🎻 The tune learning workshop that booked out

You could have knocked me over with a feather, when my friend and fellow Tune Junkie instructor Claire Shirey excitedly shared with me that my Irish Fiddle Nuts & Bolts workshop was sold out last weekend, Reader!

I don't say this to be like "ooo look at me and my teaching skills." (Though yes, I was definitely flattered!)

The truly exciting thing about that moment was that clearly this was a workshop topic that resonated and fiddlers wanted to learn!

What was supposed to be a 10 person maximum class, ended up being 14 fiddlers + myself crammed into a preschool room (one student even sat on the indoor playground) chatting about... you guessed it, lilt.

More specifically, for someone coming from another genre (usually classical) or for someone who didn't necessarily grow up listening to Irish Traditional music -- how do you make your tunes have that characteristically Irish sound?

We ended up having a great class focused on bowing recommendations, playing around with tone quality, and of course mastering some Sliabh Luachra polka backbeat bowing.

When I say that we each have our own individual styles for playing Irish music, a huge component of that is the bowing! Where do you like to slur notes vs create more of a separated sound? Where do you like putting in ornaments, and what does that do to your bowing?

Maybe I'm just a nerd, but going back and reverse engineering what bowing I'm putting where and why is a super fun thing to explore, Reader!

I had so much fun teaching it at Tune Junkie last weekend! My class was amazing, and full of fiddlers who have a wonderful style to share -- just needing some ideas and ways to channel that style!

It's also the best thing when your students teach you something new, or help you come to a conclusion of why you play something the way you do. We found out that I like to play 3rds that cross strings with separate bows, because it's reminiscent of a double stop exercise I used to spend hours on in the practice room. It's definitely drilled into me now!

While I plan to teach at other events like Tune Junkie Weekend (and hopefully TJW again) in future, this is also the type of training I want to be able to offer year-round, regardless of location and time zones.

So I'm switching up the format for Style your Trad Tunes! Rather than a live 6 week course, this is going to be a monthly membership where I teach you my bowing strategy -- why I choose to use particular patterns, how to change up bowing so you're not overly relying on one way of doing it, and how to make space for ornaments and variations in the tune.

Sound like your cup of tea, Reader? There are 2 membership tiers: basic and VIP! The basic membership gets a deep dive into one tune a month (bowing, ornamentation and variation included), while the VIP membership gets to send in up to 4 tunes you're working on a month to get specific bowing recommendations from me.

Happy practicing this week!

~Hannah

Hannah Harris I help aspiring Irish fiddlers find their lilt and get the real feel for the music. ​ New Style your Trad Tunes membership available for mastering your approach to bowing tunes! You can also take a private lesson or pop into the Tune Library! ​ Have fellow Irish fiddling friends? Please forward this email to them! 🎻 Was this email forwarded to you, and you want more? Sign up here. ​ 👇 Are we connected on social media, Bandcamp, Spotify, etc? ​​​​​

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