Thanks for the video! I found a group on Facebook that gets together every other month and plays Celtic folk music. Usually at a pub or someone's house. I just messaged them and told them I play whistle, they invited me out
Very useful video! I've been playing with the des moines IA session group now for a few months and it's the first one I've joined. We have a session every week and I couldn't be happier! Also, without your tutorials I wouldn't be at this point right now so I'm thankful!
We have a decently sized piping scene where I am and a local Irish group organizes and leads one. It's kinda anything goes as long as you be respectful and have fun! A little bit sing a long; a little bit session and a whole lot of Guiness.
Thanks, Sean! I always love when you post new tunes, but mixing it up a bit is cool! Lots of good tips, and I found some sessions nearby that I would never have found otherwise!! Hope to make it to a few!
I recently started my own in my home bc of restrictions and things fell apart 😭 ….soooo…... I found some irish music peeps . We now have a flute, whistle, drum, violin, mando, and guitar. Ive never been happier to have self sustained sessions! 😉.
Bringing that ceol mor will get you 86’d pretty fast from most sessions! lol Even shuttlepipes are questionable because a huge chunk of tunes will be out of your playable range. It’s a big reason I decided to take up the whistle in the first place as a piper.
We only have one open session in Little Rock so it's a blend of tunes and songs, beginner and advanced. We want to be welcoming to our newbies, and even allow tablets etc. for referencing if needed, but recently we've had some folks who seem to think session is a place to practice something brand new. How would you handle that type of balancing act?
I live in Scotland and we don't have much of an Irish music scene. We also dont have a lot of "Irish" pubs. I'm Irish, but I have never actually been in an Irish pub. Been in many pubs in Ireland of course...
no slow session here... only Seasoned Musicians welcomed😢. oh, well - I'll keep playing alone at my kitchen table. At least there's no improprieties to worry about there!
How did those musicians become "seasoned"? When I first started going to sessions I had had to listen for the vast majority of the time. For years I hardly ever started a tune, I listened and learned. Occasionally I was indulged, but mostly I simply practised at home, got better and gradually joined in. It's a process, and you have to be a bit obsessed about it to succeed.
Is it actually a good idea to drink alcohol during the session? There is always a person who overdue his portion and possibly ruin the session. Would't it be a good idea to drink after the music?
Where I live, sessions (English, Irish, mixed etc) are in pubs. It's people's night out, we're there to play music and socialise. Most of us have a couple of pints or whatever, some just have soft drinks; no-one cares or particularly notices. It's a very, very long time since I've seen a drunk musician at a session, just the occasional merry non-musician drinker.
Savage people in the usa , no backing guitars or bodhran , they've already got one 😮 Never come across people not invited back or players of "lesser" skill not allowed to play and learn Hilarious and disgusting at the same time........
Learned bodhran so I could pack it in luggage on a trip to ireland so that i could play in a session, prepared with advice that only one player per session would be welcome; but that if I bought the other a pint, I could play while they drank and we'd both be happy.
Do these groups typically play songs in common whistle keys? Like if I only have a D whistle, am I likely to "sit out" on songs they play in other keys?
If you're talking songs then it's a bit of a crap shoot - some singers will sing in whistle/Irish music friendly keys and some won't, so I'll tend to sit those out more often than not. But if it's tunes (instrumental, jig/reels etc) it'll all be in whistle friendly keys.
I'm a player. I went around the states looking for sessions a couple years ago when it was all closed... now I wanna do a tour and find the sessions, or make them happen like johnny apple seed. i'm open to ideas.
There are a couple lists that are well maintained for the major session areas (Chicago, NYC, Boston) and they will often touch on other smaller markets, but the info can be a little stale. Facebook is an option, as many of the smaller groups will keep in contact that way (at least most of us do here in Nashville and around the Southern US) - otherwise there's always asking around at Irish pubs as those are likely your venues, ultimately.