A Session Diary

Another Irish session tonight. A friend likens the Irish session to the ‘A’ levels – English traditional music being the ‘O’ levels. Reels are tunes. Everything else is named, as in ‘We’ll play 3 tunes and a hornpipe’. The venue is middle-of-nowhere which seems to be normal for the Sunday session. At a pub of course – this one’s the Rose and Crown at Stelling Minnis. Never quite know what the dynamic will be. It depends on the weather, the season, family, the school calendar and probably a mysterious quintessence as well.

The Thursday session was wonderful – mostly. Our fabulous Duette concertina player joined us and we played a whole bunch of tunes we normally don’t play. And mostly good lumpy English tunes as well. Two singers though. What should one do with singers in a music session? One body of opinon says they’ve got open stage nights elsewhere and music sessions are not the right place for them. It certainly disrupts the flow and changes the mood you’ve created with the music. A fair few thumpers and graters and shakers at that session unfortunately. I reccommend a stanley knife as standard equipment to cut the string of the wretched tea chest bass and the skin of any of the various drums. Is it possible people, with instruments go to a session and have no idea about timing, rhythm, tuning or keys? Incredible but apparently true and I’m sure you’ve all experienced it. Promise of a recording anyway but we’ll wait and see about that. Talked to my friend Richard at the bar. Apparently Diamond Geezer was filmed in Lincoln Prison in the Castle grounds (and also an old mental home in Leeds). We talked about Lincoln and how nice it is and the Christmas Market they hold eash year. ‘Now why doesn’t Faverham have one?’ he asked. Anybody know? It’d be a great venue for one.

Arrived back from the Midlands with enough time to get a meal and straight out to the session.
Now our session is a real mixture. There are experienced players with a lifetime of tunes, there are beginners who try and pick a tune out and all stages in between. There are also very good players who ‘drop in’ occassionally and completely change the dynamics. There’s a very chatty girl who drops in and plays the goat (bodhran) when she’s around but the hard core is still a handful of dedicated, moderately talented players. The good players, having had their fix, leave early and often a second, short impromptu session starts with different music and a different dynamic.

The beers expensive – £2.40 a pint now.

I’m going up to Nuneaton today to take a relative home. I hope to be back for the Irish session tonight but that depend on the vaguaries of the M25 and M1 neither of which are good at the moment. Normally six hours is enough there and back, but six hours in one direction has been known. Still on the way, I can play Bothy Band CDs and listen to Clare FM trad archive on my MP3 player.

OK. It’s been a few days since the first post so it’s time for a second. Session dynamics are fascinating. Different sessions have characteristics all their own, coloured by the environment (invariably a pub), the acoustics, the players, the mix of instruments …..

There’s a critical mass that occurs when you get enough players (minimum 4, preferably 5). More is good but too many end up as porridge. A good balance of different instruments helps of course (not too many of the same) with some willing to do the rhythm while others do the melody. Good rhythm players are hard to find. I know of only a handfull out of all the dozens of sessioneers.

As far as dynamics go, it’s amazing how a small change in the make-up of the session can change the entire feel. One more player (or one fewer) , a different venue or having an audience! Next session is Wednesday, so more to report then.