Craiceann 2026

Hello, y'all, and welcome to Craiceann 2026!

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 2026 "Dump" Folder on Dropbox here.)

If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an e-mail at

andy@idchsv.com

(And to see even more of my work, visit my other website- www.andykruspebodhran.com)

Lesson Plans- Midday Class Sessions

Beginners

Session 1:

"Gridding" Accents

Now that y'all have had some great experiences with getting started on this drum, it's time to learn an exercise that will help us develop better control with our alternating sticking. In this class, we'll learn an exercise that will help us to strengthen our ability to move accents around alternating sticking patterns.

Basic

Session 1:

A Collection of Patterns for Jigs

Looking to add to your collection of patterns for jigs? We'll learn several patterns (and how to manipulate them) in this class session.

(PDF available here.)

Session 2:

A System for Composing Parts for Jigs

In our last class, we explored some of the patterns that we can use to accompany jigs. In this session, we will explore some of the ways that we can mix and match those patterns in order compose parts for tunes at sessions.

Competent

Session 1:

Triple-Down Voicing Exercise

We know that "Double-Down" sticking patterns are those that incorporate tap strokes (AKA "in" or "flat") followed by down strokes (i.e., Dut Dut -or- DutD utDu). But what about "Triple-Downs?" Add an extra tap, and you get a TTD sticking sequence. In this class, we'll learn an exercise that will develop our facility with this sticking pattern and how to voice them.

Session 2:

Another Way to Look at Polkas

Y'all, I've had some great experiences playing polkas with Hannah Harris. I've had the privilege of playing tunes with her on a number of occasions over the past couple of years. One of the things that I've been grateful for is all of the cool polkas that she has thrown my way.

Some of the tunes that she's shared with me have caused me to reconsider how I approach certain tunes. In this session, we'll discuss a few of the different ways that we can approach how we compose parts for polkas.

We'll cover:

-a more contemporary polka groove pattern

-contrasting "roles" when considering what we do for each part of the tune

-watching out for the "symmetry of endings" in polkas

Advanced

Session 1:

An Exercise for Single-Ended Rolls in Jigs

Pretty straight-forward- we'll learn an exercise that will help us to develop our use of single-ended rolls in jigs.

Session 2:

Luke Skywalker Walks on Sunshine

As some of you may know, I absolutely LOVE odd-metered tunes. "Luke Skywalker Walks on Sunshine is no exception, especially this version by the US-based trio Sorcha. What's neat about this tune is that it doesn't just stay in your stock 2-2-3 version of 7. In the B section, it flips to 3-2-2 at point, and this can be a rhythmic challenge. However, there are a couple of other challenges to this tune. In this lesson, we'll:

-learn the basic rhythms of the tune

-discuss how the contour of the melody and accompaniment can influence our voicing

-learn spacing variations of patterns of 7 in order to better match our rhythm to the tune

Lesson Plans- Evening Elective Sessions

Monday-

A Deep Dive on Tuning Your Drum

Earlier this year, John Riley asked a question about bodhrán tuning on The Irish Bodhrán group page on Facebook. I made this video in order to answer his question. This video prompted some good responses, so I thought, "Why not do this hands-on at Craiceann?"

In this session, we'll learn some of the ways that we can get our drum to sound its best. We'll start our session by detuning all of our instruments. Then, with some guidance and discussion, we'll gradually get all of our drums back in tune. (I can't think of a better way to start a week full of playing!)

Tuesday-

Tips & Tricks for Accompanying Songs (Especially When They Are Not in the Genre)

Have you ever been asked to accompany a song on your instrument? In this class, we'll go over some of the ways that we can we can use our drums to effectively complement the music and story-telling when playing a song.

Some of the ideas that we will cover will include:

-how to add or take away energy/intensity from a groove

-analyzing a song (lyrics and the other instruments) in order to guide our composition of a part

-the importance of "fills"

Wednesday-

How to Analyze Tunes

We've all heard something to the effect of, "In order to play the tune, you have to know the tune." And this is indeed true- the more that we understand about how a tune is constructed, the more effective that we will be when it comes to constructing a part for those tunes.

In this session, we'll cover some of the following:

-how to do a "color" analysis of a tune in order to better understand "AA BB"

-catching the "drops" or "nyahs"

-ways to create contrast in our part construction

-handout here

Thursday-

Audience's Choice- Choose any of the topics from above, or bring your own questions!

Links/Transcriptions from Lecture

Ceili Dance- Walls of Limerick: https://youtu.be/Zjp9oLdet70?si=XXymCVXfJEoQjBLK

Ceili Dance- Siege of Ennis: https://youtu.be/OtTakeJneJ8?si=dcNe8tTHr40uKrGq

Set Dance- Clare Lancers: https://youtu.be/6Dy_a7hAYbo?si=fdb49mhmtbR7q54y

Traditional Set- St. Patrick's Day: https://youtu.be/8vj85qY22_k?si=4excOJ-1757DOz74