"Wasn't that a great session?"

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:06 am

Emphatically, no it wasn't. It was a bloody awful mess.

Last month I walked out on a session....'MY' session....the one I'd been going to and playing at for 4 years (good lord...almost 5 now!). Since Eddie Burke has been ill, there have been only 4 solid melody players, two or three of us who can handle melody on a portion of the tunes, and on that particular day, 4 people clacking away on bones, 3 guitars being strummed as loudly as the players could manage, 4 drums being thumped, and the 2 late comers who play melody instruments, but random (usually ignorable if you're not sitting next to them) notes.

After two sets I headed for the hills. I wouldn't go to the next session, and the one after that went but hung out and didn't play. Last night I went, had a modestly good time. Two bodhrans, one bones player, three guitars and a banjo...only three solid melody players and me on the occasional tune.

The bones player, whom I'd been muttering darkly about for 6 months, approached me after and tried to make amends. Yes, he had toned down the incessant clatter, but I'm not mollified. "I'm trying to learn" doesn't excuse rattling bones on every tune, regardless of the tempo, rhythm or number of people playing the TUNE. "Why didn't you talk to me about it?" doesn't explain why he hadn't learned from three other people speaking politely to him.

And of course none of that helps deal with the other 8 or 9 people clacking, thumping and strumming for all they're worth. Hey, I'm no great shakes myself. Maybe I have no right to play either.

Just venting. . .take care all. . .
Tyg

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 3:56 pm

Tyghress wrote:2 late comers who play melody instruments, but random (usually ignorable if you're not sitting next to them) notes.

Tyg

Hi, I'm knew to this particular forum (and I can't buy any lunch 'cause mummy tied the knot in my handkerchief too tightly and now my money's stuck inside it

)

Yeah....I know the feeling, although I gave up on sessions because they were dominated by 1 fiddler and one banjo player who knew probably a thousand tunes between them, but hardly played tunes that anybody else knew.

Anyway, on the subject of random notes, I wonder, if you had a thousand monkeys all playing random notes, would you eventually end up with a perfect session?

Cheers,
DavidG

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 6:38 pm

Tyghress wrote:
4 people clacking away on bones,
3 guitars being strummed as loudly as the players could manage,
4 drums being thumped,
2 late comers who play melody instruments, but random (usually ignorable if you're not sitting next to them) notes.

Hey, vent away. Bad things happen when steam isn't vented.

So you had 4 boneheads.... that's 4 too many.
And 3 strummers strumming... that's 3 too many.
4 drummers thumping... that's again 4 too many.
and 2 late comers plinking.

Sounds like you've entered....

The Twilight Zone Session

A land where sessions - even good ones - go to die.

Jeff Stallard · Post by **Jeff Stallard** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:51 am

If it makes you fell any better, SOME bodhrani learn from sessions like that. I used to thump away with two or three other bodhran (of course, we had six or seven melody players...), but after a few sessions of that, I quickly realized that it was too much. I now put the bodhran down if it looks like there are going to be too many, meaning more than one in most cases. So yeah, even as a bodhrani, I feel your pain, particularly about the bones. I've never liked those things. I can just imagine how FOUR of them would sound. OY!

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:41 am

Let's hope your cure is contagious!

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 3:19 pm

Open sessions are problematic. Part of my irritation with bad sessions is that sessions are performances by default, and it makes me die inside when the punters have to listen to what comes off as a preschool music activities period where everyone is making inchoate happy noises, and the patrons came hoping to hear good trad music, or something approaching it, instead. Fortunately the offenders seldom come to sessions, which is a paradox. Regular attendance MIGHT get them hearing better what works and what doesn't (never mind the arrogance of stopping by four times a year and expecting to be accommodated because they have a guitar or bones in tow), but I doubt it. More than one such has admitted that they don't listen to the music very much at all. One lady comes by now and again with her guitar, and if she doesn't know the tune, it doesn't matter. Example: we were starting The Frieze Breeches (I knew there'd be trouble, then), and she was plonking away in A minor or something with this confused "I'm not getting this" look on her face (should that not be a clue right there to stop flailing around and actually LISTEN to where the tune's going, first?). I leaned over and said, "It's D Mixolydian", so she started doing D/Cnat changes at random. It wasn't any better.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 5:29 pm

I am probably going to ruffle a few feathers here, but IMO, any session held in a public place (especially a pub) is asking for trouble if they do not want a bunch of learner/Ginger Baker wannabes. Holding closed sessions in a public house is an exercise in futility within the theatre of the absurd. To avoid these problems, and maintain a good playing/session experience (I have said this a few times before), closed sessions ought to be held in a private residence. The idea here being QUALITY CONTROL. I am not overly fond of sessions, and even less fond of those who hold them in public houses but disdain the public.

Azalin · Post by **Azalin** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:40 am

Hmmm, after reading this thread, I gotta admit that sessions here in Montreal arent that bad after all. Well, they could be worse. At least there's usually only one guitar player playing along, and one bodhran player. The guitar and bodhran players will *usually* take turns, because they've been told before and they learned not to offend people. Also, a very good fiddler friend of mine often solves the problem by being very dominant sometimes, and asking other people around him to extend the set with extra tunes. I think this might sound arrogant but this is a very efficient way of keeping the session at a certain level and not letting it fall to chaos.

I'll tell you, my worse session in the past four weeks was in Feakle, in East Clare (Ireland) where this guy showed up in the session with his DRUMS, but when I say drums I mean drums, he had his tripod and had his two sticks, and would hammer at it and make everyone wish they were a little further away from him. I'm sure doctors around Feakle are gonna make a fortune with earing loss treatments in the next few years.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:44 am

And you said while you were over you wanted to see a real Irish Ceili band. And then you get cross when you get a taste of it

Azalin · Post by **Azalin** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 12:10 pm

Well, believe it or not, I didnt know drums were being played in irish ceili bands! There's a few ceilis in here, but we'd never imagine having drums in them. Also, I was at a ceili two years ago in Miltown, Martin Hayes being one of the musicians playing on stage, and there were no drummers as far as I can remember. So this drum thing is a cultural shock for me, I might never recover from it

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 12:38 pm

You probably missed that, very unlikely the Tulla would play without a drummer

note Martin Hayes was still playing the banjo in this pic

( also in the Pic : JC Talty, Martin Vaughan, George Byrt, P Joe Hayes, Michael Murphy and, I think, Jack McDonnell and Mattie Ryan)

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 1:38 pm

That's a great photo of Martin. Hmmmmmm, blackmail possibilities?

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 1:42 pm

Nice pic Peter.
I was listening to Ceili House on RTE Radio last night and the drummer boys were out in force. I often wondered what those boys thought when they heard people like Buddy Rich or Ginger Baker....?

Slan,
D.

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 10:13 pm

Joseph E. Smith wrote:I am probably going to ruffle a few feathers here, but IMO, any session held in a public place (especially a pub) is asking for trouble if they do not want a bunch of learner/Ginger Baker wannabes. Holding closed sessions in a public house is an exercise in futility within the theatre of the absurd. To avoid these problems, and maintain a good playing/session experience (I have said this a few times before), closed sessions ought to be held in a private residence. The idea here being QUALITY CONTROL. I am not overly fond of sessions, and even less fond of those who hold them in public houses but disdain the public.

A closed session in a private residence? I must disagree. I hold sessions in my home on a schedule that could be considered irregular at best.
However, if I were to refuse to invite any and all comers, myself and those in attendance (I dare say) would have missed out on some real performance gems.

If anything, a closed session (with some reasonable admission for known-quality musicians) is necessary in a pub/restaurant venue when you consider that these musicians are in the place of someone's business... how would you feel if you were the pub owner and a mass ensemble of poor-quality musicians kept showing up? You'd wonder what happened to the 'usual crowds' went... until you realized it was the bad music keeping them away.

I've seen for myself how fast bad entertainment can destroy an otherwise good pub/restaurant. It's a long story, but it happened during Willie Clancy week.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 2:28 am

Maybe it's just me but 'performance' and 'entertainment'(for an audience) are words that I would not at all associate with what a session is about.

Chiff and Fipple Forums

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