Calling out tunes in a session

[whistleboy]

Here's the situation. I was repremanded at last night's session by an individual who took offense that I started a tune without calling out the tune name first. He said I lacked common courtesy. Mind you it was a tune set that we play every time this session meets and everyone knows the tunes. This person is also the one in the group that sets up his music stand and music every time we meet and has been playing in the session for as many years as I have (10+ years now). I have been to probably 25 - 30 different sessions across the US and it seems like 1) most of the players just start a tune and the others join in as they recognize the tune, 2) tune names are reserved for the end of the set, if they are even known at all ("Hey, what was the name of that second tune in the set"), and 3) nobody has their nose stuck in sheet music for tunes they have been playing for 10+ years and/or wouldn't even be aloud to set up a music stand in the middle of a session in the first place.

So after my rather lengthly rant, my question is...

Is this similar to your session experience as well?
How do tunes get started in your sessions?
How would you have handled this situation?

Thanks for your responses!

-Clay

[Nanohedron]

Here's the situation. I was repremanded at last night's session by an individual who took offense that I started a tune without calling out the tune name first. He said I lacked common courtesy. Mind you it was a tune set that we play every time this session meets and everyone knows the tunes. This person is also the one in the group that sets up his music stand and music every time we meet and has been playing in the session for as many years as I have (10+ years now). I have been to probably 25 - 30 different sessions across the US and it seems like 1) most of the players just start a tune and the others join in as they recognize the tune, 2) tune names are reserved for the end of the set, if they are even known at all ("Hey, what was the name of that second tune in the set"), and 3) nobody has their nose stuck in sheet music for tunes they have been playing for 10+ years and/or wouldn't even be aloud to set up a music stand in the middle of a session in the first place.

So after my rather lengthly rant, my question is...

Is this similar to your session experience as well?
How do tunes get started in your sessions?
How would you have handled this situation?

Thanks for your responses!

-Clay

Dunno. Was it an Irish Traditional session? If so, I think the one with the objection was being needlessly peevish and self-serving, especially as he uses sheet music and a stand. That is not a norm at all. That sort of thing gets dark looks and snide mutterings among my crowd if it's an intermediate-to-advanced session. Not that I'd behave so ungraciously, of course.

Hereabouts, we usually just wait to hear what tune is next if it's not necessarily a familiar set. Sometimes - not often - someone calls out tune names on the fly. Sometimes we agree upon a set before playing it either by listing names, or just as often, diddling or playing opening phrases. But what if you, or others, don't know the name, or have forgotten it, but know the tune inside and out? In terms of that, announcing names might be a courtesy, but I don't consider it a pillar of session etiquette on a practical basis. It just can't be done all the time. It's unreasonable to expect that.

How would I have handled it? To repeat, I don't know. For me, context is everything. Maybe a reasonably convincing, if insincere, "Sorry about that; I'll try to do better next time," would do the trick. Of course, maybe there's no premium in it for you to need to be convincing whatever palliatives you let pass your lips, if you follow.

But constructively, the previous-agreement method would probably be best to forestall tantrums. But if the dots-player can't go by diddling when there's no choice, what can you do? It can't be ALL about him, after all.

[Wanderer]

1) most of the players just start a tune and the others join in as they recognize the tune, 2) tune names are reserved for the end of the set, if they are even known at all ("Hey, what was the name of that second tune in the set"), and 3) nobody has their nose stuck in sheet music for tunes they have been playing for 10+ years and/or wouldn't even be aloud to set up a music stand in the middle of a session in the first place.

These have been my experiences as well.

My guess is the guy was upset at his own failings concerning knowing the tunes and took it out on you.

(edits because I failed my quote skill check)

[Nanohedron]

Yep.

[Cathy Wilde]

And if he isn't embarrassed about not knowing a tune he's been hearing for yonks, he ought to be!

[sbhikes]

I heard that way back before I ever heard of the session around here that sheet music was the way they did it but eventually the group split up over the issue.

You can still go and see the sheet music/call out the tune folks on certain nights and the regular start up a tune and people jump in, folks on other nights. The sheet music folks are not an open session anymore, though.

[alurker]

Sometimes it is appropriate or pleasant to have a brief chat about tunes before launching into them. Outside of Ireland my experience is that there is a tendency to rush into the next set of tunes. My personal preference is for more pre-set and post-set savouring and discussion of the tunes and other topics (e.g. do you know that Charlie Lennon one that goes like *play couple of bars* etc.). If you play more-or-less the same sets every week it is probably unnecessary.

Personally I would take with a grain of salt any session etiquette advice I received from someone who has a music stand in front of them. In the presence of some seasoned session musicians I have played with over the years, such an individual would be well advised to keep their council lest they end up wearing their music stand as a scarf.

[s1m0n]

Sometimes a gracious smile and "I beg your pardon!" is the most useful response in a lot of situations, whatever the rights or wrongs.

[anniemcu]

We try to remember to announce the tune so that the less experienced folks can locate it in their brains or their books, but ours is an open session that includes beginners to seasoned folk, so that may be a bit different than yours. It is a courtesy for those who are not yet caught up enough in the tradition to just pick it up and run. I know I sure appreciate it when folks remember to tell us what it is before they launch into it. It helps me decide which instrument II'll be playing and whether I need a crutch or not.

[Ro3b]

I'd suggest to this person that he grow up and learn to play by ear. After ten years the training wheels really need to come off.

I do consider it a courtesy to call the key or mode of the tune I'm going into if there's somebody playing accompaniment, but that's mainly for the sake of making smooth transitions.

[meemtp]

Just tell hime he's a tosser...

or what Rob says...

[colomon]

What it comes down to is this. Calling out tune names is never going to be standard in sessions, because the best players simply do not know the names of many of the tunes they play. Not to mention names are frequently only loosely attached to tunes anyway -- lots of tunes with more than one name, lots of names with more than one tune, lots of tunes with no name at all.

And really, in a normal session, if you do not know a tune well enough to recognize it when you hear it, you probably shouldn't be playing it. Though I don't know how polite it is to rub someone's nose in that.

Incidentally, I think I've run into more sessions where the standard practice is to let the person who started a tune play it all the way through once by his or herself than sessions that normally call out names. I've always assumed the idea was to completely hear the tune the person was playing and how he was playing it, since there can be many different versions of tunes. (For instance, I love a number of tunes which in the olden days were played AAB, but lots of younger players play them AABB. With something like that, listening once through before playing can stop a train wreck.)

[Redwolf]

I must admit, it would be nice to have people call out the key or the starting note from time to time! Even with tunes I've known for years, I sometimes draw a blank on how to start them (especially if we've just played a similar tune and it's still running through my head), but getting my fingers positioned for the first note helps a lot.

Redwolf

[whistleboy]

Thanks all for your responses. Sounds like I'm not complete off the "Etiquette scale". Just a little low on the "Courtesy Scale". Just so you know, I forgot to mention that in this particular session most of the tune names are typically called out first. I guess I was just trying to liven things up a bit instead of the mundane "OK you play this now...then we'll play this...then we'll play this" sort of feel. Spontaneity is so refreshing IMHO.

-Clay

[Nanohedron]

My personal preference is for more pre-set and post-set savouring and discussion of the tunes and other topics (e.g. do you know that Charlie Lennon one that goes like *play couple of bars* etc.).

I like that, too. Keep it relaxed, mix it up. It's a social event, after all, and there's often something to learn that way.

Incidentally, I think I've run into more sessions where the standard practice is to let the person who started a tune play it all the way through once by his or herself than sessions that normally call out names. I've always assumed the idea was to completely hear the tune the person was playing and how he was playing it, since there can be many different versions of tunes. (For instance, I love a number of tunes which in the olden days were played AAB, but lots of younger players play them AABB. With something like that, listening once through before playing can stop a train wreck.)

Not a bad idea. While I admire it for a number of reasons, I don't think it'd catch on hereabouts, though; we Twin Citians are a bit too savage, I fear, and the occasional train-wrecks are instead cause for much hilarity.