My husband gave me a bodhran for my 50th birthday because he knew I had a "thing" about folk music and drums, having played timpani and percussion in amateur orchestras in my youth, but I really think he thought I would hang the bodhran on the wall for decoration. I got the Stefan Hannigan book with that drum, but what really got me going was two things: 1)Going to a really good workshop: in my case, Mog's at Sidmouth Festival (England, August, 2 years in a row - by the end of the second year something was beginning to click!) 2)Practice. practice, practice: I live in Scotland where we get 4 hours of folk music on radio every Saturday night and I play along with any suitable tunes, Irish or Scottish especially, or there are lots of CDs you can play along with: this helps both your timing and your speed, and if you can develop an audiographic memory for tunes this helps your interpretation (i.e. not still playing when everyone else has finished!!) I also have a Moroccan drum that I bought in Marrakesh when I was all of 21: they also used to heat these things over a fire before playing as they would be flat as a pancake otherwise. It is very much like a bodhran, except that the skin goes right over the rim, and is played with the hand rather than a beater, including a very resosnant sound (as long as the drum is tight enough first) achieved by sriking the rim with the hand. My first bodhran was like this last year at Sidmouth on the last night when it was 100% humidity and the only source of dry heat was the hand-drier in the loos! I have since invested in a tensionable instrument! Good drumming Trish