Chiff and Fipple Forums

I stopped playing music and going to sessions for about six months, give or take a few instances where I did get the pipes out. Stuff happened. I didn't want to play anymore. Overall, not a part of the scene.

I missed the music, thought I'd maybe get back in. I went to a couple sessions that were of a decent standard musically, tried to chat to people, played along to tunes I knew but otherwise remained unobstrusive. The things you're supposed to do at a strange session. I'm not Jarlath Henderson, but I'm not a bad player. I'm not going to b*gger up your session. Nonetheless, I did not get the time of day from the session leaders. Not even a little. I know, I know, if you show up week after week, show good session etiquette, they might start talking to you. Yay. But I thought, I have better things to do than deal with that BS. How hard is it to say hello and ask a newcomer if they would like to start a tune. Does not take a great amount of social skills.

I left thinking the session scene isn't for me anymore. I've no time for the morass of politics associated with it.

Every session is going to be different, so I don't think this experience can be applied to all sessions in general. Also, if this is a one time experience then your conclusion might be a bit hasty. There could be a million different reasons why they didn't speak to you, depending on a lot of variables that no one here would be aware of. For many people it might be more about the enjoyment of playing music with others, rather than about socializing.

However, if you don't like playing music, then simply don't, as there is no reason to spend time doing something that doesn't bring you enjoyment. I find this a bit of a strange thing though, as I can't imagine not wanting to play music, whether it be by myself or with others. Sessions don't have to be the be-all-end-all of music playing if they aren't to your liking, though. If you want to play with others but don't enjoy the environment of local sessions, then get a friend or three together to play at the house and have your own session. Or just have some tunes by yourself, whatever makes you happy.

This is not the first time you cry out about this in public. I think we all have to find our own motivation, the reason why we play music, within ourselves. You probably know the story of Henry Bohannon that Séamus Ennis used to tell. 'Do you want to play music to please yourself or to please the others?'. The man in the story is unsatisfied by either and I think the story nicely sums up we have to strike a balance between being happy to play music for ourselves at times, finding the joy that comes from the music itself and the satisfaction of playing for or with others, occasionally bouncing ideas off others and getting inspired by the responses, sharing the satisfaction and joy we get when playing on our own.

Speaking for myself, I won't go rushing out to play with everyone and their dog, I enjoy playing on my own and occasionally playing with one or two friends I trust and have a rapport with rather than spending time in noisy busy environments like pubs. As I said, we all have to strike up some sort of balance that suits our own personality to keep going.

There is a proposed pipers club meeting on Feb 2nd at the Piping Centre - 7.30 to 9.00. That do you?.

David

Well, Mr. Spear, who was a fine fiddle player, was diagnosed with ALS/MND, and the music kind of lost its joy after that. Who would want to play anymore? It's the worst thing to see, someone losing their abilities to do absolutely everything. I put the pipes away for awhile. Then I thought I could find my way back to it through the connections and the buzz you get from a good session. I guess not. Not in this city at this time anyway. The scene was different a few years ago, but it is what it is.

I might be able to make the 2nd. We'll see.