dsreiner says:
3/9/2011 10:04:28 AM

The bow photo for this group is from the gifted hands of Henryk Kaston (henrykkaston.net ).

fiddlepogo says:
3/23/2011 1:43:56 PM

To me, a shuffle or pattern is an entity unto itself that needs to be practiced in isolation on a suitable easy tune or in an exercise.
I keep patterns on the back burner this way, sometimes for years... even DECADES! Eventually the pattern gets smooth enough and along comes a phrase that's just begging for that pattern, and I "accidentally" use it, and pretty soon, I'm using it all over the place.
When I started, I used "anywhichway" bowing, still do when learning a tune, reading notation, waltzes, and slow airs.
Then I learned Nashville Shuffle,
Then I learned Georgia Shuffle.
I never integrated the two, although I've since learned there is a way to do so.
Then I learn what I call Smoothshuffle (3-3-1-1) while attempting to imitate one of Tommy Jarrell's bowings.
By this time I was pretty much a confirmed downbower.
About this time, Tom Sauber showing me Syncoshuffle (1-2-1-2-1-1) but that was to stay on the backburner till about 3 years ago!!! And I identified Offset Nashville from a festival recording (1-2-1-1-2-1), but that was to stay on the backburner till about a year and a half ago. Then I got musically isolated in a small towns where I didn't know any other fiddlers. I think Sawshuffle clicked during this time (1-1-1-3-1-1). Then I traded off the fiddle about 1990 because I had stopped playing it (my only jamming partner had died, and it made me sad to play instead of glad) and didn't start playing again until 2005. When I restarted, I played nearly everything with Sawshuffle and Smoothshuffle, then I added Syncoshuffle and Offset Nashville... also one I don't have a name for that I remember Byron Berline using.
I'm dabbling with 1-1-1-2-2-1 and 1-2-2-1-1-1 that Mike Fontenot mentioned in a recent post. Haven't named them yet!!!
When fiddlers from other styles hear me play, usually the first thing they comment on is the bowing rhythms... they often find them fascinating.

Recently I renewed my interest in Irish Trad. It's funny, I don't even think about bowing, except occasionally I do notice that I am using some pattern or another, but I'm drawing on them unconsciously, and using them only for phrasing... they aren't nearly as overt as they are when I play Old Time.
Just today, I was playing Ships Are Sailing, and I noticed that I was using Nashville Shuffle in the B part! But it doesn't slap you in the face, because the long strokes are the place I'm sticking the left hand ornament, and the focus is on that, not the bowing.
In fact, I'm beginning to think that that is a major function of bowing patterns in Irish Trad fiddling- it's a way of putting a slur in a place that allows the left hand to go to work on ornamenting it, but without the phrasing getting screwed up.
And the phrasing is important, because that's how you get the "lift".
In Old Time, the slurs are usually used to draw attention to accented single strokes.
One key aspect of shuffle patterns is that they are somewhat related in families-
Nashville Shuffle, Syncoshuffle, and Offset Nashville are all related, and Smoothshuffle, Unshuffle, Sawshuffle, and Georgia Shuffle are very close to each other as well.

While I recognize the possibility of notating shuffles as part of the notation for a tune, I've never learned a shuffle pattern that way.
I tend to use them in an intuitive, seat-of-the-pants way.

Oh yeah, when I'm playing backup on fiddle, sometimes, if the volume of the instrumentalist permits, I will shuffle the backup instead of chopping it. It's also a useful thing in a jam that's starting to drift rhythmically due to too many rhythmically challenged players joining in!

vibratingstring says:
6/15/2011 9:44:37 AM

Dave,

I am new to fiddling and the bowing patterns are the thing that is the biggest mystery to me. When I watch or listen to Molsky play, and many others, the patterns are interesting and complex. I attended a weekend of workshops recently where Debbie Rifkin held a bowing workshop. I found the bowing pattern exercises to be very illuminating. I think a book on bowing patterns (starting at the beginning, of course, for us beginners) would be a great addition to the learning material out there. I told this to Debbie as well.

I hope that there is a bowing book out there soon, and I also hope that it is accessible to beginners like myself. Good luck. Let me know if you need the perspective of a novice. :)

Larry Toto

Fiddler Magazine Back Issues (30 issues)
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Herman Johnson Complete Fiddle Lesson - Bethel 1990
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Blog Entry: Playlsit of Vesta Johnson at the Bethel MO Fiddle Camp from 1988 to 2016.
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Vesta Johnston Talks About Bowing - Fiddle Workshop at Bethel 2016
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Bluegrass Shuffles Taught by Charlie Walden
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