another version of Whiskey Before Breakfast

Somehow we got on the topic of Whiskey for Breakfast - it was the first tune I learned, and I commented that the version I found on the Hetzler midi website was not like any I later heard on Youtube. She asked me if I'd like to learn another version... why not? Maybe it will be an entertaining party trick someday to play 10 different versions of the same tune, at least it will entertain me while learning them. Besides, I don't ever get tired of the tune, so I'm still motivated to work with it.

I was used to down-up-down up-down-up for playing jigs, and down-up down-up slur-down-2 slur-up-2 for reels, these are all eighth notes. Very predictable patterns, which were good for me as a beginner.

The version of Whiskey Before Breakfast that she gave me has a different bowing than I was used to. It has a down bow, then maybe 3 slurred up-bow notes. It's a bit harder to remember, but the down bows are placed to give a syncopated accent, eighth notes 3 and 7 of a 4/4 bar, so once I got going, my brain recognized the pattern and as long as I knew the tune, my brain went into auto-pilot and took care of the bowing pattern. The sheet music is hard to follow at first though for sure.

So I ran into an issue where the bow sounds scrapey when I play like this, because the down bows are longer than the individual slurred notes.

Turns out that with my bow hand, I had my pinky finger stretched out straight and the joints locked, and that was interfering with my flexibility. So I am trying to play now with my pinky curved, with the fingertip right on the bow. It's hard to unlearn an ingrained habit, but I'm going to work at it, it will only benefit me in the long run. In order to play notes closer to the frog of the bow with more control, the pinky becomes important.

double-stop notes

We added double-stop notes to Cattle In The Cane. It's hard to keep track of - it should be simple, because the bow has less work to do, you're not crossing from one string to the other, but you are playing with the bow midway between 2 places that you have trained your muscle memory to find on its own. It's a big, exciting sound, so it's fun to do. Most of the time the 2nd string is played open, so you are getting more sound for not too much more effort. I did end up fretting some of the open stop notes, but with practice it sounded okay.

I don't mind playing things that aren't the Irish style, as long as it's a fiddle style, I'm fine with it. Many fiddle styles are derived from Irish fiddling, there is a lot of crossover between Irish and Metis and old-time fiddle styles, so there is a large area of fiddle music within which I feel comfortable. It's nice to be well-rounded though, it's nice to pull out an exciting piece of music at a party or something.