I play both trad and modern music. When I go to a jam (as opposed to a session), I can join in on many tunes, play backup (I play flute), improvised instrumental breaks, harmonies, etc. If the jam features music I like, whether original or popular, I almost always have a good time, and spend much more time playing than not playing.
At sessions, you must know the tunes, subscribe to the etiquette of the specific session, contend with attitudes about bodhrans, guitars, etc., and contend with the level of musicianship. Sessions, IMO, are very hit-or-miss, and when they miss, they can be very depressing.
As I continue to read posts on THE SESSION and this site, I find myself wondering how others feel about the two paragraphs above. I would like to hear from musicians who consider themselves fairly proficient, and have attended enough sessions to feel like they have a solid opinion on this subject.
Seems like a fair assessment to me, though my memory of the local jazz club’s open mic night was that our friend who was a fine jazz singer (has since released two albums) was scared silly of violating the etiquette there, too.
The thing about an Irish session is that it is composed of human beings. Some people are there because they want to have fun making music with other people. Some are there to show how amazingly cool they are. Some are only there because they’re getting paid. Some people are pretty lousy musicians, some are brilliant, and a decent percentage of both groups have no idea how good they really are. You mix that all together and add a few layers of politics, and you have a session.
Guitars and bodhrans are a special case, because they both give the impression that you can play along with any tune easily. As a result, it is very common to see clueless beginners walk into an advanced session and try to play along with everything – and usually when they do that, they don’t actually know enough about the music to play along with any of the tunes! The damage a clueless beginner can do on a melody instrument is very limited, simply because he will not know the vast majority of the tunes. The damage a clueless beginner can do on guitar or bodhran is nearly infinite.
Your two paragraphs are obviously true to your experience, but the first has no relevance to people like myself who play Irish traditional music but do not play jazz/pop styles. The first paragraph could just as well have been about Chinese music, or Bluegrass, or Arabic music, or any other form of music that I do not play.
Sessions are what they are, and people that want to play Irish traditional music in its traditional setting attend the best session they can find in their area.
That’s why it’s probably best to approach the session as a social event first and leave musical hopes in your pocket. Which isn’t to say that one still won’t have frustrating times, but they ought to be more bearable, and the best times will be made even better with socialising being given its proper due.
Of course, some people are just shy; it’s taken me years to open up, and even then sometimes I’m still at a loss for tunes AND wit. But on the days when the music isn’t at its best, I might as well try to have a good time anyway, as there I am, after all. No use brooding.
I’ve heard tell of sessions - in the U.S., I presume - where the social thing is almost nonexistent, but I’ve never been to one.
Part of the difference lies with the nature of the music. Irish music isn’t generally improvisational, except in maybe a small-scale, honor-the-melody way. So if you’re going to sit down and play Irish music with a bunch of people, yeah, you’d damn well better know the tunes, because there’s nothing else for you to play. And if you’re trying play accompaniment and you don’t know the piece of music you’re accompanying, you’re doomed. I believe this holds true in just about all kinds of music, not just Irish.
What kind of “modern music” do you play? Rock, jazz, blues, or what? I can’t think of any kind of music that doesn’t require a bit of prior knowledge before you wade in and start playing. If I were to try to play at a jam session of accomplished jazz musicians without knowing how to improvise over changes, or (much worse!) if I were to play accompaniment at such a session without taking the trouble to know the piece of music, I’d deserve to be thrown out. Why should Irish music be any different? Why is this so hard to understand?
I play Irish traditional music. Before I started playing the music over 15 years ago, I listened to the music and danced to it. Indeed, the years of listening and dancing were what made me decide that I wanted to learn to play the music myself. I went to sessions as a listener long before I ever picked up a flute. I came to sessions as a relatively new player and sat there listening more than playing, but I was also learning - about the music, how to play it, and the whole culture and etiquette of the music, both in my local area and elsewhere. I learned the universal rules of the session and the local variations thereof. I made a few mistakes along the way, wrong notes on the flute and wrong moves in the context of the session. But I learned from those mistakes too. I made a lot of friends, and surprisingly very few enemies along the way.
So now, when I want to play ITM with my friends or friends-to-be who also play ITM, I go to a session. When I feel the need for a good jam, I head to Whole Foods (or better yet, a farmer’s market) and pick one up. I don’t always have a great time at the session, but the odds are much better that I will if no one shows up that night with an instrument in hand, looking to “jam” with us. (Although sometimes it can be quite fun, in a snarky sort of way, to talk about people like that at future sessions, weeks, months and even years later - provided of course that they don’t keep coming back and destroying the session, no matter how much they are ignored, shunned or even shouted at when they do.)
Look at it this way; If you were a recreational or even a professional card player, would you expect to be able to walk into a high-stakes poker game and play bridge, just because they’re using the same 52 cards you do? I doubt it. So why, if you are a recreational or even a professional musician would you expect to be able to walk into an Irish music session and play any old way you feel like playing, just because you have an instrument and they’re playing in the same twelve-tone Western tonality that you do? If you expect to waltz into a situation like that, be welcomed with open arms and have a great time, I really have to wonder where you get that expectation from. On the other hand, I’ve rarely seen a session that will shun a newcomer who has the right attitude toward the music and is willing to learn, whether they eventually end up becoming a player or not. Of course there are some rude and cliquish people in the session scene, just as there are in life in general. But most of whatever reputation Irish music and the session in particular may have for being that way comes from people who really don’t have a clue about the music and are trying to enforce their own expectations onto it. In the session as well as in any other aspect of life, that can never turn out well.
Just to be clear - I am making observations, as opposed to complaining or suggesting that anything change. Some aspects could, of course, improve, but sessions are what they are. I am just looking to see if what I see is shared by others.
The modern stuff I play includes 60s rock and roll, folk, and blues. I love to do head arrangements to a singer-songwriter’s work. I’ve made some great friendships by expanding the sound from simple guitar accompaniment on the fly. Songwriters love to hear the potential of their tunes, so it is a mutually satisfying experience.
BTW, I have played around southern Ireland and in York, and my experience is that the English and Irish take themselves far less seriously than session players in California. Make of that what you will.
One of my goals going into a session is to not play too much. I like to listen, and that’s part of the reason I go. I don’t know how this relates to the jams you go to; listening without playing may or may not be a goal there.
Anyhow, it’s my theory that the difference between a good session and a bad session is that in the bad ones everyone tries to play every tune, whether or not they know it. I even wrote a handbook on how to ruin a session.
There are other ways to have a bad session, too – people who abuse the chance to start tunes can drag things downhill quickly as well. I’m thinking of the fiddler starting his fourth super-complex Scott Skinner hornpipe in a bizarre key, or the border piper going for 20 minutes in a row without pausing long enough for anyone else to start a tune…
I am an Irish musician so your first paragraph is not applicable to what I do.
Knowing the tunes and understanding the etiquette are session ‘musts’ but any musician with common sense should get that OK. Having played in sessions on four continents and extensively all around Ireland, I can honestly say that I have never heard anyone complain about a good session bodhran player or guitarist. The ‘attitudes’ that exist about bodhrans and guitars relate to those instruments as they are played by bad session musicians (although not necessarily by bad musicians). More often than not, it is good guitarists and bodhran players who have the strongest opinions about bad bodhran and guitar playing.
I have similarly never seen anyone in a session complain about someone of a low level of musicianship joining in if they do so using common sense (asking before joining in; listening more than playing; not bringing the instrument along until proficient enough to not detract from the music; playing only the tunes they know; playing quietly if unsure; not trying to start tunes they know every time there is a break; etc.). Every ITM musician needs to take their first step into a session and they are generally welcomed and encouraged if they approach in the correct manner.
In my experience most of the ‘miss’ sessions I have been to have been ‘misses’ due to the actions of one or two of those joining in. If a session is so bad that it gets depressing there is always the option to sit out and as Nano says, use it as an opportunity for social interaction. There is always a lot of opportunity for good music talk at bad music sessions.
I’m jealous of everyone who has had the opportunity to play in sessions on multiple continents…I’ve not left the county, let alone the continent, in far too long.
That said, I’ve played in several different cities east of KC (St. Louis, Baltimore, Atlanta, and some I’m sure I’m forgetting) and have always found a friendly welcome, nice folks, and a good time. Granted, I’ve not played anywhere west of Lawrence, Kansas, so who knows if the sessions go down hill the further west from Ireland you get.
I think a huge amount of your session experience is what you bring into it yourself. Session etiquette and rules have always been simple in my experience when visiting your non-home base session:
Always ask if you can sit in and don’t just plop down and play.
Only play tunes you know.
Be polite.
Hold off starting a tune until asked.
Be humble.
Using those 5 rules, along with making an advanced contact (using the Session, Folkjam or C&F as a source) to let someone know you’ll probably drop in, have led to a lot of fun evenings when I travel.
Are some sessions better than others? Absolutely, even the same session varies week by week, but if I’m not having fun it’s usually me that’s the problem.
I like listening to a tune I don’t know, so not playing all the time isn’t bad…I usually am trying to pick up the tune in my head so I can doodle on it later at home. I also like chatting with folks. I’ve met nice folks when I’m out of town, and had a good time meeting visitors to KC. A session without some chat time seems like a lesser thing in my opinion.
Good set of guidelines, Eric. I’ll expand on them with my own personal take, if I may:
Always ask if you can sit in and don’t just plop down and play.
Absolutely. And tell them something of yourself, too.
Only play tunes you know.
God, yes. But also check if others know them, too. At one session I started into some tunes that I assumed were pretty basic, and it turned out that they weren’t local fare.
Be polite.
But be willing to show a bit of wit, too, if you have the knack and know enough not to go overboard with it. At least be pleasant. Showing interest in others helps, too.
Hold off starting a tune until asked.
Yep. Once that formality is over, it’s probably okay to start occasional sets unasked.
My point number five was not meant to encourage groveling (playing the grovel walks is OK though ), but I’ve known a few players with egos that definitely did not help them fit into a new situation (both in ITM and other musical venues over the years).
I do find it interesting what tunes “everyone knows”…I’ve found it to vary quite a bit myself. I think that’s part of the fun of going to other sessions - there are always more tunes that “everyone knows” that I need to learn.
Eric’s 5 points as qualified by Nano make up about as good a set of guidelines for joining an unfamiliar session as I have seen. Level of musicianship has no effect on the relevance of these guidelines. All points apart from No. 2 become less important over time as the resident musicians get to know you and your playing. Once again, common sense should prevail.
IMHO, ego is the main pitfall for a good ITM muso joining a session. What is interesting is that most of the better musicians don’t tend to exibit much ego in a ‘new’ session environment.
This discussion brings to mind an odd scene at a festival I attended many moons ago. At a big gig/ceili in the main festival hotel I met up with two friends I hadn’t seen in a couple of years and we decided to slip away to a quiet corner for a few tunes. We played by ourselves for about half an hour and then over the next hour or so we were gradually joined by about 20 musicians including several really well-known pro. ITM musicians. What was interesting was that there was a recognition from everyone that they were joining ‘our session’ and each person joining followed the same set of rules outlined above, to the point of (our) embarrassment. It was down to the three of us to pick most tunes/sets and nobody else would start a tune until they were invited to do so by one of us. It is one thing encouraging a session newbie to play a tune, it is quite another when that person has been your musical hero for 10 years.
In my very limited experience, jams and sessions are apples and oranges, and both have their good and bad points. A jam is free and unpredictable, but can easily degenerate into chaos where no one is listening to anyone else. An ITM session is a group of people getting together to enjoy a specific style of music, usually played in a fairly specific way. Some people can find this repressive.
The series of Rocky Mountain Sessions we had a few (far too many) years ago were a combination of both, I’d say, with some great fun and friendship (and french toast and chowder and rock climbing and whistlemaking and elk roast and…) thrown in for good measure. Methinks we’re about due for another one.
But I digress. I like the five guidelines, as well, and Nano’s suggestions are right on, not just for sessions, but for new situations in general.
I heard a great quote about ego today. Margaret Thatcher once said, “Being powerful is a bit like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you probably aren’t.” Ditto being an accomplished musician.
I have only attended Irish sessions since about May and have only attended one bluegrass jam ever, just a couple weeks ago. I’m a beginner on any instrument and with both kinds of music.
With the Irish session you sit out completely if you don’t know the tunes and with the bluegrass jam you play backup so you never have to sit out. (I play a type of mountain dulcimer called a Strumstick. Never having to sit out is a blast and having such a quiet instrument as a dulcimer helps when you are as clueless as me.) It gets depressing sometimes at the Irish session to sit out tune after tune.
Ok, so at least I know enough to sit out. Still, not all sessions are horrible groups of crabby old geezers grumbling away about people who don’t know the tunes or whatever.
The last one I attended is a good example. It was somewhat sparsely attended. Many of the key tune-starters were either not there our out of commission. A few times people seemed at a loss what to play next. Suddenly they turned to me, beginner, relative newcomer, and asked me what I knew. I ended up teaching them a tune, probably playing it at a gratingly slow pace, and with enough mistakes that it must have driven them nuts. But they didn’t say anything mean. They were really nice.
They also slowed down for me when they noticed they were “showing off” and I couldn’t keep up. They didn’t want me to go home. They asked me what else I knew and told me to bring more tunes for them next time. It was very welcoming and friendly and it was nice they did so much to make me feel welcome.
I don’t expect it to be like that every time, but after you read all that stuff over on thesession.org and hear all the complaints and etiquette stuff if you are new to this you really get frightened and think good stuff like what I experienced the other night could never happen. I’ve been so frightened from the stories over there that I basically just slink in and slink out and try to stay unnoticed. But the folks at my session have been very persistent about making me sit inside the circle instead of outside and it was one of the session regulars that invited me to the bluegrass jam. They refuse to let me think sessions are like thesession.org!
Irish sessions are not for crabs! Thesession.org is for crabs.
Sessions are generally not like theSession.org! Your situation sounds much more like the norm than the exception to me. There is much knowledge “over there” but there is a lot of egotistical grandstanding too. There are moderate voices over there who are worth listening to and there are the crabs who seem to have fallen out with the whole of the human race and there are the big egos. The trick is to discriminate among 'em to find the jewels hidden in the crock of sh*te - no easy task, and I don’t want you to tell everyone what category you think I’m in either!
There is poetry in your style of writing.
Pleasure to read.
Irish trad is so structurally simple (only structurally so! mind you I’m not suggesting anything more!) I don’t see why a certain piece can’t combine group recital with jamming. For instance, instead of doing parts A and B a couple of times (or whatever) and moving on to the next piece, why not rounds with jamming. Say, Part A 3 times and then someone improvises (or VARIATES) and then goes back to part A after a few cycles of orginality and then we all do part B and then someone else, on the B type movemnet improvises a while and signals return to the fold by repating a or B and everyone takes up again.
The groundrules in jamming with a common pattern, is that you stick to the notes of the piece and you stick to the rhythm type.
And when someone takes a turn at improvisation (or VARIATION) and instead repeats part A, that signals that its time to come in togeyther now with part A a couple of times to finish this piece.
You wouldn’t want to to do this with every piece in the set, but one out of five would be nice?
(PS please don’t look up VARIATE in the dictionary - its a musician’s variation of VARY and only applied when you VARY something in a performance context. See also EBRIATE and EBRIATION …)
I know what you mean about the bluegrass, as I went to a bluegrass jam and they played the same tune for nearly ten minutes, giving a number of people solos.
An Irish session could do this if there were a number of people present who had nice versions/variations to the tune being played, who could present these one-at-a-time.
However, it’s just not how Irish music is done.
Keep in mind, also, that bluegrass is not traditional music but a 20th century commercial creation tinged with pop and jazz elements. I’m from Appalachia, my grandfather was a fiddler, and I have the deepest love for our traditional music, which is quite unlike bluegrass. I can listen to traditional Appalachian music for hours; my limit is reached with bluegrass in about 60 seconds. It would be the deepest pity if Irish music were to go down the bluegrass path.
Richie Blackmore 
