What I've Been Up To Lately (Fiddle-wise)

Mostly working on learning a few new tunes and getting back to some I used to play a lot, but haven't in a while. It's funny how a tune that I'll be so hot for for a while seems to fade away. I'll play it all the time and then pffft! Nothing. It's not that I don't like the tune anymore or anything like that. It just seems to go missing when I'm thinking about what to play next. Then months or years later, it'll resurface and I'll want to play it all the time again. The last week or so, I've been into

• Booth Shot Lincoln
• Cornbread, Molasses and Sassafrass Tea
• Jenny Ran Away in the Mud in the Night

I need to work on "Setauket" as well. It's a great tune and I about had the first part, but got distracted.

I'm still working on getting my bowing technique back after not playing for nearly a year (!) and am pretty pleased with how it's going. I still don't have as much rotation in my shoulder as I'd like, so reaching the G string is still an issue. Still a stretch every time I play. But, it's coming along and now that I've started using a shoulder rest and have somewhat adjusted how I hold the fiddle, I'm getting there.

This weekend I'll be traveling down to Cape Girardeau to play a contra dance with the Mound City Slickers. Should be a big time!