I have been preoccupied. Firstly with Facebook and secondly with organising my escape plan from Stalag Luft 18. Many of the sessioneers who feature in this diary are also on Facebook and it provides a more immediate kind of communication and response. There are a couple of pages especially for followers of the antics of the sessioneers: Friends of “The George” Irish Session and Fans of the Bear Sessions.

The first of course refers to the fact that the nomadic session / workshop / lament that takes place on a Wednesday evening started off in the excellent George on Stone Street. It was in the middle of nowhere. It was in a dip which flooded every time it thought about raining and when the rest of Kent, even Capel Le Ferne was enjoying a crystal clear evening, Stone Street would be foggy. And still we went every week. East Kent Morris practised in the back on the same night. The Hooden Horse visited at Christmas (well one of them did). Drew served chips and french bread at half time and the real fire roared away with logs of wood. The bar had a jar which said ‘Musician’s Fund’ and every so often, there would be enough in it (donated by a kindly audience) to buy us all a drink. Many musicians of all calibres would congregate there and some of the evenings were truly memorable. There was even a Bank Holiday Celtic Folk Festival held there.

Then it closed.

I remember the evening when we all arrived to find the pub in darkness and standing around in the misty car park deciding what to do. Those of us who were there decided to go to the Hop Pocket in Bossingham where we played the first of our nomadic sessions in their conservatory. After that we roamed East Kent looking to regain that “George” feel without success. We tried the Chequers at Selsted, the Beverley in Canterbury and even the George on Stone Street after it changed hands to the unfriendliest landlord yet encountered. But the spiritual retreat for the music was for a long time at the Well Known Spoonerism. Regular readers will know where that is. And now it is at another George – this time at Molash where we practice safe sets. I hope the crowds return.

The Bear Session started as an Irish Session before the George Session but morphed into an English one by the time I joined it. And that suited me fine. Irish on Wednesday, English on Thursday. And that’s pretty much how it still is today. Back then, the musicians always got a free drink from the landlord. Strangely this session has stayed put firmly through many landlords (although it did move out to the Three Tuns  for a while while waiting for a friendlier tennant who turned out to be the landlord of the Three Tuns). The pub is usually full of all sorts of interesting people, some of them are musicians, some are audience.

So, a little history of the two main sessions that feature in this diary and a Facebook page or two to join if you’ve a mind to.

And the retirement? Well, after a long and mostly enjoyable career mostly in education, I have the chance to stop working but maintain (more or less) the lifestyle to which I have become accustomed thanks to the Universities Pension Scheme. I started as a Secondary Science Teacher and it was at college that I became converted to Folk. It’s a one way conversion – there is no going back. Playing through the Book of English Penguins with  ‘ a yard of German plywood and a capo’ in the common room. Morris teams were springing up (I joined Green Oak and then started Cheswold and later Luton. Yes, Luton) and some great folk clubs put on acts which would now be far too expensive to even comtemplate.

Anyway, working my way through the education system and keeping ahead of the sheer lunacy that trailed behind me (imposed by successive governments I must add) I moved though Further Education to Higher Education. They’ve all been ruined now. There is no academic freedom just commercial gain. Targets and league tables have killed the spirit of education and what little was left has been mopped up by Health and Safety and the ever present risk of litigation.

Thank God for Folk Music!

Alright. It’s been a while, I admit. But things have been happening. It’s quite exciting really as if a new wave of sessioneering has washed over East Kent. I could get into trouble with this analogy. It’s just occurred to me that such a wave would inevitably drop some kind of detritus on the way. If it did, I don’t know where it landed. Honest.

I have a teeny bit of a quandary now (quandrette?) as technically, neither session (Wednesday or Thursday) is a session. Wednesday became an ITM (= Irish Traditional Music) Workshop / Gathering / Practice back at the good old George at Molash (bless them!) and Thursday is different every time (wasn’t that the BBC). Last night for example came close to being a session but other times it is unashamed entertainment and others it is a barn dance practice. Whatever it is, it is usually enjoyable and it has attracted quite a few new players.

Short post I know, but hopefully things are looking up!

Two extremes last week. The regular Irish Session in the Well Known Spoonerism ….. didn’t happen. One of the sessioneers was poorly. They give a lift to another. A third sessioneer was at choir practice and three regulars are hors de combat or disenfranchised by virtue of distance or illness. I do hope this week that we can play some Irish tunes. The session is still too small for a real session with that take-off feeling but what can you do? Maybe the bottom has dropped out of the Irish Session market, or the Riverdance bubble has burst. Paradoxically, English and mixed sessions are springing up all over.  Still, it’s all we’ve got.

Liz Davenport (long story, more later) suggested I could make a lot of noise on my own but somehow, it just isn’t the same.

By contrast, the Thursday session at the Unchained Melody was excellent. Really good. No, really really good. Everone enjoyed it, everyone contributed and two hours flew by. At one point there were 5 fiddles! 

This week will be a St George’s entertainment event with roast beef and possibly wenches and definitely ale and a lot of Merrie England. Huzzar!

After a long time of thinking social networking sites were for very pale adolescents with join-the-dot complexions and a fear of real human contact, I found that Facebook can be a most rewarding place. Not only have I discovered many musicians and friends from around Kent (and hence discovered their names!) I have also found another folky from Derby called … Paul Slater.

I also discovered my old Morris squire and his wife who many of you might know as they tour folk clubs and festivals – Paul and Liz Davenport. Small world.

If anybody would like to join Fans of the Bear Session or Friends of “The George” Irish Session on Facebook, please do!

I will now wait for the proof reader to send me the corrections I need to make.

As you know, I usually start these posts off with an historical fact or seasonal aside. It turns out that nothing at all remarkable happened today. So maybe today is remarkable for its unremarkableness. Or so I thought.

Apparently Edward 1st (longshanks) became King today in 1272 and England declared war on Holland in 1780 for the 4th time and gained the East and West Indies as a result. There was pretty much a big argy-bargy at the time with France, America, Spain and Holland. Ah, the stuff of folk songs. All together now, Arran sweaters on and fingers in ears. Edward 1st was not universally loved for it was he who made parliament a permanent institution. And he was unkind to the Scots. More folk songs.

The relaunched, revamped Irish Session has been going very well. There are encouraging signs of growth (no, not like the economy) with some new and different faces. It will take a while for all the hard work to filter through but it is being widely advertised in the local press and on the KentFolk web site and theSession.org site.

The session brings forth an array of recording devices as the start of each session is a gentle run-through of selected sets or tunes and this is ideal for practice. The ensemble plays the same tunes or sets later at normal tempo when the ‘real’ session gets going.

On the subject of recording devices at sessions in general, I have seen a wide variety and tried a few myself. There is the traditional hand held cassette recorder, the something-plugged-in-to-the-ipod, the dictaphone (microcassette and digital), the minidisc recorder and the digital recorder. I’ve also seen a laptop being used. Now with all these devices, the storage medium is not drastically important as far as recording quality goes (give or take), but the microphones are. The other considerations are:

• battery life
• recording time
• portability
• ease of navigation of the recordings
• ease of use

The traditional cassette recorder (Play/Rec FF, REW)  is therefore hard to beat except on ease of navigation of the recordings which is an inherent problem of linear tapes. Sod’s law says the recording you want is at the other end of the tape. They also suffer from not knowing whereabouts in a tape you are, especially if you’ve taken one out, put another in and messed around with the counter reset. Oops, there goes the priceless recording of when you met Willie Taylor and in its place is a bloke who wandered in with a djembe with a vague Irish tune in the background. Don’t mention the wow and flutter or the head alignment. Bear in mind that the Tascam 4 track (on cassette) did more for affordable reasobale quality recording than any other device. Their modern one is digital and that’s the way to go if you have a computer. Stereo, stunningly good noise-free recording etc. etc. Some of them will do 26 hours of recording on 1 AA battery (its true – yamaha and olympus both) while others do about 4 hours and worst of all, only have a rechargeable internal battery! Useless for sessions really.

Now there was much stirring of interest when Beau announced that our old haunt, the Anchor at Wingham, the well known spoonerism was open for business with an Irish landlady and a sound recordist husband. Having been disappointed on previous occasions by going back to old venues (particularly the George on Stone Street), we approached this one with caution. The sessioneers consisdered it in the snug and agreed to try a one-off to test the water. Everything was set. It was a Thursday which meant foregoing the English Mixed Lumpy. And what do you suppose happened next boys and girls? You’re right. It was cancelled. Some story about not sure whether their music licence covered Thursday nights. Why not just say no thanks and be honest? We might try again.

Anyway, as a result I did get to go to the English Mixed Lumpy which is the Bear and it was a normal session going round the assembled musicians who wanted to play. Event of the evening must be Barbara and friends teaching some Romainians the Gay Gordons while the rest of us played Cock of the North (ABAB ad nauseum). There was a bit of Mazurking going on and there would have been some Bourée-ing if any of us could have come up with a Bourée. There were some faces there not normally seen when it isn’t a session, but a good smattering of the regulars as well. Songs were included and I hope a good time was had by all.

The main topic of the moment is of course the fascinating discussion taking place about the future course of the Wednesday night Irish session. There have been some wonderful insights into why people don’t come and some very helpful suggestions to swell the session to beyond critical mass.

I can’t wait to see what happens on Wednesday now that this much interest has been generated and the promise of some new faces (well, new to Wednesday night anyway). I have met a lot of sessioneers in other sessions who would love the Irish Session if they came. What puts them off? I don’t know – see the discussion.

On a cheery note, last Thursday at the Bothered Badger, one of the sessioneers was a certain Gordon Newton whom some of you will know or have heard of for it is he who started many of our festivals (sweeps, hops etc). It was a great pleasure playing some English tunes with him and his very enjoyable melodeon style.

The Irish Session on Wednesday was a good one and although only 6 sessioneers turned out, half of them are very good melody players with large repertoires.

An idea was mooted which I think is very good. It is designed to help beginners and the less experienced by devoting some time to a particular set or sets to get the tunes right and the changes familiar.

Thursday was normal. Aided by the lovely Heather, we apparently played 75 tunes in 2 hours.

An American girl from Indiana came along and brought her fiddle but didn’t get a chance to play anything. With a stock of Appalachian tunes, it would have been interesting to hear. Maybe next time.

Some nice English tunes were played, but I wish we would lay off the Irish. It somehow doesn’t work with the particular set up at the Bear and I feel I’m fighting the other instruments which are by and large in lumpy English mode. We also take many tunes far too fast or they get speeded up. Some tunes can handle this – Trumpet Hornpipe and Fairy Dance being two. Some tunes just get all out of shape and ugly and unmusical.

Mind you at the other end of the scale, some tunes drag too slowly because of where they are in a set, so striking a happy balance is quite an art.

Sunday night is the Unicorn at Bekesbourne for Irish minded sessioneers. Or if there are very few, any sessioneers.

The debate recently, in the snug of the Furtive Ferret has been running along the lines of ‘Is it worth carrying on?’ and ‘Why do we do it?’. This is in a purely session related context you understand. Not a symptom of general depression.

The sessioneers at the regular Wednesday Irish Sessions have dwindled to below critical mass now on several ocassions and is sometimes as low on the Sundays. It is kept going by sheer determination at the moment but questions have been asked.

Why is attendance so low? well, the 5 of us there on Wednesday debated the reasons.

But the opinion is divided between stopping altogether which means no Irish music session and carrying on with low numbers which is disheartening.

The Thursday session was a bizarre session of two halves. Without the regular leaders there, I started proceedings as a normal session with the 10 or so sessioneers assembled. And then the leaders came in at 9:40 in stereotypical French costume (from ‘Allo ‘Allo – even down to ‘It is I, Leclerc!’) and I’m not quite sure what happened after that – it was all a bit chaotic. They certainly played through sets we’d already played and closed out the other sessioneers including Ernie who was eager to play on his concertina but didn’t get the chance.

The Deal Marathon though (12 – 5 in the Ship) was thoroughly enjoyable. Playing with the Desperates is always a pleasure, even though I did inadvertently provoke some disgraceful song about Nelly Cartwright when I played Redwing. John and Chris certainly perked up at that point!

The day started early with the Festival Band being given the prime slot of 09:30. Alan set up the sound in a way that suited folk / amplified acoustic music very well (he always does) and off we went again and then all too quickly it was over.

So off to the corner cafe for a pot of tea and a bacon bap. It is so posh that they have one girl whose sole job is to stand by the door and ask if you are eating inside or outside. They need another now to fill up the sugar.

Sitting there with George, Shelagh, Judy and Will, listening to the band for whom we vacated the stage – Follia. A lowlands band who are stunningly good.

We watched the Faversham Formation Dancing Team dance along to bourres and we were joined by Chris Taylor & the lovely Jacqui and Martin Long.

And in no time at all, it was time for the lunchtime session. No one there already so we settled in and waited for them to arrive. I must say that it was more subdued than Saturday and more fragmented in a way as though there was less in common.

Nevertheless we went round the changing group and played some tunes and sang some songs. I can’t remember everybody who was there (I should take a register) but apart from Shelagh, Judy, George and myself, there was Chris Care who is always welcome in any session I run. Mike, Ruth and Barbara made a brief appearance, Martin the fiddle and Stephanie the accordian are regulars and unfortunately arrived quite late. It was nice to see Gerry the banjo again and there were two ladies who were there last year. One has a Serpent (instrument) the other has a Spaniel (dog). Someone did ask if she played it (the dog). They, and Gerry and another lady who plays recorder are members of Kits Coty Morris I believe.

Vague memories of a fiddle and singer duo. A chap who sang the Old Dun Cow. And that was pretty much it really.

There will be a session an entertainment tonight in the Bear.
There is an Irish Session on Sunday in the Unicorn at Bekesbourne.

The warp in Folkspace continues. It is unlikely that the Irish session will reconvene before September.

On a brighter note, I went to a very comfortable and friendly session at the Ship at Conyer last night where there was not a single ego spoilt proceedings. How refreshing. Now if only we can translate that to Thursdays ……… I can’t think of when I last spent time in an English /Mixed session with a nicer group of people. Of course all the other sessions contain nice people.

The bad news is that the landlord leaves in September and the future of the session is uncertain.

Tomorrow, well I have been debating about it with myself. The Thursday session was one of the first I went to when I arrived in Kent. It’s been through a few changes but it has weathered them all. The problem is that it isn’t often a session in the accepted sense of the word. It’s a band practice (3 of them are in the band) which the rest can join in or not. If guests arrive, they may get invited to play or sing – usually as an entertainment spot, but few of the regulars do.

As I’ve said before, it can be an enjoyable folk evening and that suits many people who want a second folk club with a difference (music, dance, poetry, songs) but sometimes, I hanker for the good old fashioned go-round-the-circle session like we had last night