Session observations

[WyoBadger]

What a cool experience, Lurker.

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.

Tom

[sbfluter]

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.

[SteveShaw]

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!

[talasiga]

...
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.
......

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 ......)

[pancelticpiper]

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.

[Baglady]

It would be the deepest pity if Irish music were to go down the bluegrass path.

Sorry PP, it already has. Check out your local "Pub Band".
Here is our local entry: http://www.locklinroad.com/

As far as 'jamming' and 'sessioning' goes:
I was at an after party once with Paddy Keenan and Cathal McConnell. Before the session started they were jamming, trading variations and arrangements. They found that they had different B parts to a tune and dicided to play them as a B and C part. When the proper session started and it came to that tune, they caused a room full of 'deer in the headlights' looks when they pulled out the C part. You could see the glee in their eyes as they blythly played along.

Our session moves every couple of years when the set lists, tune books, and rule sheets come out. And when the session nazis get too troublesome. There is nothing more boring than a 'well ordered' session.

[anniemcu]

...There is nothing more boring than a 'well ordered' session.

Only if the rules have to be reenforced all the time. Having a good, well thoughtout base of guidelines makes for a sturdy foundation that can hold a group together through the inevitable troubles that come up whenever you amass a large number of people in one place to do one thing. Rules are necessary, but shouldn't have to be lorded over anyone. Having to deal with people who object to any kind of rule that may interfere with their own idea of what they think is fun, can make it pretty miserable for the rest of the folks who care more about making it a good group experience.

[Jennie]

This reminds me of how I feel about dancing. I like contra dances and ceilis because I know exactly where to go and when. And I really have a hard time with the open dance floor. Then I stand out there, wonder if I look like a geek, and try to find some way to socially interact whilst flailing about.

The structure of an Irish session is very freeing. I know what to play - the melody. There's something reassuring about the consistency of the rules. At a jam, I'm not always sure what's needed or wanted. I'm not such a hot backup player yet, and I don't know when I'm hogging the spotlight and it's supposed to be someone else's turn.

I'll be getting used to more jams; we're starting a weekly local jam and I've been asked to help lead it sometimes (!) so I will probably find my way. I think they expect me to come play Irish music somehow, along with the folk and rock fare. Even though these are all people I know, I still feel a little unsure.

Jennie

[talasiga]

......You could see the glee in their eyes as they blythly played along.

Very Irish.

[lawhistle]

"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."

Hey Cubitt, I play in the session that would be your local. I honestly think you're taking it more seriously than the rest of us do. We have people of all levels there. People that come in do follow Jayhawks fine guidelines, (see below) but then we all try and be sorta polite to each other. Like baglady posted, the improv comes after years of experience in the Irish tradition.


1) Always ask if you can sit in and don't just plop down and play.
2) Only play tunes you know.
3) Be polite.
4) Hold off starting a tune until asked.
5) Be humble.

Pop on down to the Dulbiner in Long Beach, you'll find Peri down there playing his arse off these days. After 6 months of hard work, learning sets, and he's obviously having a grand time!