Song of the Bow Archery

Song of the Bow Archery Stories from a competition archer, instructor, and historical reenactor. Currently competing in Barebow Recurve, Traditional Recurve, and Modern Longbow.

Classes and lessons available at linktr.ee/songofthebow
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He’s an amazing speed shooter and trick shot artist. He’s advising films and getting bigger paychecks than I ever will. ...
09/03/2026

He’s an amazing speed shooter and trick shot artist. He’s advising films and getting bigger paychecks than I ever will. But…

There is no research. It’s a Google search of images that align with his branding. They’re from various countries and different centuries entirely, without the context of it being a depiction of war, sport, or Cupid pranking people.

He’s combining techniques from multiple cultures for efficiency (which many of us do) but saying ‘This is exactly how EVERYONE did it!’ This is saying modern MMA was used in 1800s Japan….because jujitsu was refined into judo, which reached Brazil becoming BJJ, which became a MMA staple in the 1990s.

Worst of all, he says the ‘true art’ of combat archery was lost to history and that he somehow found it. Except for a few tragic cases of cultural destruction, nothing was ‘lost.’ Lars didn’t find a Lost Ark of European archery techniques, he’s doing Arabian archery which has been continuously practiced and taught for centuries.

I wish Lars stuck to being an awesome archer. His lore has new archers struggling with techniques they don’t know the true context for, and believing lore that robs cultures of their REAL history.

Today’s post has been made possible by contributions to your archery instructor from viewers like you.
09/01/2026

Today’s post has been made possible by contributions to your archery instructor from viewers like you.

08/31/2026

I hear this oddly often when people find my page and see where I live and teach. Ironically, it’s the folks in the near suburbs who tell me they won’t see the new Mean Girls musical without an armored car and an Apache helicopter escort.

I swore I’d never make this page about pop culture, memes, or ‘people I don’t know’ who happen to be famous. Mrs. Parton...
08/27/2026

I swore I’d never make this page about pop culture, memes, or ‘people I don’t know’ who happen to be famous. Mrs. Parton has chosen to ignore that rule, like many others.

There’s something about me that always weighed me down as I traveled the world, climbed the corporate ladder, and explored historical martial arts. I didn’t come from their world. My family worked hard for a living, South enough from Chicago to have an accent. I was raised ‘Al’ or ‘Big Al’ as a joke about my smaller stature. My best Friday nights were spent playing pool at an American Legion while my mom sang karaoke.

And no matter if we were at the Legion or in the car, everyone had to shut up if Dolly came on. She’s one of twelve children just like my mother is. And studying for my Masters in nonprofit management, I wrote term papers about how she was the greatest American philanthropist since Carnegie. As much as I hide my roots to fit into where my life landed, that woman’s journey from dirt-floor poor to directly raising American literacy rates is near Biblical to me.

And every single archery class for the 800+ students I’ve taught…I broke my robotic, professional demeanor to make a Dolly Parton joke as I explained how people with larger chests can adapt their draw. I figured if there was one person who wouldn’t mind making the joke, it was her.

I start a new class next week, and I am genuinely worrying about whether I retire the joke out of mature respect. Or…if she’d tell me to keep telling it, throw some more flair into my look, and give people a happy memory.

08/25/2026

I know you’re all just here for my main content as an archer…But as a person, this is a story and sound you need to hear.

More than a decade ago, some friends brought me to Bristol Renaissance Faire for the first time. As I was wandering around in a tee shirt and a cheap black kilt, I distinctly remember hearing the lyrics of an old Celtic ballad I’d heard hundreds of times… But it sounded unlike anything else on Earth. I walked over to see three people dressed as ambiguously carnivorous mermaids doing haunting symphonic melodies as they slapped conga drums for the backbeat. The stage was just a wooden floor and benches next to a lily pond, but they sounded like they’d escaped from an elite opera hall. Ancient songs, resurrected with instrumentals from around the world and vocals that seemed to stop everyone in their tracks. I bought a couple CDs, thinking I found my new favorite show… And I never saw them again.

My first year at Faire was their last at Bristol, but it was my gateway to music genres I’ve loved ever since. I kept following Sirena - The Sirens online along with their side band Valkyrik , even using one song as my morning alarm during lockdown to start my day with hope. Later on they crossed talent with Music the Gathering, whose ‘historical prog rock’ aimed for the heart instead of the algorithm. Seeing them at Bristol later on, I caught every show from the same back bench I’d seen Sirena.

But let’s move a few hundred feet North of that stage, and cut to the present day. All the bands I mentioned have joined to form sämäs, and they rocked Bristol’s world all this weekend. And thanks to pure luck or possibly a divine favor, they played on the stage next to the booth I manage. I will never forget how their trademark song synced perfectly as I was teaching a patron to draw a heavy longbow. I timed my breaks to sit in fully for a couple shows, and watching their final show with my partner and niece was the highlight of my year.

Give them a listen, sometimes a sound really can brighten a life.

08/25/2026

C’mon. You’re wondering the same thing.

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