June Apple (bowing pattern demonstration)

Referenced in: https://coldjazz.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/old-time-bowing/#georgiashuffle Original blog post: https://coldjazz.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/scaling-down-and-fiddling-around/#bowing After that, I started thinking about fiddle—specifically, bowing. For a while, I've wrestled with explaining the bowing that I use when I play the fiddle. I use many variations, and it's all fairly automatic and unconscious. I tried to slow it down and look at it today, though. A common rhythmic phrase in fiddle tunes is eight quick notes. I found that the variations in bowing that I use generally encompass the first six notes, and then the bowing for the last two notes is just finagled so that I start the next phrase on a down bow. So I'm going to illustrate a few different bowing patterns, and I'll include the last two notes in parentheses if they aren't part of the pattern. I'll repeat the pattern once, so you'll see sixteen notes. So—this is a list of bowing patterns that I commonly use. It's not an exhaustive list, but it's something. 1. Saw stroke: D U D U D U (D U) | D U D U D U (D U) 2. Relaxed saw stroke: D-D U-U D-D U-U | D-D U-U D-D (D U) 3. Smooth syncopation: D-D-D U-U-U (D U) | D-D-D U-U-U (D U) 4. Energetic syncopation: D U-U D U-U (D U) | D U-U D U-U (D U) 5. Off-beat accent (Georgia shuffle): U-U D U-U-U D U- | U-U D U-U-U (D U) I made a couple recordings to illustrate some of these patterns. Here's me playing June Apple. I use pattern 5, the Georgia shuffle, throughout the entire A part.