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(12 votes) 
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This is a good short example of how to give a pulsing sound with a bow.. I talked about it in another topic and think its easier to hear an example vs describe it
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I LOVE this bowing effect!
First year playing I noticed Sarah Cormer doing it in "Emma's Waltz". I learned the melody at that time, but I really want to spend time getting ALL her bowing down!
Best starting at approx 1:27 in the video.
Couple months ago I set out to find a video I know was posted here, somewhere. It was a pretty poor quality video, but an original composition by a young woman (felt beyond my playing, at the time) & I believe it was her brother accompaning her on guitar, while she played the fiddle - fabulous use of rhythmic 'pulsing' in it, besides a great tune. I never wanted to lose sight of it (and of course I have). Started searching in my bookmarks, but they are worse than all the posts on this forum... not going to rest until I find it, cause I'm finally getting to where I can try to play it!
Oh well... Sarah Cormer's playing will keep me busy.
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it was taught pretty early on..2nd nature now. also use it when I roll.. ( ornament )
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@ABR, ahhhh, thank you very much, hadn’t considered this before, and yes, video speaks a thousand words 
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ABitRusty said
it was taught pretty early on..2nd nature now. also use it when I roll.. ( ornament )
Rats, sorry, I obviously misunderstood what you were getting at.
The Laurel Swift video showed BOTH 'pulsing' (as in rhythm), AND how to do get the articulation.
😔... please bare with me, I'm obviously mentally & verbally challenged when it comes to communicating about anything music - trying to do better.
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@ELCBK said
ABitRusty said
it was taught pretty early on..2nd nature now. also use it when I roll.. ( ornament )
Rats, sorry, I obviously misunderstood what you were getting at.
The Laurel Swift video showed BOTH 'pulsing' (as in rhythm), AND how to do get the articulation.
😔... please bare with me, I'm obviously mentally & verbally challenged when it comes to communicating about anything music - trying to do better.
this is what i said in the scottish bagpipe topic and why i posted the video to get this one started... No i DONT mean this is "effect" . I think it goes hand in hand with how notes are slurred and ALSO to ornaments like rolls.
i said "...
I think it is something that people hear in say a slur 3 .. a leaning into or emphasising the middle note a little more than the other two...in general. once those are stringed together throughout a tune theres a feel or sound it gives.
idk... also maybe how a bellows instrument thats playing faster can have this almost breathing pulsing sound to it. we can do the same sorta thing.. to me not really an ornament.. its just how a person approaches a tune and plays the notes. "
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I do use bowing articulation for playing rolls, like what Laurel Swift describes as 'pulse' - and I can understand using bowing to enhance a groove.
...I'll have to leave it at that.
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It also seems like what I am doing with Beethoven's Minuet in G in Suzuki #2 for getting the accents in.
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I was looking at 'Classical Western' terms for the 'pulsing' bowing.
Thought Portato fit the bill (at least from the Wikipedia description):
Portato is a bowing technique for stringed instruments, in which successive notes are gently re-articulated while being joined under a single continuing bow stroke. It achieves a kind of pulsation or undulation, rather than separating the notes. It has been notated in various ways.
...but then I started seeing tutorials show 'Portato' as only a pause between notes, all on one bow - almost imperceivable attack on the re-articulations.
Slurred Staccato might fit the description of 'pulsing' - at least implies (to me) that the attack is perceivable (needs that little pinch with the RH fingers).
Amazes me how very small differences in execution can have such a huge impact!
idk... also maybe how a bellows instrument thats playing faster can have this almost breathing pulsing sound to it. we can do the same sorta thing.. to me not really an ornament.. its just how a person approaches a tune and plays the notes.
Really interesting to take a look at music from the perspective of another instrument - especially outside the string family! I have suspected Sarah Comer's playing of 'Emma's Waltz' might've been influenced by accordion. So many great tunes have come from accordionists, flautists, jazz horn players, guitarists, etc... all with special qualities we can mimic.
Can we talk more about using 'space'/'negative space' - maybe in the context of playing 'pulsing'?
I was reading a cool article that makes comparisons of music to art - "Space and Spacing in Music" by Herbert Antcliffe, from 'The Musical Quarterly' (Jan 1925!). Had to get past the beginning, where he kinda lost me with maybe a word error (the importance of editing 🤣) "A solid may be shapeless because it it self-contained..." Anyway, interesting 8-page read - don't think I've totally processed all of it, yet.
Music [compared to paintings], on the other hand, making its appeal direct to the emotions and the mind, has an advantage in not being representative but in its nature suggestive and recalling the feeling rather than the fact. Its presentation of space may be analagous in some respects to that of painting, but it is in its nature something different. "Space in music," said the child, "why that is what makes you lift up your arms and take a deep breath when you hear it."
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we dont really do Portatoes in irish music. uauall a person starts a set and people join in..
now in old time and bluegrass specially...gotta do portatoes... its important.
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ELCBK said
Ah ha... so, you'd never even consider using it when playing an Irish Slow Air?To me, it's not so much about using a specific bowing, but the awareness of articulation, timing & space, for expression... and options for bowing.
Not trying to convince you, but you already practice these things - including slurs. Haven't you ever used a slurred staccato in Irish tunes? Drowsy Maggie - 3 note slur on one up-bow.
Another name for Portato - "Loure Bowing", shows the "softer articulation, more length, less space". Staccato bowing shows "crisper articulation, shorter length, more space".
play on words elcbk 🙂
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@ABitRusty -
Ya know, I did take a peek to see if anyone had named a tune "Irish Portatoes".
...coming to terms with it.
Really relieved you were kidding (was hoping you were). ...a lot flies right over my head. 🥴
btw, the Laurel Swift video in your OP is excellent. Wish it had been made a few years earlier, so I could've seen it before I picked up a bow for the 1st time (had to learn it on my own). 😊
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Sorry, I can't let all this go... yet. 🤭
Ford Glass (back in the Scottish Piper Tunes Played on The Fiddle Thread) inadvertently got me started thinking down another path (Thank you!).
I may be screwed because I still want to think of 'pulse' as stressed beats in a rhythm - whereas I believe it's "supposed to mean" the evenly-spaced beats, in music. 😞 idk, to me there ought to be a difference between every beat & a pulse - my heartbeat has 'pulse', but it's NOT even beats! ...limps?
There is another multiple-notes-on-1-bow-stroke 'term' - Hooked Bowing, that is NOT so even. Jeez, I know there's a thread on this, somewhere. 🙄
Looking at the 'Hooked Bowing' made me realize how the 'Up-driven Bow' (usually talked about for Scottish Strathsbey fiddle music) relates to this thread! I've seen it described a couple different ways, but ALWAYS - the multiple notes on the 1 bow stroke are NOT even, NOT evenly emphasized.
Seen it written about several places, but this (The Driven Bow?) also mentions "The Arrow Stroke" - anyone heard of it?
It's not unusual to see Alasdair Fraser using FOUR notes to a stroke AND an 'Up-driven Bow', but it seems to be called a 'Swinging Bow' stroke (starts approx 1:40)... when it doesn't have the 'drive' (?)
Anyway, the notes vary in length, attack/decay & speed/volume.
I have more feeling of 'pulse' when the notes are not all the same.
...thoughts?
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.... I still want to think of 'pulse' asstressed beats in a rhythm - whereas I believe it's "supposed to mean" the evenly-spaced beats, in music.
its all that. And i feel that its a combination of things that will achieve that. could even be the tune dna.. the fun pqrt is trying to figure it out. reels will be different than jigs.. obviously but its there and hard to pin down by using one method.
i just think the video in post 1 of this is very important to all.. especially in certain tune types like reels.
😞 idk, to me there ought to be a difference between every beat & a pulse -
well yeah..exactly...or theres no difference in sound and feel anywhere in a tune.
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@ELCBK said
....
btw, the Laurel Swift video in your OP is excellent. Wish it had been made a few years earlier, so I could've seen it before I picked up a bow for the 1st time (had to learn it on my own). 😊
hmmm... i dont agree with the emphasised quote there. Theres a difference between learning on your own and an independent learner. with all the internet resources i dont feel there are any learning on own anymore.
learning on ones own would be picking up a violin and just figuring it out until youre making music. once you have some type of input from another human...in person, online, book...whatever youve moved into another category.
EDIT..
I will agree that it helps to have direct input specific to oneself... BUT.. thats available here with the critique and questions about post. so youre not alone there in that regard either. but it requires being willing to do that. also with zoom and online workshops.. things are at a point that nobody really is alone learning stuff. may not make sense withput being able to ask questions in real time but thats the nature of online vs in person.
its also difficult to manage multiple styles/generes. I found it helpful sticking to one thing for a bit. do i think i havee something to learn from other styles/music..yes. but something needs to be a focus or it all runs together and seems condritictory.
MORE EDIT ON LUNCH 🙂... well additional thought after reading closer
Looking at the 'Hooked Bowing' made me realize how the 'Up-driven Bow' (usually talked about for Scottish Strathsbey fiddle music) relates to this thread! I've seen it described a couple different ways, but ALWAYS - the multiple notes on the 1 bow stroke are NOT even, NOT evenly emphasized.
i mean its no different than what i was getting at in th O.P. i called it pulse bowing.. make a name up and or spend time finding one that fits... but my thought was ..WHERE we slur...how many notes...and the emphasis on the notes as we slur combined over a tune gives it its feeling. for reels like Kevin Burke teaches 3 up 3 down 2 detached.. those 3 up are slurred 3 down slur.. in the middle give the bow that squeeze talked about in Lauras video. 3 down 3 up could work too.. or other combinations.. point of this edit is..its not just a hook bowing in strathespy thing! its a great addition to the topic for sure but wanted to make sure thats common even in irish reels and possibly missing from the equation? idk.. i guess why i brought it up. 🤔
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@ABitRusty -
I respect your opinion & TOTALLY AGREE with your last edit!
Five years ago, I may not have known where to look, but I felt there was only a fraction of the online help compared to what's available today - the Fiddlerman tutorials & forum ARE important help.
Some of this bowing may be seen more in certain genres, but I certainly don't see why it makes a difference. These bowings are related to each other & All are great means of expression to learn. I think it's in the nature of playing a Fiddle - Fiddlers WANT to be expressive and (like you said) it's easier to learn more, today. Traditions change over time, and I think even session playing will, too.
You already know I see my learning to play music in different genres as being a 'plus', not a negative... they re-enforce my awareness of rhythm, fingerings/intonation & bowing expression - while keeping me freshly motivated. I do understand most of us here don't have a whole lot of time for practicing EVERYTHING & priorities must be made, but I always think there's something to gain just by 'trying' new things in music - even just once.
It's been extremely enjoyable to look at how ALL the videos in this thread relate to each other - how slightly different approaches to playing multiple notes on one bow stroke can make such a HUGE difference. I spent a little time practicing them (even ones, too) & will see if I can work more into what I'm playing - maybe even something different for my 'Wistful Thinking'. 😊
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fair enough. 😀 i know you like them all and get joy from it so all that matters there. i know youve just said things like "..i may be screwed up... " lately and from here seemed like you were searching for an equivelent bowing description from classical or another genre to have it make sense. honestly thought we wernt discussing anything new so i was a little confused that you were not following me... just was giving options and what i decided for myself. and also take the blame for being confusing in the whole bow pulse.. its more than ONE pulse..lol. think weve beat it to death again now..🤪🙄
as for me..
I found it difficult to memorize the melodies and things going from one to another. Here, we have an option to do alot more than irish. Old time, bluegrass, jazz, classical. i mean.. i could be at the music place daily if i wanted... money reasons aside..i felt like all i was doing is spinning my wheels on whatever i was doing at that specific time. then when the next time rolled around to do some event or whatever in another style ..couldnt remember the tunes. constantly felt like i was relearning.
since deciding on just one...my feeling of progress has really been there. especially tune learning. i guess it could also be time ive been at it. 6 or 7 years now ive owned a violin.. i dont think its fair to say ive been playing that long though due to life. dont know how many actually hours of violin in hand i have.
now its a lesson maybe every 4 months... a group class maybe once a month.. and a session.. once or twice..a month. keeps my foot in the door and such. wish could do more. maybe in a few years ill be a full time student 
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I usually know where you are coming from, but yeah - sometimes one of us changes direction.
...pulsed to death. 🤭
It's okay, just makes it stick in my mind, on my fiddle, the walls, ceiling, the floor... on Madmartigan (don't know where Bugsy is).
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so this is a good one to do a side by side scottish to irish comparison of same tune. the irish version gets played here from time to time and one im trying to learn... farewell to Ireland btw. think the slur bow pulse that im thinking is in the irish version. the scottish seems more down bow centric and has flick type ornaments. a guess on my part. idk though.
this outta be good for a couple days worth of back and forth...😇🤣
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