Hannah Harris

Hi Reader! If you were looking for one of those sweet, wow moment stories on the internet today, I may have you covered. I wasn't expecting to burst into (happy) tears at the end of a Tune Supply workshop last week, but one second we're all saying good-bye and the next I'm pacing around my apartment with my eyes streaming saying "ohhhhh my god!" But I'm getting ahead of myself. Last Sunday, I attended a workshop put on by Tune Supply that was a conversation between Marta Cook and Maida...

Hi Reader! Maybe I'm wrong and you love playing scales, and could happily do so for hours. I was never one of those people though. The most I could handle for scales was around 20, mayyybe 30 minutes at the start of my practice session. If you're trying to avoid or get out of the classical world and into the "real feel for Irish fiddle" world, I'm guessing the last thing you want to hear is that you need to play scales! Here's the catch though... Playing scales really does make you a better...

Hi Reader! A few days ago I was playing a few tunes with my partner and other half of Shannon Lee, and we decided we wanted to take a stab at a more modern tune written by David Kosky called The Mystery Inch. Bear had really been enjoying listening to it and had already put the time into working it up, whereas I knew it to hear from a Goitse recording -- usually listening while at the gym or doing dishes! So needless to say, he knows the tune better than I do, and was patiently playing along...

I have a feeling this topic could spark quite a bit of conversation, Reader, so I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on this! Irish traditional music is primarily an oral tradition, with tunes getting passed down through listening. We do have sheet music involved of course, but the very nature of this music turns things into a bit of a game of "telephone." In the telephone game, there's a group of people sitting in a circle (I'm getting flashbacks to summer camp). One person comes up with a...

Hi Reader! If you’ve ever taken a class on Irish traditional music or worked with an Irish fiddle teacher in past, chances are you’ve been told not to rely on sheet music and instead focus on learning by ear. I do agree that you should listen more than you look when it comes to getting this style under your fingers. What I don’t think you should do is throw all your sheet music away and never pick up a tune book ever again. After all, if you've put the time and effort into learning how to...

Hi Reader! Have you ever started a tune in a session, and ended up playing the wrong B part of your tune by mistake? Maybe it's a B part that sounds super similar to the tune you meant to play, but goes off in a slightly different direction. I know recently I had this same issue with starting a tune mid-set. I meant to go into Old Bush, but my fingers just decided to play one of the Copperplate reels instead. Fortunately, all it took to reset this in my head was a little trip to the practice...

Hi Reader! Usually I like to teach bow patterns that are specific to each tune type. Reel bowings go with reels, jig bowings go with jigs, etc etc. It's a handy way to categorize bow patterns and help keep them straight in your head! As with many other areas of Irish fiddling, however, there are crossovers. And this can be really nice as well, because you can translate a skill you learned for one tune type over to another! Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to? That's exactly what...