🎻 To style your tunes, it's a good idea to know your patterns!

Hi Reader!

Styling... patterns... if you didn't know better, you'd think I ran a clothing business instead of an Irish fiddle one! But I'm always down for a good metaphor -- it's almost a pattern recognition in and of itself.

When you're learning new tunes in the Irish tradition and finding ways to make them your own, one of the most helpful things you can do is to internalize the way that you bow certain phrases.

The bowing creates a huge part of the phrase, and can be the difference between what gives your tunes that lift and what makes it sound, well, not the way you want it to.

It's tricky because there is no one-size-fits-all bowing pattern that works for every single musician.

Over time though, I have found that there are certain bow patterns that lend themselves well to emphasizing the phrasing.

Slurs can give swells (try starting them on off beats). Separate notes can provide distinction and snappy clarity.

So even though the end goal is for us to be flexible players that can mix and match bowings with ease, saying "anything goes" and sending you on your way just isn't all that helpful in my book.

That's why in this space, you'll find more specificity around why I prefer some bow patterns over others, or why three note up bow slurs just fit really well in the middle of most patterns of 8 eighth notes.

(If you want to get even more specific and see me write out bowings in action, come on over to the Style Your Trad Tunes membership!)

We're getting into a new season of the year, so it feels like a good time to check in, Reader -- what are you most excited to develop in your playing this season?

Personally I'm really looking forward to taking a new monthly Sliabh Luachra fiddle workshop starting this week to dig deeper into that style. I'll be sure to share my takeaways with you!

Happy practicing!

~Hannah