🎻 Experimenting in public, and two ways to skin a polka

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.

Devanney's Goat is one of those tunes that I can just call up very easily, so it's one of my go-to's if I'm building a set on the fly at a session and need a tune in D. So it doesn't particularly matter the key I'm starting with, so long as it's not totally jarring switching in between the two.

Other times I like to stick it into the D-G-A formula (Dear God Almighty -- thanks to my Cork bestie, Michael Kennedy for that monogram) as the D tune.

Point One: We all have different ideas of what constitutes our ideal pairing of tunes, and part of the fun of playing with others is that we can swap and try new ideas!

I'm tempted to put Devanney's Goat with a D mix tune like The Holly Bush or a B minor tune like Sligo Creek for a dance I'm playing tonight (Saturday) or for the Conor O'Neill's session in Ann Arbor...

While filming the Glen Cottage No. 2 polka earlier this week, I found myself wanting to go into a couple of different polkas (Liz Carroll's Bike to Ballyhill or Ger the Rigger), which had a similar vibe for lack of a better explanation on why my brain went there!

You're a Tune Library member, Reader, so you can check the tutorial out directly in the Library! I also added in An Choisir for a new slide tutorial, and will be picking another slide and polka to add to the Library this week.

Later that day, I ended up starting Glen Cottage 2 at our other weekly session in the Detroit area, but I chose to try pairing it with two tunes off of my album (At the Core), Seamus Cussen's and The Kerry Bar.

Turns out, I didn't really like the pairing. Seamus Cussen's has more eighth notes, and lends itself well to a quick speed, whereas Glen Cottage 2 has more sixteenth notes and works better as a lope-y polka.

Point 2: It's okay to test tune sets out in public, and then decide you don't like them! You don't know until you try!

...and Bonus Point: Some polkas lend themselves well to breakneck fist-bumping paces, while others are wayyyy more chill!

So now you know what runs through my mind a lot of weeks, Reader! 😅 On the live workshop and performance side of my Irish fiddle doings, here's a quick recap from last week of what's coming up in the next couple months:

• Jan 24th - Sliabh Luachra Polkas and Slides workshop for ALL instruments in Cleveland OH (Schedule and Details available on Northeast Ohio Comhaltas' Facebook)
• Jan 25th - Guesting at St. Brigid’s Day Irish Brunch in Cleveland OH (Proceeds benefit Laura’s Home/ The City Mission)
• Feb 6-8 - Returning to Tune Junkie Weekend to teach the Nuts and Bolts fiddle class in Knoxville TN! Registration available here.
• Feb 20th - Shannon Lee playing at Trinity House in Livonia MI. Tickets here!
• Mar 1 - Music at Main Shannon Lee (Free Concert!) at Clinton Macomb Library in Clinton Township MI.

I hope you're feeling inspired to play around with some tune sets, notice what your fellow musicians tend to lean towards, and experiment with different polka styles this week!

Happy playing!

~Hannah