Hannah Harris

Hi Reader, Today I want to share one of my favorite listening exercises with you, and it's one I’ve gotten to do a lot of this year so far! The nice thing is it’s an exercise that touches on multiple skills: note and interval recognition, arrangement awareness and (naturally) listening! More specifically, deep listening. To set the scene for you, my partner, Bear, has been listening to Tony McManus for years and took classes with him in college. We’ve been lucky enough to catch up and play...

Hi, Reader! I'm borrowing this question from Tara Connaghan, who has a wonderful podcast out called In Tune with Tradition - Perspectives on Session Etiquette. Each episode, Tara asks her guest "what is your ideal session?" It's often met with a bit of a laugh, maybe a gasp or two and few moments of quick but deep reflection before they give their answers. One thing I love is that they're all slightly different, or focus on different "idealisms" such as number of players, overall mood, tunes...

Hi, Reader! I’ve known what I was going to write to you about since Saturday last week. But I am glad that I let myself sit on the idea for a few days because it means I’m now writing from a place of curiosity instead of anger. So here’s my burning question of the week: do Irish people waltz faster than Americans? Ok that’s way too general of a statement, so let me provide some context. Over the last few years at quite a few non-Irish trad gigs (i.e. Contra dances and a re-enactment of dinner...

Hi, Reader! When you attend an Irish session, you may spend a bit of time thinking about how to pair up the tunes you know to make a set. It's something that I think about on a regular basis, and it's popped up in a couple places this week -- enough of a sign to make it the theme for your Irish fiddle newsletter browsing! I saw a post on Instagram this week where the author said they like to pair a wonderful session reel, Devanney's Goat, with other tunes in B minor, D mixolydian or D major....

Hi, Reader! Happy New Year! Bear and I rang in 2026 along with our dear friend, Marty Somberg, playing tunes for a Contra dance in Lansing right next to the Michigan Capitol Building. It was a snowy night, but filled with community and dancers of all different levels coming together to enjoy an evening with one another. Honestly, it set the perfect tone for what I'd like to focus on this year! The draw of Irish traditional music has always been about the people for me, and I suspect you've...

Hi, Reader! How is your December looking? Does it feel more frenzied like you're trying to get everything done before the end of the year, or are you starting to relax and wind down for the holidays? For me, this year feels like a little bit of both. I've started taking the last two weeks of the year off in conjunction with my customer support job (conveniently through the company where I host my Tune Library and other fiddle courses -- don't you love how multiple interests can tie...

Hi, Reader! We had our first real snow of the season this past weekend in southeast Michigan. I've become accustomed to snow despite spending the majority of my life living in North Carolina and Georgia, but it still has a way of breaking up routine! Case in point... I was ten steps out of my car walking towards the gym when I promptly realized I had snow boots on my feet and the tennis shoes I had placed front and center by the door were right where I had left them. Mildly cursing myself at...