Hearing and Supporting the Rhythm of Irish Traditional Music

Irish melody rarely uses metronymic rhythm. By this I mean the rhythm is not expressed in perfectly spaced time like a metronome. The rhythmic timing is slightly oblong within small phrases. It’s agogic. This is why using mnemonic devices, such as ‘watermelon’ for reels, or ‘oranges & apricots’ for jigs, provides more accurate rhythmic information to the learner than simple mathematical or metronymical examples. So, learning types of Irish traditional rhythms can be easier if one thinks in small phrases, rather than ‘beats’. This phrasing is what we’re after. We’re after making folks want to dance.

Hearing, recognizing, and understanding the rhythms of Irish Traditional Music is one of many required skills of a solid bodhrán player. This skill is a long-term journey. So, the sooner you get started the sooner your understanding of how to support the subtleties of Irish Traditional Music will improve. Listening to solidly played Irish trad is essential, and you’d be surprised how difficult it can be to find well played ITM that isn’t too embellished or too quickly played for the learner in question.

Playing along with some of your favorite players’ CDs can be helpful, although if you’re starting out - it’s going to be far too fast for you to track well. This will only frustrate the most of us.

Over the years I picked up some excellent sources for tunes played at a moderate tempo. So, consider the options below for solid moderately played tunes. Play along and listen to the changes in the music.

A highly important aspect of these options is that the rhythm expressed in the melodic execution is what we need to embed in our memories as bodhrán players.

My first go to CDs were the two Book & CD learning combinations produced by John Skelton: A Few Tunes and A Few More Tunes. The tempo at which the tunes are played is quite moderate, which makes them ideal for bodhrán learners.

Also, more recently I discovered this excellent resource from Shannon Heaton. It’s a collection of tunes entitled Oil For the Chain, in which Shannon plays tunes at a moderate pace with guitar backing provided by Matt Heaton. This being available as a download offers listeners the opportunity to place the sound files into a media player like the VLC player or the Amazing Slow Downer. These media players allow one to slow down the tunes and keep them at the proper pitch. For bodhrán practice this provides professionally played tunes to practice to that you can slow down to your needs.

So, do check out these excellent resources and get your rhythm game on track.

Cheers -