Beginning Bodhrán
Come explore the rhythmic world of the bodhrán, using both the stick hand and the back hand to produce beats and tones to accompany folk music and song. We’ll learn several reel and jig patterns, and if time permits, additional rhythms like marches or slip jigs.
If you don’t have a drum, you can use any large piece of cardboard (cut up a moving box; get a clean pizza box; even the back of a writing tablet, in a pinch) and something to strike it with (a wooden dowel; an unsharpened pencil; a rubber-banded bundle of wooden kabob skewers, etc.) There will also be a limited number of drums to borrow.
About Christa Burch
Christa’s bodhrán drives the groove in concert halls and on dance floors across America. She tours extensively with the Syncopaths, and the dynamic Celtic trio, Molly’s Revenge. She has worked with keepers of the tradition such as Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser, Irish super-group, The David Munnelly Band, a capella duet Lintie, and nouveau-Celtic band Blackwaterside. Christa is also a Celtic singer to satisfy both purist as well as those who prefer a modern take on the tradition. She has taught at the California Traditional Music Society’s Solstice and Equinox Festivals, Lark Camp, BACDS American Week, Camp Kiya Music in the Mountains, and many contra dance festivals and weekends, lifting voices, feet, and hearts in harmony and rhythm.
Christa was once a professional archaeologist, and a professional ballet dancer.In her ‘previous lives’ Christa recovered and examined evidence of prehistoric, contact-era, and historic California and Scottish communities, and danced with a now-defunct regional ballet company. Her six-word biography would read: “Archaeologist, dancer; analyst, musician; what next?”