"Wasn't that a great session?"

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:29 am

Cathy!

The enlargement of the photo above - I've just noticed that there's a set of Highland pipes sitting to his left, on the ground.

It makes me wonder if he beat the stuffing out of the GHB piper that tried to upstage him.

Jeff Stallard · Post by **Jeff Stallard** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:50 am

Tyghress wrote:an outsider applauding could be seen as intruding on a private conversation.

Yes, exactly! Of course, the volume of a session would be like shouting out your private conversation, in which case you shouldn't complain that others hear it, but still...I prefer to view sessions as private conversations. It's all so confusing...

Post by **Nanohedron** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 1:03 pm

Jeff Stallard wrote:
Tyghress wrote:an outsider applauding could be seen as intruding on a private conversation.
Yes, exactly! Of course, the volume of a session would be like shouting out your private conversation, in which case you shouldn't complain that others hear it, but still...I prefer to view sessions as private conversations. It's all so confusing...

A nice, intimate session last evening at Molly Quinn's: just four of us, and the effect was relaxed, light and sweet, for Marty McHugh set the tone. A private conversation it was, for we played for no one but each other, and it was an opportunity to play all the set dances and marches we could recall off the cuff, which is an opportunity that doesn't present itself every time. Our tightknit little group notwithstanding, eavesdroppers were there, and there was some applause as well as the odd (pun intended) individual coming up and asking questions. Obviously it doesn't matter one bit how I prefer to think of a session when I'm out there in public. The reality is that so long as someone otherwise uninvolved is listening, the thing is only private to a point. And my point in relating this? The music's for the listener, too. Bear in mind that I don't intentionally play FOR the punters at sessions, but I don't see any way around the fact that they're part of the whole moment.

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:15 pm

Oh I'm not picking on Turlough; if anything he's a role model!

I bet he was a million laughs.

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 3:06 pm

Yep, a veritable one-man party machine, bon vivant and the inventor of the -- alas, too-short-lived -- Piobhair Karaoke!

Sorry, it's almost the holiday. I'll go away now.

HansW · Post by **HansW** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:18 pm

Well, where to start and where to end---
Our sesssion in Glenties in the Highland hotel has all I think it needs to make it a enjoyable night every time around. No telly, lots of space, a few listeners, you would not notice them once it starts, and the most easy-going attitude. It just seems, that time takes a stand still when the tune is played another time around and another time. its mostly fiddles and a few accordians in the background, nobody overplaying, never too fast. there could be anything from 3- 17 musicians joining in, you just never know who arrives at what time. And there is no barman shouting last orders, or it's enough now. Its just the great respect for the music in all of them which makes it a very special place to go to-- everybody wellcome

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 3:07 pm

I'm going to jump back to Peter's comment on page 1, and say I totally agree with him.

I played in a jazz band in the 80s around KC, we performed for pay, and for the audience. It was a good time, but it wasn't a session. A session, even without pay, shouldn't be like that - closed to newcomers, performing for an audience as opposed to playing with the other musicians, etc. If it is, it shouldn't be a session but a house/pub band.

Give me a chance to play with friends, meet new folks, have a pint, hear a new tune I want to pick-up, and leave hours later feeling like just a few minutes have passed - that's a session to me.

Eric

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 12:26 pm

brianc wrote: Cathy!

The enlargement of the photo above - I've just noticed that there's a set of Highland pipes sitting to his left, on the ground.

It makes me wonder if he beat the stuffing out of the GHB piper that tried to upstage him.

And speaking of GHBs ...

Last night I attended a fairly new session (I'll withhold the 'where' and 'who' to protect the guilty) - where a Highland piper got up and decided to blast away on his pipes - in a small, crowded pub, no less... no invitation, no "Would you mind if I play a tune or two" request... but of course said offender seemed to have brought along his own cheering section of 5 or 6 friends, so I guess that made it acceptable to quash a good session that was in progress.

Danner · Post by **Danner** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 4:37 pm

I've never played in a session, but I do play in a Celtic Band. (A "class" at the local university- no limits except 1 yr. experience and a trad. instument) I have been guilty of ruining a couple of tunes, but I think what I play well totally makes up for that. Our instrumentation is as follows:
4 harps (including the director)
1 bodhran (Very good to have because some people have no sense of the rhythm!)
1 mandolin (who we can usually never hear because he plays so quietly)
5 (At last count) fiddles/violins (I think there were six in the summer session

)
and ME! (on whistle and flute)

It's fun, but not necessarily completely trad. A few of the fiddle players are just beginning (ouch!). The other 3 harps are the director's students. It's a good time, and good experience, but not a session by any stretch of the imagination.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 4:43 pm

brianc wrote:Last night I attended a fairly new session (I'll withhold the 'where' and 'who' to protect the guilty) - where a Highland piper got up and decided to blast away on his pipes - in a small, crowded pub, no less... no invitation, no "Would you mind if I play a tune or two" request... but of course said offender seemed to have brought along his own cheering section of 5 or 6 friends, so I guess that made it acceptable to quash a good session that was in progress.

Sorry, that must've been me.

brianc · Post by **brianc** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:23 am

No, Joseph, there's no orange groves in my neck of the woods, so you're not the culprit.