What is your earliest musical memory?

'Of dancing around on the carpet' to 'Hit me with your
rhythm stick' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Later on,
it was Adam and the Ants' Stand and Deliver - I loved
the drum intros'. Growing up as I did in Co Derry in the
late Seventies and early Eighties, there were plenty of
musical influences to choose from. I used to be taken
to the local feis (music and dance festival) from an early
age and I remember the thrill of hearing the hard shoe
Irish dancers do their stuff on stage. And like it or
not, Northern Ireland has a lot of parades - I realised
early on that whether it was St Patrick's Day or the Twelfth
of July, the drums always drove the band music.'

When did you first start playing?

Strangely, it wasn't the bodhran I played first. In fact
my earliest encounters with music almost put me off! My
brothers and sisters were all having piano lessons without
any real success. My sister used to keep me in stitches
with stories about how the teacher would talk with her
mouth full, spraying biscuit crumbs over the piano keys!
By the time it came to my turn, my parents decided that
no one in our family was going to be the next Phil Coulter
(pianist and writer of The Town I Loved So Well, Derry's
most famous song of the Troubles), so I had a lucky escape.
Instead I had to play the recorder in the school orchestra
- it was really boring and I hated it! I saved up my pocket
money and bought a tin whistle, and just started messing
around with the tunes I knew from going to ceilidhs (Irish
dancing sessions).

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but I was already using
the strong percussive rhythms Irish dancers rely on. I
had a great aunt who played the melodion and she taught
me how to play that. What I liked about Auntie Susan was
that she didn't read music but had learned everything
by ear. She taught me how to pick up tunes that way. It's
how traditional Irish musicians work.

So what drew you to the bodhran?

My parents bought me a bodhran as a present just before
I went off to university in Wales. It was a beauty but
I didn't know how to play it! And where I was going there
wouldn't be a chance to learn! So it stayed in its case
while I carried on playing tin whistle and following my
favourite band at the time, Goats Don't Shave. I had a
great year in north Wales, studying, sharing with a couple
of Irish friends who were also musicians, playing sessions,
going to concerts.

Then I was offered a six month work placement back at home,
in Derry city, a great place for traditional music. I
found out about bodhran classes and finally I was able
to learn. The classes were – would you believe it
– in a cleaners' storeroom in a building in the
Bogside). There were just eight of us, taught by a guy
called Frankie. Even now I can still smell the bleach!

But the guy was inspirational. After about four evenings,
he told me to start going to pub music sessions in the
city. 'I've taught you', he said, but the only way you'll
become a real player is by going out and listening to
other people play.' So I spent most evenings listening
to traditional sessions, then after a while I got up the
courage to ask if I could join in.

But you had to go back to Wales to finish your degree surely?

Yes, I did and I really missed being able to play. I was
studying at Wrexham and living over the Welsh/English
border in Chester. I decided to advertise locally for
musicians and got some musicians together - then we turned ourselves into a band. We started to do gigs. I remember
our first, in a remote pub in the Welsh mountains. I had
promised the owner that is he booked us, we would bring
the audience with us, and we did - three busloads of thirsty
students! They drank the pub dry and the band, Celtic
Affair, was launched.

We became a big name on the circuit in Wales and the north
of England. We made a CD and I still bump into people
in London who tell me they've got their Celtic Affair
T-shirt. It was great fun. The band split up only when
we all graduated and went our separate ways. I put my
bodhran in the boot of the car and headed to London.

The big city - is this where you started teaching?

No, actually, I started running workshops in Chester.
Riverdance had just happened, so Irish music was having
another revival, and people would come up to me after
gigs and ask how they could learn to play. I remembered
all my bad musical experiences in the past. I looked at
the books and tuition tapes available at the time, which
weren't very good. So I decided to devise my own teaching
method, with more emphasis on the fun and relaxation you
get from playing.

What do you do in your workshops?

I teach the basic skills of bodhran playing in both private
and group workshops. Everyone has natural rhythm, simply
because their heart beats and they can walk in a straight
line. I build up the playing slowly so the students can
get used to using the drum and the stick, experimenting
with the depth and richness of the sound. I don't teach
more than six at a time so that each person gets enough
attention. And the atmosphere is relaxing. Playing well
comes with feeling enthusiastic and I encourage that in
the workshops.

At the end of the course, if the student is keen, he or she
should go off and listen, eventually play with other musicians, to develop the skills further. I also offer more advanced
tuition: guidance on alternative rhythms, how to use the
jazz stick, things like that. join us at the next workshop.

London must have meant lots more musical opportunities...

It was a great time. Record labels like Outcaste were
fusing Indian, Caribbean and jazz, bands like Afro Celt
Sound System were showing how Irish music blends with
other influences. I was playing in Filthy McNasty's (Ex
Pogue Shane McGowan's favourite pub, also famous for its
music and poetry nights) with sitar players, cajun musicians, jamming with jazz and R&B players. I started using
a jazz stick which has a soft, subtle sound. Other gigs
were with Gaelic Storm, of Titanic fame and I was able
to work with Lucinda Sieger (former member of Congress),
guesting on her new CD with guys from Massive Attack and
Temple of Sound. On the teaching side I was running workshops at the Swan in London and also in Brighton on the south
coast, the UK version of Byron's Bay, where people wanted
to play as a way of feeling more chilled out. Brighton
is the original home of drumming phenomenon Stomp. I've
now teamed up with Clare and Brian (Sound from Silence).

You obviously love your music and have proved how versatile
the bodhran with the range of your playing. Do you think
everyone is ready for this new wave of bodhran playing?

Everyone will love the bodhrán. It's an instrument
that is easy to learn: the challenge is how creative you
can be and what it can bring you. It's when I feel happiest,
when I play and I have met so many people, made so many friends through music. And it is a fun way to relax, to
get into music in general. You can play it on the beach!
And as well as introducing you to traditional Irish music,
it opens up to lots of other types of music from jazz
to R&B. I have lots of other ideas I want to try out:
choreographing groups of players on stage, combining lighting and colour effect with certain rhythms and sounds. who
knows?