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.