Hello, y'all, and welcome to Craiceann 2025!
I'll use this page to share lesson plans, links, and anything else that may be relevant to our classes this week.
(Access the Craiceann 2025 "Dump" Folder on Dropbox here.)
If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an e-mail at
Lesson Plans- Midday Class Sessions
Beginners
Session 1:
Technical Development: An Exercise for Developing Up Strokes
The ability to freely accent or emphasize down strokes and up strokes in our patterns is an important fundamental skill for every bodhrán player. In this class, we will use the exercise below to learn and discuss some of the finer points of this skill.
Basic
Session 1:
Technical Development: Stroke Vocabulary
Sticking patterns for this instrument use four types of strokes- Down, Up, Tap (A.K.A. "flat"), and In. In this session, we will learn these four stroke types and an exercise that will develop proficiency with them.
Session 2:
Practical Application: Using Basic Patterns to Compose Drum Parts for Session Tunes
One of the things that we do when we initially learn this instrument is collect rhythms and/or patterns that might help us accompany tunes when playing at a session or with a band. In this session, we will learn some basic patterns for accompaniment (in the PDF below) and how to arrange these patterns in order complement a particular tune.
Competent
Session 1:
Technical Development: Tuning Our Instrument & Altering/Voicing Basic Patterns
We will begin this class by discussing how to tune our instruments. After that, we will explore several ways that we can alter and voice basic patterns in order to quickly improvise and increase the amount of variations that we use in a performance setting.
Session 2:
Practical Application: Adding More Variety to Your Reels
When it comes to playing reels, one can get stuck in the "play six bars of time and two bars of slur" method of filling phrases. In this class, we will explore some ways to compose phrases that can add a little more variety to how we accompany reels.
Advanced
In the past, I've usually had two exposures to each Advanced group on the week's schedule. This year, I only have one. Since my original lesson plan was going to require two exposures, I'll give you all the choice when we meet:
Session Option 1:
Manipulating the Double-Down
In this session, we will learn a "gamified" exercise that will challenge how we play and understand this simple reel pattern:
DutDutDu
We will use a grid and colored markers to compose patterns that will ultimately challenge our muscle memory while expanding our ability to quickly adapt our placement of accents and voicing.
Session Option 2:
Learning an Advanced Roll Exercise
Back in January of 2021 Colm Phelan posted this video on the The Irish Bodhrán group page on Facebook. Shortly thereafter, Kyle Forsthoff shared this transcription of this exercise with me. My experience with learning this exercise lead me to think, "What could others learn from this?" In particular:
-How does one go about learning complex exercises such as these?
-How do we internalize the rhythms that we need to play?
-How does one break down and reassemble an exercise as complex as this?
-Why is it important to study the playing and technique of incredibly advanced players?
We will learn how to engage with this exercise in order to advance our abilities with rolls.
Goals:
1. Learn how to vocalize the rhythms in the transcription.
2. Learn how to break down beats, measures, and phrases.
3. Recognize and begin to perform the four types of rolls in this exercise.
4. Learn how to start introducing voicing into the rhythmic patterns.
In short, we will use this session as an introduction to this exercise- a "Rosetta Stone," of sorts- so that you will have the tools to continue learning this exercise on your own after you leave the island.
Notes:
1. This exercise is used with the permission of Colm Phelan.
2. I am not representing Colm or his technique. The purpose of this lesson is to learn one way to engage with this level of material.
Lesson Plans- Evening Elective Sessions
Monday-
Ensemble Awareness When Arranging Drum Parts
When it comes to composing a drum part for a tune or set, it often helps to take a deep dive into the roles of the other instruments around you in order to "find your space" with the drum. In this session, we will use Sorcha's Waterman's/Luke Skywalker Walks on Sunshine as a way to explore some of the ways that we can add to the music that we are accompanying.
Tuesday-
Building Your Own Warm-Up and Practice Routines
Have you been looking for a warm-up routine? Would you like to learn ways to improve the structure of your practice sessions? Would you like to learn some tactics that you can use in order to get more from your practice time? If so, this class is for you. We will discuss:
1. Warm-Ups
-Stretching
-Other ways to physically prepare
-The Progressive Warm-Up
2. Ideas for Your Practice Session
-Goal
-Prioritizing
-Practice Tactics
3. Other Ideas
Wednesday-
Hybrid Rolls
In my presentation from Craiceann 2024, I discussed the idea of a "hybrid" roll. I later wrote an article about it for the April 2025 edition of Percussive Notes (complete with video examples). In this session, we will learn how to play the rolls from that article.
Thursday-
Arranging Drum Set Parts on the Bodhrán
Even when I am not playing trad, I am still playing quite a bit of bodhrán. I often have to use this drum as a substitute for a drum set. In this session, we will explore some of the ways that we can adapt drum set parts to this instrument.