Hey Reader,

Most people try to fix their whole bow at once. That's a lot of things to think about while also, you know, playing the fiddle.

So here's a smaller idea. One habit. Five minutes a day.

Improve Your Bowing With One Daily Habit

The 5-Minute Daily Bowing Routine: Pick, Drill, Record.

Pick one thing. Just one. The bow stroke that's been mocking you.

Drill it for five minutes. Laser focus. No noodling, no "let me just play a tune real quick." Five minutes on the hard thing, then put the fiddle down.

Record it. That's your feedback loop.

Do that for six days. On day six, listen back and ask one question: can I make this better? If yes — refocus. Maybe a new exercise, maybe a new angle on the same skill. Run it another six days. If no — you got it. Pick a new bowing challenge and start again.

Three rules:

• One challenge at a time. You can't laser-focus on five things. That's just a regular Tuesday.
• Slow is allowed. Slow is smart. Speed shows up on its own later.
• Record even when it's ugly.

Not sure what to pick?

• Beginner — a smooth tone on even quarter notes
• Intermediate — slurs that don't clunk.
• Advanced — double stops that aren't a cry for help.

👉 Watch the lesson on YouTube →​

Play Every Day

📼 Live Session Replays

Heartbeat Q&A Session Your questions, answered. A good one to catch up on if you missed it live. 👉 Watch Replay →​

Old Mother Flanagan — Call & Response Workshop A bright, bouncy old-time tune that sounds harder than it is. The secret is that it recycles — learn the A part well and you're most of the way home. We build it entirely by ear, one small chunk at a time, so you're growing your ear and the tune at the same time. There's a fun multi-tempo play-along track waiting for you there too. 👉 Watch Replay →​

🎻 Upcoming Events

Mon, Jul 20 · 3:00 PM EDT / Old Mother Flanagan – Jam Session
Now that you know the tune, let's make it sing — chords, variations, and looping it till it feels like a jam.

Tue, Jul 21 · 10:00 AM EDT / Weekly Meetup with Tom and Deb ​
Our long-running weekly play session. Everyone's welcome — tune up and drop in.

Thu, Jul 23 · 3:00 PM EDT / Northern Sky with Joanne ​
Joanne shares a tune she and Richard have been working on — Nick Drake's "Northern Sky."

Fri, Jul 24 · 11:00 AM EDT / Classical Corner Practice Group ​
Relaxed classical violin practice with Krista, working through early Suzuki techniques. All levels.

Go to the Events page for login info.

🎸 Country Blues Get-Together

Philip is looking for folks to play country blues fiddle tunes with. If a little grit and swing sounds like your thing, this one's for you.

Three blues tunes already living in the FiddleHed course:

• ​Sitting On Top Of The World​
• ​Hesitation Blues (workshop)
• ​Sludge River Stomp (workshop)

👉 Join the conversation →​

🎼 Got a tune you're itching to learn?

If you have sheet music for a tune you want to learn, post it to the Sheet Music space and send me a message. Then I'll make a very slow version video for you to learn from.

🏆 New home for Student Wins

We migrated the Student Win posts from Circle over to Heartbeat. Add your own anytime you hit a milestone — big or small. We'll also be keeping an eye on the practice journal for wins we can move over.

👉 Post a win (or cheer someone on) →​

🎻 Until next week, keep on fiddling…

— Jason

PS: Thank you for being here. If you enjoy the newsletter, please forward it to a lucky friend. And if this email was forwarded to you, get your own ✨