🎻 How to learn the B part of Maudabawn Chapel from what you already know

Hi Reader!

Earlier this week I recorded a tutorial of Ed Reavy's reel, Maudabawn Chapel, for my Tune Library members. If you've never seen an example of one of these videos, the structure is fairly straightforward:

I record the tune up to speed so you know where we're going with it, and then break the tune down into about 2 bar phrases each to teach on repeat. Then we play the tune at a slow and medium pace.

As I was going through the B part for Maudabawn Chapel, I made a remark that "this first phrase sounds a lot like the start of Drowsy Maggie."

Then I apologized in case I officially opened a door for you to get the two tunes mixed up in your head from here on out...

But then a couple of bars later, I said "and hey, this phrase sounds like the opening of Cooley's reel!"

And THEN just now as I thought of what I wanted to write about in this week's newsletter, I thought well there's also a phrase that sounds like the opening of The Golden Keyboard.

Just like that... it doesn't feel like this was a way to be confusing. Rather, it's kind of the whole point behind my philosophy for learning tunes.

There are way more Irish traditional tunes out there in the world than one person can ever hope to fully retain all at once. (Hence why I love playing with other people because as a collective we stand a better chance of carrying on this music.)

So a goal of learning every single tune out there and being able to play them all at the drop of a hat seems like a recipe for failure. BUT a goal to become super familiar with lots of different intervals and phrases to the point where you can interchange them into different patterns to retain more tunes sounds a lot more achievable -- and frankly, more fun!

Maudabawn Chapel was a perfect example of this where if you know the other three reels mentioned, you're not memorizing from scratch.

Instead, you're pretty much combining three phrases from three other tunes you know and rearranging them into a B part that is part of a different tune.

I think this is why when you hear a tune you don't know in a session, some are easier to pick up than others. You're hearing familiar phrases that you can put into different context!

This has happened to me quite a bit since moving to Detroit a couple of years ago, and it continues to be a topic that fascinates me.

I'm writing this email prior to our first workshop call which will have happened yesterday once you're reading this, Reader. But I can just about guarantee you that this is a strategy I'm going to cover when showing you how I'm learning Bonnie Kate!

If you couldn't make yesterday's session, the replay is over in this lesson (or will be by end of today -- again, future casting here)!

Pattern recognition is something that comes up a ton in the tune learning process no matter which stage you are at. So as you play this week, give some thought to tunes that sound similar!

And rather than letting that daunt you, let it be a curiosity spark. An "ooo moment" if you will, where your brain is giving you a helping hand rather than starting from ground zero.

Happy playing!

~Hannah