Andrea taught a tune called The Queen of Hearts, which ends with two Ds at the end of both the A and B parts. Grab your fiddle (or pin this for later when you're practicing) and try playing two of the same note on an up bow while stopping the bow in between the notes.
Spoiler alert, it's not easy!
I asked Andrea about this during the workshop, and he explained that you're not necessarily stopping the bow for this "up-up" pattern. Rather, it's one longer note and you create a swell with your bow by leaning into the second half of the note.
If you've ever taken a live workshop with me that covered polka bowing, Reader...
It's the same technique! ๐
It's fitting that a back beat bowing technique used for polkas (an iconic Sliabh Luachra tune type) is the same bowing technique you can use to end a reel in a very specific, characteristically Sliabh Luachra style!
Patterns, patterns, patterns!
Learning more tunes becomes easier when you recognize familiar phrases and just restring them together into different combinations.
Styling your tunes becomes easier when you have a go-to set of bow patterns you can mix and match across tune types.
What is one bowing pattern you've used across multiple tunes before? Can you think of another tune type where it would be useful?
Happy practicing!
~Hannah
โ