group of musicians and dancers. A bodhran player very rarely plays for him/herself.
Playing the bodhran, whistle and dancing for 14 years and now the flute, is starting and I mean just starting to give some greater intimate insights into my playing and the music.
It’s the journey not the end that counts!
Bang On!
MarkB