Bones From the Beginning
Instructional Tutor
Video dvd by Aaron Plunkett

Now you can get expert bone playing instruction from a virtuoso percussionist, educator, and recording artist who regularly performs with leading musicians from around the world.

Sample video clip...


Basic to Advanced Training On Bones
The training on this dvd is basic enough for the newest newbie, yet advanced enough to keep you coming back to study this video again and again for years.

You start by learning the two basic grip holds. Then before you know it, you are cranking out taps and triplets. In just minutes you are practicing downbeats and upbeats alongside Aaron Plunkett, a spirited and sought after percussionist heard on the trailer soundtrack of Dragon, Bruce Lee's last film. Aaron's percussion work also appears in theme music played at Walt Disney parks around the world. And chances are you heard him rattlin' away with the Irish steerage band in the epic film, Titanic.

Packed with Details, Details, and More Details
This is without a doubt the most in-depth bones video instruction dvd on the market. You get more than one-full-hour (over 70 minutes!) of extensive hands-on instruction geared for beginning, intermediate, and advanced bone players. The main focus is on Irish jigs (single, double, slip, slide, hornpipe) and reels. But that's not all. As a noted multi-ethnic percussionist, Aaron Plunkett demonstrates rhythms from around the globe. You will also see a few natural rhythms from around the block!

Discover Insider Secrets For Playing Jigs and Reels
Aaron Plunkett's Irish ancestral heritage and devotion to Celtic music inspired him to study traditional Irish percussion. He worked in Northern Ireland with Eamon McGuire. And he worked with Michael O'Suilleabhain and Mel Mercier in the South at University College, Cork. Aaron did intensive study of traditional Irish music with a focus on percussion to authenticate and perfect his playing—and he passes this knowledge on to you.

How Aaron Plunkett's Video Helped Me Learn to Play Jigs Good Enough for the Masters
I have been playing bones around 20 years. But I didn't always think jigs and bones were a good combination. That changed dramatically in 2003 at Bones Fest VII in Louisville, Kentucky. This was the first time I saw and heard others play bones to jigs—and for me it was a truly awesome and enlightening experience.

Since then, and under the influence of video resources such as this dvd by Aaron Plunkett, I became competent enough to play jigs at Irish sessions which included distinguished players such as Mary Bergin and Kevin Henry—who later in the crowded pub, gave me a smile and a hearty "the bones player!" which really made my day.

You Get a Complete Workout
This video is chock-full of exercises that give you a complete bone playing workout. If you are looking for serious musical bones training that puts you through all the paces, then this video is for you.

Order this Hard-to-find Video Now
Bones From the Beginning is a prominent, yet extremely hard-to-find tutorial video. It rarely, if ever, shows up on eBay. Like most items here at Bone Dry Musical Instrument Co., this is a cottage industry product, so you won't find it at Blockbuster (or the library). The dvd was acquired directly from Aaron Plunkett, the person who produced it. Production could stop at any time of course, so order now while this important training tutorial is still available.

Why Choose this Video?
If you want the world's most in-depth video instruction on how to play Irish jigs and reels in Aaron's unique 2-hand American style (plus examples of many rhythms you can play from around the globe), then this dvd is for you.

Look what's on the dvd menu:

  1. Sailing Bones
  2. Beginning Basics
  3. Finger Positions
  4. Holding First Bones
  5. Forearm & Hand Motion
  6. Beginning Lessons
  7. Triplets
  8. Tap + Triplet
  9. Review
10. Say It You Can Play It
11. Woodpecker Interlude
12. Intermediate Lessons
13. Styles of Jig
14. Jig Music Sample
15. Ready for the Band
16. Horse Canter Interlude
17. Celtic Eagle
18. Advanced Lessons
19. Reel music Example
20. Fast & Slow Triplets
21. Hornpipe/Jig Music Sample
22. Jig Rhythms
23. Polka Rhythms
24. Cross-Cultural Music
25. Africa
26. Spain/Flemenco
27. Cuban Clave
28. Balkan & Indian
29. Polyrhythms
30. Irish Dancer & Drum/Bodhran
31. Closing
32. Bones Sailing

• Recording type: Video dvd
• Menu: 32 tracks
• Running Time: 70:20
• Label: Independent
• Weight: 2.9 oz

 
Aaron Plunkett

Multi-ethnic percussionist, educator and recording artist, Aaron Plunkett is well versed in "Percussion From Around The World." He completed a two-year, 48,000 mile world tour including the Middle, Near, and Far East, as well as portions of Europe, the Celtic Isles and Africa. He is equally at home with Caribbean and South American music idioms. While on his world tour, he collected numerous exotic instruments and received instruction from master drummers. Regions of concentration include Ireland, Iran, India, Indonesia, the Balkans, Turkey, Egypt, and Ghana, Africa.

From a young age, Aaron was fascinated with the world and its different cultures. This early interest was further enhanced when he studied world music at California Institute of the Arts where he specialized in ethnic percussion and received tutelage from master mentors and gurus. Prior to his Cal Arts apprenticeship, he specialized in jazz and classical percussion at the University of Southern California (USC).

Aaron has performed with such greats as North Indian Tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussein, Iranian Tonbak master Siamak Pooyan, Setar virtuoso Mamoud Zolfonoon and reknowned Persian singers, "Suzanne" and "Sattar." His multi-ethnic drumming tracks can also be heard with a vast array of well known American music composers such as Jazz virtuoso, Lionel Hampton, and folk rock artists, John Fogerty and Johnny Cash to name just a few.

He has made numerous appearances on KPFK, KCRW and toured and performed with both the Aman and Avaz International Dance Theaters. He was the featured Ghanain percussion soloist for the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado performing the premiere symphony orchestra, Global Warming, the featured Irish percussionist, clinician and exhibitor at the International Percussive Arts Convention and additionally contributing educator for the NASA Native Earth System Science Curriculum Project.

Aaron is one of a select few players who demonstrates a two-handed bones playing style and has further developed that method so that the pitches change while playing. His unique sound and ability have afforded him recording sessions such as: the Titanic soundtrack, where he was the featured Irish percussionist and worked with internationally acclaimed composer, James Horner, special-effects guru, George Lucas and director, James Cameron; Universal Pictures' Dragon feature trailer soundtrack (Bruce Lee's last film); and Walt Disney's Light Magic Parade Orchestra (theme music for Disney parks around the world) to name a few.

Aaron Plunkett is the founder of the Ojai Valley Whale Society , a non-profit organization dedicated to exhuming, recreating and preserving California's first two fossilized 25 million year old toothed, baleen whales, "Louie and Wendell Plunkettsaurus," Ojaicetus plunkettdentus.