Anatomy of your local session

[Il Friscaletto]

I'm just curious of the make-up of people's local sessions. I'm thinking mostly of the people who show up on a regular basis. My local has gathered a pretty solid base of good musicians. Every week we can count on:

A button accordian/banjo player/singer
One to two fiddlers
One to two guitarists (who also sing well)
Two to three flutists (with whistles)
A concertina player/bodhran player
One bazouki player
One dedicated bodhran player
One bodhran player who plays very quietly

We get some singers who show up occasionally, as well as a player of the parlor pipes. It's really evolved into a good session, and we're getting better every week, as people keep coming consistently. They were very welcoming to me when I first started coming. A really good crew.

[Jayhawk]

Interesting question. Let me think...

One piano accordion player (very good at it, too)
One button box
2-3 fiddles
2-3 flute players (one plays flute, fiddle, mandolin & whistle)
2-3 guitar players (back very well, one also plays mandolin)
1-2 mandolins
2 bodhran players (usually alternate playing)
1 tenor banjo player (he also plays fiddle)

I think that's it. Anyone else who frequents the Gaf in KC can feel free to correct the above.

Eric

[Nanohedron]

It changes, but we can count on at least one and as many as four to even six bodhrán players (unusual, but it happens), but considering that they refuse to take up even so much as a whistle, in their favor at least they take turns.

The effect of sheer numbers can be traumatising, though: I was recently waiting at a stop light and saw a fellow I didn't know with a pretty sizeable "man-purse" cross the street. Understandably, my first gut reaction was, Oh, god. Another bodhrán.

Depends on the size of the session, but some days are fiddle-icious (as many as seven at a time, or more), some are flute-fabulous (at least five and more; I think one time there were eight), some days are boxworthy (usually three at most). Whistles, a concertina or two, and the same for banjos; pipers have normally numbered from one to four, but three's usually the max. Guitars, though not as prevalent as in the past, are usually one or two, but four have been known at a time; no local bouzouki (unless you count an occasional bouzarre), but at least one cittern (me, although I bring it much less often to sessions than I used to), and occasionally two. I usually take turns in that case, and with guitars, as the individual styles don't normally mesh, but there's one guitarist that I enjoy pairing up with. Fun stuff.

Large session or small, more often than not there's a fairly even mix, but I enjoy the roll of the dice.

[seisflutes]

1 good tenor banjoist/fiddler/singer
2 strong uilleann pipers (one also plays whistle, and the other [me] also plays flute and a bit of fiddle)
1-2 guitar/bodhran players
1-3 flute players (including me)
1 good bouzouki/cittern player
1-2 not so great whistle players (one also sort of plays the pipes)
1 button accordian/fiddle/guitar player who doesn't come often enough
An assortment of other instruments who show up occasionally.

Huh, I just realized we don't have a regular good fiddler.

[Ro3b]

Our session is led by me (flute, guitar, occasional low-grade button accordion) and Philippe Varlet (fiddle, better button accordion).

There are, let's see, at least five other regulars who play flute. One of them (our own johnkerr) also plays concertina; another (joshD, who occasionally posts here as well) plays guitar and (absolutely first-rate) bodhran. There are three other fiddlers who come around now and then; one of them also plays guitar, another also plays whistle.

We're hip-deep in flute players here in DC. I remember a session in the bad old days at Nanny's that consisted of about fifteen flute players and one fiddler.

Appropos of nothing, when I was typing this just now, I accidently hit Ctrl V and pasted the word Hoechstgeschwindigkeitsbegrenzung into this message.

[anniemcu]

At present, we have only an open session that focuses on Old Time and Celtic style music. We are in the formative stages of setting up a serious ITM session separately. Most likely, the most regular and serious musicians from the current session will be involved in the new one as well.

[Nanohedron]

"Maximum speed delimitation"...that's just as gnarly as Hoechstgeschwindigkeitsbegrenzung.

Applicable as a session concept, though.

[Gabriel]

Höchstgeschwindigkeitsbegrenzung actually isn't a word, at least here in my region
But what about Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsfrauenmantelfabrikbesitzer?

Hmm, let me think. I play in two sessions. First one:

A singer/guitarist
Another singer/guitarist/harper
Occasionally another singer/guitarist
A whistley/mandolin player
A fluter/hurdy-gurdy-man/singer
and me (flute, whistles, pipes).

You're right, thats not really an ITM session at all...but it's fun. Sometimes.

The other one:

up to three fluters/whistlers
a banjo
a bouzouki
two to n fiddles (biggest n was 7 IIRC)
a guitarist/singer (and his four pupils with classical guitars sometimes...ugh.)
a concertina
a very good whistler who kind of leads the session in case he's there and plays his Sindt D exclusively (no other instruments)
sometimes a piper with a narrow bore D set

That's it IIRC.

[Brian Boru]

"Maximum speed delimitation"...that's just as gnarly as Hoechstgeschwindigkeitsbegrenzung.

Applicable as a session concept, though.

I think we need this at our session. There was one player at our last session who played the fiddle like it was on nitro. Whenever he led a tune the rest of us basically put down our instruments, except for strummed ones who just strummed faster. Luckily he did let others have a chance at leading tunes, but it was frustrating. I can't imagine anyone dancing that fast.

[Nanohedron]

Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsfrauenmantelfabrikbesitzer

Even Babelfish won't touch that one. Jeez.

"Maximum speed delimitation"...that's just as gnarly as Hoechstgeschwindigkeitsbegrenzung.

Applicable as a session concept, though.

I think we need this at our session. There was one player at our last session who played the fiddle like it was on nitro. Whenever he led a tune the rest of us basically put down our instruments, except for strummed ones who just strummed faster. Luckily he did let others have a chance at leading tunes, but it was frustrating. I can't imagine anyone dancing that fast.

We've got a speed freak, a fiddler. He says can't help it, and, you know, I believe him. Says that playing as fast as you could was how it was done in his particular crowd when he was young - sort of a bravado thing, I suppose - so it became a habit. You haven't lived until you've heard a frantic hornpipe. We give him a fair amount of goodnatured grief for it. To his credit, he's been making an effort at playing for the tune's sake, lately. Doesn't always work, but at least he tries, and the result is great when it works.

The shifty basmati has tried to deflect attention and accuse ME of being the one speeding up and dragging everyone along with me. Righto. I'm just a fluteplayer. No one can hear me.

But the squabbling's good craic.

[Congratulations]

You guys ready for this?

One guitar. Sometimes two.
One flute/whistle (that's me).
6-8 fiddles.

And that's it.

[Thomaston]

I've yet to see everyone together, but if it happened, we'd have:
2 fiddles
2 concertinas
1 flute/guitar player
1 mandolin
1 bouzouki
1 who switches between tenor banjo and mandolin
and me, who switches between banjo, mando, and whistle.

Of course, most of the regulars bailed last night, and we ended up with 2 mandolins, a bouzouki, and a concertina. The mixture was a bit off-kilter, but still fun.

[straycat82]

Our session used to be much bigger but has fizzled down to a pretty small group... a good group nonetheless.

Our session leader is a top-notch flute player (easily the best in the state) who also plays whistle, guitar, mandolin and bouzouki but usually only brings the flutes and bouzouki. After that we've got:

-a guitar player/singer (lovely Scottish brogue) who also brings out the harmonica on occasion.
-a couple of fiddlers (on average).
-one whistler (myself) and occasionally we'll have another one.
-three bodhran players (including myself) who rotate on and off.

I've brought my concertina down a few times but I don't know very many tunes on it yet so I usually leave it at home. Not a lot of box players in my area. We had a harp player once upon a time but there was some bad blood between he and the pub and even though we've switched to a new pub he doesn't come by anymore. I do know that there is at least one other session about an hours drive from my home and from pictures I've seen they have a couple boxes, more flutes, fiddles, whistles, and bodhrans but I'm told it's more of a slow beginners session.

[MTGuru]

But what about Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsfrauenmantelfabrikbesitzer?

Danube steamship trip company captain's women's coat factory owner

The session that eskin and I host usually has a core of:
pipes, whistle, Anglo concertina, guitar (eskin)
guitar, whistle, English concertina (MTGuru)
fiddle (the other host)

To this we can often add, depending on who shows up: fiddles, flutes, whistles, bodhrán (tasteful player!), hammered dulcimer (also excellent). Sometimes boxen or plucky things, and I occasionally play B/C box, and eskin or I mando/banjo. Several of the fiddle players also play nice backup guitar, so guitar duties get passed around when they're there.

One of our casual rules is that, except for fiddles and flutes, only one of each instrument plays at a time, including backup. It's enforced through common courtesy, and really helps to prevent the "wall of sound" problem.

[Jumper]

Several of the fiddle players also play nice backup guitar, so guitar duties get passed around when they're there.

So you're offering to loan me your guitar?