I.D.10-t wrote:Nanohedron wrote:I mean, it's not like that's all there'll be for the rest of the session thereafter.
It makes me wonder what a well rounded play list would include. The best D.J.s at dances that I have been to did not limit themselves to one style and were able to control the crowd with their music.
But you're comparing apples to oranges, here.
Putting aside the question of WHAT kind of session it is (and that counts), a session is a session and a performance is a performance, a session being a social occasion (and performance only by default). In the same vein, woe betide the performer(s) who are disengaged from their audience. A performer ought to read the audience if possible and play to the general vibe as it unfolds and, as you have noted, be good for inducing some mood swings, too. Thing is, some nights that's just not gonna happen no matter how good you are.
Edit: performing - actual performing, not sessioning - for the sake of providing incidental, ambient music is another thing, though, I think. There's little pressure to engage the audience so directly, although some sense of what's appropriate for the occasion is called for. Just my 2 cents. YYMV.
But to the idea of a well-rounded playlist at an ITM session: I guess it's not the sort of thing that ever concerned me in the sense of what one
ought to do, since it's about the people in the thick of it, not the people listening at the periphery. Last night, for example, things morphed for a while into an exploration and dusting-off of tunes long-forgot, and at another point hornpipes got particularly extended play, which you don't come across too often here. It was lovely.
So far as local ITM sessions go (and I can only speak for those), some nights are reelier. Some nights are jiggier. Some nights are a big tossed salad. None are better than the other, IMO. It's all about the group dynamic, after all.
I
can tell you that among those listeners who are
really paying attention to a session (and there are familiar faces), there's a definite sense of curiosity as to how the session will unfold for that evening, 'cause it's a living thing on its own terms. That's part of the delight of the phenomenon, and it baffles me that some people just don't get that. Incidental listeners respond as the music grabs 'em. And that's okay.
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
By the way, you are going to show up in Catskills, right? I think it's time.
