🎻 How my cat made it into a tune name, and recapping Michigan Irish Music Fest

Hi Reader!

I had this bright idea last week that I'd wait to just write you a Sunday letter the morning of, fresh off of our set at Michigan Irish Music Fest so that I could share the excitement and recap in the moment...

Only to forget that the morning after staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing tunes is not the best time to try and get the brain into a writing state! 😆

So no new letter from last week, but I am still very much enjoying thinking back on the weekend, and all the music and camaraderie that was had!

I think you'll agree with me, that it's not just the music that keeps us wanting to come back for more. It's the musicians!

While the majority of my fiddle teaching happens online, there is nothing quite like in person interaction where you meet and play Irish traditional music with players of all levels.

It's a big reason why I go to my two local sessions each week, even if I'm not co-hosting that particular evening.

And playing at MIMF this past weekend further solidified that motivation! We were honored to be included in such a great lineup, and it was extra nice to be able to chat with people that we usually just see on Instagram or hear their recordings on the regular when listening to music!

Here is a clip of one of our sets from our performance. The first tune is one Bear wrote called Roisín's Masking Tape -- named after my sassy girl cat who wouldn't stop chewing the tape that was holding my phone to the cat tree while we recorded a video (who needs a regular old tripod, right? 😅)

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And because I know you'll ask (or maybe because I'll take any excuse to share cat pics) -- here's little Rose herself:

The rest of the month is a bit closer to home, and resting up from traveling the first two weekends -- which means I'm battling my need to fill the empty space with the need to decompress.

But there are two new phrase by phrase video tutorials in the Tune Library for The Boys of 25 and Strike the Gay Harp! This week I'll be adding a bonus tip tutorial for playing with a looser wrist, and possibly another tune or two.

Also one night last week when my internal body clock was still re-adjusting from the weekend, I decided to add an annual subscription payment option to the Library as well. My biggest holdup with adding that prior to now was figuring out how to make sure annual members got notified before their payment renewal so there were no rude wake-up call surprise charges. Happy to report I found a solution!

And naturally that thing I procrastinated on took all of ten or fifteen minutes to figure out. Wish that could happen with developing new fiddle skills!

Here's to figuring out the places where we're feeling stuck, enjoying a late night tune or two, and naming tunes after your cats...

Happy playing!

~Hannah