🎻 A bowing tip, my four-legged video crasher, and shaking off the less than stellar patrons

Hi Reader!

There are some weeks where I sit down to write these letters to you, and I know exactly what I'm going to chat about. Then there are other weeks where I have a bunch of different ideas spinning through my head (and still others where it's all a blank 😅).

This is one of those "busy spinning brain" weeks.

Do I tell you about how a student and I tweaked one bowing pattern to totally change the character of a tune? Or the bonus video training I recorded on wrist flexibility for the Tune Library that Bewley (my cat) totally video bombed -- three times? Or what about chatting about session etiquette and what to do when a patron is being super loud when your friend is in the middle of singing?

Welcome to a week in my life!! Yes, those all happened over the past seven days.

I like for these letters to have tips, but also when I can share those real life moments too. The kinds that make you laugh at a pet's antics or shake your head at a relatable incident in your own session or musical interactions.

So today you're getting a bit of all three!

On the bowing front... have you noticed that if you start a slur for a jig, reel or hornpipe on the beat, it sounds a little too straight or not particularly lilt-y? I know I have! With slurred bows, you want to put more of the emphasis on the second note of the slur, whether you're connecting two, three or more notes together. It seems to work better to begin the slur on the off beat, or the "And" of a beat (one-and, two-and etc).

Polkas and slides are a different story with slurs, by the way! Take this suggestion and adapt it selectively!

Speaking of bowing... I'll just share this video with you so you can get a sense of the, er, casual learning environment with the Tune Library. Bewley doesn't go bounding across the screen in every video, but maybe I should offer "spot the cat" Easter egg bonuses throughout the membership. 🤔

On the session front, we have a group of regular listeners who often sit at the bar right next to where the musicians are set up, and 9 times out of 10 things go just fine (they're a great bunch and fun to chat with). Occasionally however, we'll get some louder folks in that area, which becomes particularly disruptive during quieter sets like a harp solo or a song.

Our host politely asked them to lower their voices and/or move to a different section of the bar further away from the music. Unfortunately, they took the feedback more personally than was intended, and the conversation didn't end well.

It's tricky because I think we're all gathered in that space to decompress from the day in our own ways. Some of us are there to play music and catch up with friends. Others are there to listen to music. And others are there just to chat and couldn't care less if there was live music next to them or not.

You and I may be in the music appreciation and playing camp, but not everyone has the same values. It's not really fun to be in that kind of clash, but it's also important for us to remember that we don't have to please everyone -- and it's okay if not everyone in the room is there to listen.

I'd say it's better to make the session environment more pleasant for the ones who are there to enjoy it and to set the boundary with those who aren't.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead, filled with a mix of lightheartedness and perhaps some reflection on how we can honor our own musical boundaries + coexist with all kinds of people as well!

~Hannah