So what makes a good beater?
We believe that the ideal beater should feel comfortable in the hand, and certainly not something that you are fighting to control.
The beater should also effortlessly execute on the skin of the bodhran the sounds and rhythms we have in our head. In other words it should be a seamless extension of ourselves.
To achieve this, we suggest that some important physical features of a beater’s construction are:
- The length of the beater
- The weight of the beater
- The distribution of the weight along the length of the beater
- The width of the beater’s head and tail
- The ability to maintain a comfortable, controlled grip
- The ability to maintain the grip in a specific position (the fulcrum)
..and here are the features that do not make our list:
- The type of wood
- Random designs of beater that are undeniably artistic, but…
…superb wood-turning skills do not necessarily translate into the production of a successful beater.
And if a beater ”ticks the box’ as being of Celtic appearance in a picture, is it actually going to be playable? This argument also extends to bodhrans that have a Celtic-influenced design or emblem on the drum skin. Are they really going to play better than a bodhran without one?
Which features make the most difference?
To answer that, the project currently involves evaluating as many permutations as we can. Some features stand alone in their importance, but others may be influential as part of a combination.
Different permutations have included:
- Different Length beaters
- Various head diameters and weights
- The use of soft covers…and more
See some of our beater samples below:
