Consolidating tunes learnt this term

The Arran Boat Song

We went through the steps for learning to play with vibrato. It helps to practice these regularly for a short time, to build up muscle memory for the movement made by the hand. Keep the left hand and forearm relaxed while going through these steps.

The Eagles Whistle

We worked on the chords, particularly in the first part of the tune. When p[laying the tune in the lower octave, it’s possible to play the entire A part with chords on the G & D strings. It’s important to find ways to break this up, and give some ‘breathing space’ in between chords. Also vary between percussive & drone style chords.  We tried playing without looking at our fingers, and even while walking around the room, to help us shift into a more intuitive and fluid way of playing.

Kilfenora Sexy jig

We played the dotted jig rhythm,  emphasising the notes on the beat (the 1st note of each set of 3 quavers). Tapping the foot on the beat really helps with this. We also played around with playing any old note while  keeping that jig rhythm going.

We went over the notes in the run down at the end of the 2nd B part. We also tried out the slide on the C# at the start of the tune, along with the chord & hammer o.

Rocking the Baby

We split in two and tried playing the A part of the tune against the B part. We also had a quick chat through the technique for playing jigs that repeatedly cross strings – using  short bows, emphasising on the beat, and using a wrist action in figure of 8 pattern.

At the end of the evening we played Barrowburn, Leaving Brittany, Campbell’s farewell to Redcastle, …and the Eagle’s Whistle again.