Hannah Harris

Hi Reader! Styling... patterns... if you didn't know better, you'd think I ran a clothing business instead of an Irish fiddle one! But I'm always down for a good metaphor -- it's almost a pattern recognition in and of itself. When you're learning new tunes in the Irish tradition and finding ways to make them your own, one of the most helpful things you can do is to internalize the way that you bow certain phrases. The bowing creates a huge part of the phrase, and can be the difference between...

Hi Reader! Did you survive the festivities from St. Patrick's Day? I think I'm still recovering from it all -- but part of that is I've either had a session or other gigs more days than not this week. St. Pat's may be over for another year, but of course the enthusiasm for Irish music continues in this corner of the internet! So today I want to turn the conversation towards a topic that comes up a lot, which is bowing! (Non fiddlers, what is your equivalent of bowing? Inquiring minds want to...

Hi Reader! Happy St. Patrick's Day! Whether you're out gigging or playing tunes full throttle this weekend, or taking this year to hibernate and relax, I hope you're having a great and fulfilling weekend! It's my first year living in Detroit, and this area certainly knows how to turn St. Patrick's Day into St. Patrick's Month! Think packed pubs during sessions, and my friend politely telling the lady in neon green that we don't play "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," but we'll happily play some...

Hi Reader! Session scenes are familiar to me. I'm perfectly comfortable walking into a room, seeing a group of Irish musicians playing tunes in an open session environment, and asking to join in (or sitting in my usual spot for the two local ones I attend each week). But if you put me in the room at a Feis (Irish dance competition), even if there are familiar tunes playing in the background, I will feel like a fish out of water. Despite being slightly more familiar with Feises than sessions...

Hi Reader! Out of curiosity... did you go "oooo" or did you roll your eyes when you saw "slip polka" in this email's subject line? If you've played a session with me any time in the past 5 years, you'll know I'm a sucker for a good polka set, particularly polkas from the Sliabh Luachra areas of Cork, Kerry and Limerick! It's really only been in the past year that I started hearing about slip polkas! Since a jig is 6/8 time, and a slip jig is 9/8 time, it stands to reason that a polka is in...

Before you panic... yes, that's a "stunt" fiddle 😉 Hi Reader! Today's an exciting day over here for two reasons: It's my birthday! Over three decades around the sun now... 😱 I couldn't be more excited to share with you that my latest album, At the Core, is officially released and ready for your earbuds! Now available on Bandcamp! You already have the digital copy of At the Core, but if you'd like to download a free copy from Bandcamp, hit reply to this email and I'll send you a code you can...

Hi Reader! I'm going to take a guess that you first heard the term "slip jig" before you heard about hop jigs. Ironically the first "slip" jig I ever learned (The Butterfly) is technically a hop jig, but that's a video explanation for another day! In a nutshell, both tunes are in 9/8 time, where a measure is counted by eighth notes, and there are nine total eighth notes in a measure. These can be different combinations of eighths, quarters, dotted quarters -- but they all add up to nine....