Bodhran question

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 9:29 pm

Hey everyone,

Sorry to add to the OT posts, but I figured this would be the most likely place to find an answer.

The bodhran player in my band has a problem. He playes a short ended tipper, and strikes the head with the lower end only, not the top. He gets the triplet beats playing the bounce (I have never understood how he does it, but it sounds awsome. I think it's called "Kerry style" or something). To do this, he holds the tipper in such a way that it rubs against the top of his hand between the thumb and forefinger. He has been doing this enough that he now has a callous on that portion of his hand.

There were no problems until a couple of months ago, when we played a whole lot of gigs in a row. His callous broke and left him with an ugly cut. The problem now, is that we play gigs regularly enough that his hand never has time to heal. It starts to look good, we play a show, and the wound reopens. I have no problem with taking some time off for him to recover, but he's not the sort of guy who will let silly things like pain get in his way.

Any bodhran players out there know of something he can do to keep his hand safe for a month or so, while still playing gigs? He's tried bandages, superglue, and new-skin (medical superglue). Any other ideas ?

Seth

spittin_in_the_wind · Post by **spittin_in_the_wind** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 9:42 pm

What about moleskin, after the wound closes but before it breaks back open? Works great for preventing blisters while hiking, I can't see why it wouldn't work for this.

Get it at any pharmacy foot section.

Robin

Rando7 · Post by **Rando7** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 9:44 pm

Is the cut on the finger or on the web between thumb and forefinger? If on the finger itself, then Coban works pretty well, it's a thin self-adherent elastic wrap. I've used it to protect my fingers at times.

If it's on the hand itself, that is tougher but you might try putting some benzoin around the wound to make the skin tacky (us bodhran players are often accused of tackiness anyway), let it dry a couple of minutes then apply 1/8" or 1/4" Steri-strips across the wound with little bit of tension on them to hold it shut. I would think this would hold up through a performance unless he got really sweaty. You should be able to find this stuff at the drugstore.

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 3:27 am

Does he tape up *before* he injures himself? He might want to think about athletic tape in small strips over the affected area. Also a new tipper may very well be in order - or a change in playing style. No instrument should cause repeated injury if played correctly. I've had many a calous from bodhrán playing in the past, and I found that adjusting my grip ever so slightly or simply using a different tipper helped immensely. Sometimes tape or some form of threaded wrap on the tipper and not the player can also make a world of difference. My tippers all now wear a nice black twine wrap.

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 7:19 am

Windex!

I might also mention that I'm NOT a medical doctor, nor an expert on wound healing.

/MarcusR

Seth · Post by **Seth** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 10:50 am

The grip he uses does not cause injury, just aggrivates it. This is facilitaed by the fact that he had just made himself a new tipper with a lead filled end. Sounded great with a healthy hand, with a hurt hand it was more like rubbing a cheese grater on skin. He doesn't use that one anymore. When his hand was normal, he was fine. It was the three day series of playing ten hours a day that hurt him. I don't care how safe your playing style is. Thirty hours in three days will give you some problems. I'll pass on to him all of your advice. Thanks everyone.

Seth

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 11:12 am

Best of luck to him Seth. It still sounds to me like a small adjustment would likely make all the difference in the world. In the end, he may simply need to put the drum down for a time and allow himself time to heal completely. It can't be fun to play like that I would think...

B~

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 11:37 am

I bought a tipper from Andrea Power in Dingle this summer. She said it was a Kerry style one. There's a curved notch in the stick, about 2/3 of the way up, where you are supposed to rest your thumb. (other than that it looks a lot like the other tippers I've seen, though perhaps a bit more slender.)

It occurs to me that you might be able to fill that notch with cotton (or other soft material) and rest the cotton against the injured area rather than the wood. It's an idea anyway, and might be worth a try.

Andrea runs a shop called Dingle Bodhrans, and can be reached at Irish phone number 087 2457689 or email power_andrea (at) hotmail.com .

OutOfBreath · Post by **OutOfBreath** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 12:31 pm

He might want to try lightly sanding the callous occasionaly (once it's healed up). I haven't played steel string acoustic guitar a lot lately because I mashed a knuckle on my left hand a while back and it's still bothering me a little (though glucosamine has helped a lot). However, when I used to play steel-string a lot the callouses on my finger tips would start to break and peel. I found that if I lightly sanded them with my wife's emery board to take off the dead outermost layer of skin, the callouses would remain strong and non-cracking.

Rando7 · Post by **Rando7** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 1:19 pm

The grip you're describing doesn't sound like the traditional Kerry Style to me, I think I play a pretty standard Kerry grip and usually get a callous on the middle finger. If I understand you right he's holding the tipper in the crook between thumb and index finger, which is kind of a modified Kerry (common in the midwest I think) or maybe he's using the top-end style where you create triplets by doubling the beat with the lower end of the tipper rather than using the top end for the extra beat. Anyway, the athletic tape and moleskin might be worth a try too.