Bowing patterns, techniques & approaches. How do you learn to bow in a particular style? What works for you, what doesn't?

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Approaches to learning patterns

From fiddlepogo on 9/8/2014 1:38:40 PM

What works for me, and what doesn't?

I've read recently that a couple of Fiddle Hangout members have tried to follow instructions like on David Bragger's YouTube videos, and say they can't learn with "down, up-up, down" type directions where you have to follow every single instruction.  I have to admit, I wonder if I could follow that myself.  I already have a bowing style going, so I'm not highly motivated to try out David Bragger's method.  However, it must work for some people, or he wouldn't use it.  But my hunch is that I would get lost!!!

What worked for me if I looked back was to learn some simple hoedown tunes with Nashville Shuffle all the way through, then when I learned a compatible pattern (the first one was "Smoothshuffle"- 3-3-1-1), I substituted it for Nashville where it felt better.

Then, I learned 1-1-1-3-1-1, which I call "Sawshuffle" and Dave Reiner calls "Middle Shuffle".  By that time, I was so heartily sick of Nashville Shuffle, that I substituted ALL my Nashville patterns with Sawshuffle.  That worked great, but then I quit fiddling for 15 years.  When I started up again, I could still do both Sawshuffle and Smoothshuffle, and that got my bowing going again.  After that,  the first thing I think I did was a variation on Sawshuffle where I moved the slur forward to 1-3-1-1-1-1.   It sounds very straight and English sounding, and it worked great for Green Willis, which I wanted to have that flavor.

I had learned a couple of patterns in the 1970's that I'd never gotten going well enough to incorporate.

1-2-1-2-1-1 I learned from Tom Sauber (Syncoshuffle) and 1-2-1-1-2-1 from the playing of Dave Vitek. (I call it Offset Nashville, but I think someone said they heard it was sometimes called "Hornpipe Shuffle"- it gives a great bouncy feel to hornpipes.  

When I started playing again in 2005, I also started practicing these two patterns.  Eventually I got them going well enough that I tried them in the high part of June Apple, which is my "test vehicle" for the use of patterns in a melodic way, and in the low part of Growling Old Man, which is my test bed for using them in a rhythmic way.   Once I got them going in at least one of those tunes (I don't think I ever got Offset Nashville going in the low part of Growling Old Man) they eventually started appearing almost completely spontaneously in other tunes with similar phrases.  The more familiar and comfortable I got with the patterns, the more they spread through my playing.

So I've never used a stroke by stroke method of learning for a whole tune, although Tom Sauber taught me Syncoshuffle stroke by stroke.

And I never tried to learn a whole tune with the bowing instructions tabbed out or notated with slurs in any way.

In summary, my approach has always been to:

1. Use Nashville on certain tunes to start.

2. Get other compatible patterns going to the point where they are smoothly executed.  This is crucial... if the pattern sounds funky or klutzy, it somehow isn't "viable".   Often the first way  I play them is on a double stop or a unison.... sort of how I would play a Nashville kickoff, but then substituting different patterns

3. Try them in a "test vehicle" tune, and if they sound good, get them to where they are my main bowing for that tune, and then polish that way of playing the tune until it's jam- or gig-ready.

4. Beyond that,  I try not to THINK too much about the bowing I'm using, and let my subconscious do the choosing of the patterns.  Critics of pattern bowing often accuse pattern bowers of overthinking, and I do think that you CAN overthink it....  there is a spontaneous quality to music, and the subconscious has a part in that.  My approach seems to allow my "left brain" a teaching role at the beginning, but then transfers the control of the pattern to the intuitive "right brain".  One reason for this is that the right brain seems much quicker than the left brain.   And fiddle music is often FAST, so you don't have much time to think about what you are doing!!!!

4 Comments
	charlie.walden says: 9/9/2014 4:50:06 AM That was a very detailed and well thought through discussion. I wouldn't have dreamed so many defined and named patterns for fiddle bowing existed - almost turns it into a pedagogy. Never heard any fiddlers of the old school describe their playing in this way. Other than some tune-specific instances that require a specific approach, you could possibly dispense with all the patterns. When I'm learning a new tune I just start out with a saw-stroke (using the bow back and forth like a pick) until I get all the notes and then as I try to play it up to speed opportunities for putting a slur here and there will present themselves. Pretty soon you'll be playing it right along.
	fiddlepogo says: 9/9/2014 12:16:17 PM Part of what it's about is that I'm into the more rhythmic Old Time styles- Tommy Jarrell and Melvin Wine and such. Patterns give me a way of "mixing and matching" bowing licks for different fiddlers. Also, many of those patterns that appeal to me take a whole measure. Being more complex, it helps if you practice them as a unit. It is quite possible to start with sawstroke the way you describe- Chirps Smith evidently does it.... but the funny thing is that his slurs work out to be patterns in their own right, although shorter ones. Yes, there is a pedagogical thing going on. While some might be able to do it the way you describe, others might "need a leg up". It's too late to dispense with all the patterns- they are firmly embedded in my subconscious!!! ;^D
	charlie.walden says: 9/9/2014 1:39:46 PM Likely true that Chirps employs some patterns in his playing, but to really get down to playing the tune I think it's important to develop your own approach without so much analysis. When someone wants me to analyze my bowing I tend to run the other way so as not to get too much understanding - intellectually speaking - of what I'm doing. Sounds like your system is working for you.
	fiddlepogo says: 9/10/2014 10:05:09 PM Just to make myself clear- Chirps doesn't ANALYZE his bowing either... the patterns just happened as he played, but also as he played with and was influenced by Gary Harrison. Also a clarification: When it gets down to playing the tune FOR ME TOO, the analysis stops... for one thing, it's just WAY too slow, when you're playing at dance tempos! The analysis is only in the learning stages. You don't have to be afraid of the intellectual understanding IF you are able to "let go" of it when in comes time to play. I must say that if someone were "stuck" in an analytical mode of thinking while trying to play, the results could be disastrous- the "paralysis of analysis" could happen on stage! But once you memorize a pattern thoroughly, you really DON'T have to think about it any more. For instance, when I did my bowing podcast, it was hard to do- precisely because I had to actually THINK about what pattern I was using and where, and I was totally NOT used to doing that! Occasionally I do observe my own bowing, almost as if it were someone else's.... "Oh cool.... I just used an Offset Nashville there!" or somesuch.... but it's not trying to control the bowing- the observing part of my brain is definitely in the passenger seat, and the subconscious musical mind is doing the driving!
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