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reproduced with permission
(pending)
from
Traditional Irish Music
An Irish "session" or (seisiun, in Gaelic)
is a gathering of musicians (often taking place in a public
venue) for the purpose of playing music together. Playing in a
good session can be fun, invaluable playing experience, and a
great chance to improve your music--all at the same time. Good
sessions can produce some of the best Irish music in the world,
and they can do so for hours on end--under the right
circumstances.
There is a popular misconception that "The
Irish session" is meant to be an open forum, where anybody who
can come in off the street is welcome to participate and learn
to make music at the same time. In reality, while some sessions
may be such open forums, this characteristic is not intrinsic
to "the session" itself, and it can be a big mistake to
incorrectly assume that it is.
In reality, Irish sessions are much more
like other casual social gatherings than they are like open
forums. Often, sessions are groups of friends getting together
for a few tunes, and not as an open invitation to everyone to
come and play. People who come in off the street will usually be
welcomed, but they may be met with a certain amount of
circumspection until they demonstrate their ability to "play
well with others".
Here are some of the bigger mistakes that will alienate your
fellow musicians at a typical session (in no particular order):
Playing a
percussive instrument poorly, out of turn, too loudly, or
generally outside the taste of the other musicians. A
good rule of thumb here is: "one bodhrán and/or guitar/bouzouki
at a time". More than one will often clash, irritating the
melody players. In Irish music, the melody is FAR more important
than the backing, and backers who assume otherwise can quickly
become session-pariahs.
Joining a group of unfamiliar musicians without asking, or
without being invited. This is especially important if you think
your presence might change the existing dynamic in a way that
the musicians don't want it changed. The quality of the music is
often what determines how much fun people have. If you ruin
their music, you are probably ruining their fun too.
Playing when you
don't really know the tune. It's usually ok to do so
very quietly, but... be careful! Your wrong notes may distract,
and irritate, the person sitting next to you.
Starting too many
tunes without consulting the other musicians. It's
generally a good idea (especially at an unfamiliar session) to
ask the other musicians if they'd like to play a tune before you
launch into it. This helps you make sure that you won't be doing
something antisocial by starting a tune that the other musicians
don't know or don't want to play.
When someone does one of these things at a
session, it makes everybody feel uncomfortable. While it might
be nice (especially for beginners) if the other musicians would
politely inform you, this is difficult to do tactfully, so this
isn't usually what happens. Instead, the other musicians are
more likely to simply feel irritated and leave it at that.
In general, remember this: If you're not
organizing the session, you are a GUEST, and all the same social
guidelines apply to your "visit" that would if you walked into
someone else's party. Just as you can alienate people by
crashing a party and being rude, so too can you alienate them by
crashing their session and being rude.
For a more extensive (and unapologetic!)
look at the typical Irish session, see Barry Foy's book: Field
Guide to the Irish Music Session.
George Keith
Re- backing Irish traditional music, Paul de Grae writes:
".... one needs to balance the strong urge to join in by
considering what one has to contribute. It's a healthy sign that
the music gets under your skin and you want to be in there, part
of it all - but it ain't all about you, it's communal music,
give and take, and passive listening is better than active
messing".
(November 2000)
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