Watching the Comhaltas videos, all the ceili bands have a snare drum/woodblock. Does anyone here play snare drum for one? It sounds like the main thing is to pretty much match the rhythm of the melody while throwing in a few rolls here and there, and switching to woodblock for some sections. My main instrument is drums and I offered to play snare for our ceili band if they wanted. I wouldn’t want to do it forever but it may be fun once or twice.
Anyway, does anyone have any tips?
I’m interested in responses to this, too. A few months ago I bought myself a nice practice pad and sticks, and have been teaching myself the rudiments, with an eye to ceili band playing. My impression is the same as yours - basically following the melody, with a tasteful application of rolls, flams, etc.
Flam accents for jigs. Flam taps for polkas. Flam-a-diddles for reels. 
Hey MT, if you’re serious about developing chops, George Stone’s "Stick Control’ is the bible for it. You probably cannot find a great drummer who did not wear out his copy.
I think the great advantage you and I will have in this is that we already know the tunes from being whistle players. You cannot overstate the importance of knowing the tunes (bohdran players, are you listening?)
I have always believed that the greatest crime ever inflicted on ITM, was firstly The Ceili Bands.
Second was the snare drum.
The horrendous sound of the snare was there to keep the boys, and girls..not to mention the dancers, in time.
There was no amplification around in those days.
Everybody danced to the rhythm of the snare…knowledge of the tune had very little to do with anything..if your’re dancing.
Been to many Ceilis then.. you boys???
Slan,
D.
No in fact I have not. My only exposure is watching the Comhaltas videos of All Ireland competiton winners, which have no dancers and (I presume) place a premium on knowing the music, being a competition and all.
I confess I do not like the sound of a snare drum in ITM. And I wish just one of them would use a piper or a whistler. But, if our group ever decides to branch out and need a snare, I’d like to know how.
I have often wondered if Comhaltas as done more good than harm to the cause..the ITM one.
OK..for many years they have preserved the music against all odds. I have a lot of respect for them.
The world, and the music, has moved on a bit. Being a living, breathing tradition it must move forward and I cannot see Comhaltas respecting that.
Meself and a now famous guitarist were having a drink in Dublin one night and went down to a basement room where the fiddles and flutes were swinging.
We were asked to leave because the guitar was not fashionable at the time and my ponytail was halfway down my back.
Kevin Glackin..a mighty player now, was half asleep on his mammys knee…before meself and “Django” left we saw him getting slapped up out of his dreams and ordered to play…
There has always been a very closed shop in Comhaltas.
Snare drums belong to Jazz…and Vice versa…
Slan,
D.
Hi FJohnSharp
If you are competing in ceili band drumming you are better playing with a box or banjo player or a small group of players. A piper or a whistle player would be drowned out by the drums. If you are competing on bodhran, then flute, whistle or pipes are ideal.
David
I would like to believe you are laughing with me and not at me, if only I were laughing.
A true story Bro..every word.
Slan,
D.
If you’re going to take it up, be very attentive to dynamics. I’ve played in ceili bands on numerous occasions, and you don’t have to worry about being too quiet. Play no louder than a restrained mezzopiano or mezzoforte, that is all that’s required.
You also have to communicate with the rest of the band about tune starts, tune changes, and the end of a medley. You start together, you change together, and you end together. Drummers use rim shots or the wood block to signal to the other players. There’s a fair amount thinking you have to do, you have to be on the ball.
Hey all,
I play in the Old Bay Ceili Band that competed last year in the Fleadh. I think that the Drums get a bad wrap due to it’s so easy to make fun of them. Hell, I make fun of them and I am first and foremost a drummer by trade. I try and keep the swing in the music and follow the melody line as close as possible. To much drums can be disturbing to the overall sound of the band and should be monitored closely. I love the drums in a ceili band 
I wish I had some time to put some of the recordings of the band up now but I don’t. You can search us on Youtube or the Comhaltas site. Will see in a day or two putting some audio up. Just my two cents. Everyone is intitled to there opinion which I respect. 
Josh
I would have thought that the musicians kinda know when the tune changes…
They probably figured out that when it gets loud and furious, it’ coming up to the change.Third time round at a Dance…
Then it’s time for the mighty lash on the blocks..
Slan,
D.
Yeah, you would think so, but when you’re playing for sets (and having a beer or two) it’s sometimes hard to keep track of how many repeats since the number of tunes and tune iterations can vary from set to set, and from figure to figure. There’s a bit of effort involved in remembering the nth figure of y set has z bars and is danced to jigs…and so what do you do? If you don’t have an arrangement to fit it right away you have to make it up on the spot. If you’ve the good fortune to play for experienced, adventurous, and generous set dancers on a regular basis and have arrangements for most of the sets, that’s great, but sometimes you’re gonna get caught if you don’t play for sets a lot. A solid drummer who knows the sets, knows the figures, the numbers of bars in each figure and the tune genres required, who doesn’t play too loud and communicates changes is a big help. I’ve played with drummers who play too loud, play too fast (even for the dancers), who ignored the tunes, and didn’t communicate with the melody players and I know what I prefer. Yeah we melody people need to have our heads screwed on tight while playing, too. A good ceili band performance is a real team effort, everyone working together to lift the dancers right up off the ground. Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes, not so much.
For some inexplicable reason I associate
snare drums with INVASION
and
bodhran with the down trodden.
The historical filters down into the musical too.
Whistle or flute and bodhran stirs a cross cultural ethos in me
whereas box and snare
makes me run like a hare …
Well, they really have only themselves to blame. 
So you just have to ask yourself which side you’d rather be on.
It’s good to read that I am not the only one who doesn’t care for ceili bands: I don’t like playing in them, I really don’t like listening to them. And I’m no purist either.
Oh god! I’ve been holding that in for so long!
Tommykleen
the nub is that one must not play bodhran with an invasion sensibility …
You have to remember that ceili bands have a social function. It isn’t like a night out with your mates at a session. Like all bands you have to learn tunes you may not particularly like, and play them in a pre-arranged order. Even worse, whilst a snare drum might sound like hell, and certainly doesat a session, druming is pretty much essential for a ceili band to fulfil its role.
If you play mostly for charity fundraisers or free for social events it can still be quite enjoyable and relaxed. If you want to play for weddings etc for cash, then you have to take it a bit more seriously (yawn). It is never as cramping as playing in a straight folk/trad band though (shudder : practice, arrangements etc. all that stuff that leeches the fun and spontaneity out of music)
IMHO the drummer is the most important member of a ceili band. The drummer sets the pace of the set, calls everyone to order, makes sure they all start together, sends out little hints when the tune is due to change or the set to end. Sometimes lets the dancers know when to move onto the next part of a tune (e.g. when to stop the waves in the waves of torey).
If something goes wrong through band organisation between the melody players e.g. a scratch, emergency band forgets the the tune order or someone changes too early, the drummer can keep things going for a bar or two before while the melody guys get their act together.
I can’t listen to ceili bands for pleasure for any length of time because the drumming will drive me nuts. But in order to fullfill its social role a ceili band needs a strong drummer who knows what s/he is doing at its core.
The other main needs for a ceili band are: someone happy (and competent) to call the dances and ideally a strong box player to provide body. Some of these roles can be combined. Everyone else is an aslo-ran in the ceili band pecking order of importance. For those of you who play fiddle, pipes, flute, etc. Welcome to the world of the banjo player 
All of the above holds true except on those occasions when, as is the case with everything, when it doesn’t.
These guys managed fine though. In fairness, in their regular line-up they had what was probably the most exuberant of ceili drummers.