If there’s one thing that gets me falling out with people at our session it’s speeding up. Either variety - during a tune or after each playthrough, it’s just plain wrong and it says more about the amateurishness and/or the ego of the transgressor than anything else. Sometimes you just start a tune at the “wrong” speed. I ask the others to let me get started and get my tempo in the first three or four bars before they join in. Problem solved. But if everyone barges in right from the start you’ve got to keep going at the “wrong” speed. A bunch of regulars should be able to sort this out. I’m not going to make myself breathless by going hell for leather and throwing all musicality out of the window - I’d rather sit it out than do that. Don’t bother with sessions in which you detect big egos. It’s very bad for the music.
I really hadn’t and I guess I did. I looked up Garth that Caj mentioned and and had a little trouble figuring out what the connection was there but now I know that Dana Carvey played both the Church Lady and Garth characters. Thank goodness for Google! I am trying to fill in these gaps in my education.
Ah ha, so we’ve found him or her at last. I knew it was only a matter of time. ‘:(’
Now what we need to do is organise a presentation ceremony, find a trophy & present this clown with the Oscar for ‘The Worst Session Leader - ever’! ‘:moreevil:’
“But there are other wierd practices there.” - I’m afraid that’s quite weird enough for me - thank you very much. ‘:boggle:’
I reckon that must rank as one of the most irresponsible ways to conduct a session. ‘:o’
The way I see it, that is the first basic discipline that learners to ITM strive for, namely the ability to keep a good steady beat throughout the tune, so if this session’s leader is incapable of that truly basic function, then it’s time they had elections to find a new leader.
The fact that this person appears to also deliberately leave beginners behind in this ‘tune race’ just shows what a total A. Hole this person is.
In behaving in this pathetic manner in front of learners this person is guilty of a cardinal ITM sin in my book. ‘:sniffle:’
If you don’t have rhythm control at an ITM session, then you have nothing.
Sounds like this person is simply a frustrated Rock & Roll reject & the sooner this session rejects them, the better!
You would be wise to avoid this session like the plague.
Why not take along six or ten Bodhran & Djembe players, all with one mission, to keep a steady pace at the session - & drown the bast&ard out? ‘:D’
Of course, you could do a George W & go in, & do us all a favour & oust this evil dictator - for the good name of ITM. ‘:lol:’
[mode=“Church Lady”] “Intelligent design is just like a private session; you want to control things to have the best music possible. If people can do it, God can too.”[/mode]
Jaysus!
Sessions are about learning to play for dancers. I don’t care what anybody else says.
Having just spent a week doing this has made that very apparent to me. Many well respected session players around here couldn’t cut it.
Learning to play in rhythm and at a tempo the dancers need is what it’s all about. If you’re into grandstanding and ‘interpretation’ then go play in your kitchen and leave the rest of us to the job.
IMO, there is much value in playing for dancers. It’s very good for your meter, your tempo, your pacing, and how you shape a tune. Most of the things we play are dance tunes, after all. And if you really want to push yourself, play solo for dancers. There’s an experience, especially on something like flute.
Which brings me to another IMO aspect of dancers: they’re a great “bounce meter” (in non-dance situations, foot-stompers and head-nodders can be good indicators, too). If people ain’t dancin’ or tappin’ with some life, I ain’t playin’ with enough lift. (Easier said than done, of course, but hey, we’re working on it)
We actually had a fellow show up at several of our outdoor sessions last summer with a snare, a woodblock, and a boatload of good taste and sensitivity. That, combined with another friend’s fabulous wet-tuned B/C boxplaying and stately tempos, made for some of the neatest sessions I’ve been blessed to be part of. It was like being on an old Paddy O’Brien 78.
Lord, it was lovely. I wish we’d recorded those nights.
I often try to visualize people dancing when I’m playing, trying to achieve a rythm or “bounce” that would make someone move!
BTW, I learned a bit about this dubious session leader I was complaining about. Apparently he has been asked to leave a session before. Thus, he has gone and set up his own session/performance. I guess he gets payed fairly well for it too. There’s more dirt to it, but I won’t get into it…
You know, I’ve been mulling this over. I think sessions are about socializing and learning tunes and passing them on in turn. Not everyone wants to play for dancers even if they are fit for the job however they got their chops. Besides, tune sets at sessions often enough get played at rates slower or faster than suitable for dancing. For me, sessions are the musician’s venue; a break from the “mere” utility of playing for dancers, and an opportunity to explore the music on its own terms. I learned to play for dancers -céilí and step- by playing for dancers, not by being a session-goer.
But I know you said you don’t care what I say, BL, so I thought I’d throw it out there anyway.
You said it for me. But I still have a bee in my bonnet about excessive speed. Some technically-superb players play fast just because they can. The music is robbed of much of its subtlety and nuance, which is one bad thing, and a lot of big ego shows through which is another, which is just what well-played ITM doesn’t need. We’ve probably all heard a few great versions of The Bucks of Oranmore. I was listening to the version on the Celtic Sessions CD played by Paddy and Kevin Glackin et al. last night, and, much as I admire their technical prowess, it is just too fast for me and I failed to get that lift that I usually get from a great tune superbly played. Gimme Paddy Keenan on Bothy Band Live! All a matter of personal taste maybe.
Just so. I’ve been guilty as charged, myself -only not too often, I hope. I’d rather have beauty or jauntiness or drive over speed for its own sake any day. Rip-roaring is better as stage fodder, IMHO.
“Jauntiness” – what a perfect description! That’s what I think of when I think “stuff that makes you want to dance” – i.e., it’s not so much speed (though enthusiasm is good); it’s about the bounce. Sure, sometimes it’s good to let one rip, especially if there’s a young’un who needs a little spanking – but otherwise, in reality, how many Average Joes and Janes can dance at 113 bpm for any length of time unless they’re feis competitors? Shoot, even 105 – what we think of as reasonable ceili speed – would kill the folks over here in the Heart Attack Capital of the Universe!
I go back to kenny’s quote again – “There’s fast music and there’s lively music. Some people don’t know the difference.” To use your word, Nano, a nice jaunty hornpipe can have folks bopping around just fine as can a good bouncy reel or jig – there’s no need for too much speed except in (those often failed) attempts to impress.
Anyway, playing for dancers is a different ballgame from a session, which is a musical conversation.
I like 'em both. And learn a lot from them both, too.
You’ve hit on something else there. I think a lot of people think that you can’t have drive without going hell-for-leather. I think that a rock-steady tempo and springy internal rhythm are the keys, and you can’t compensate for deficiencies in those areas just by racing along. Just listen to how “slow” some of the sets of reels are on the first three Planxty CDs, yet you couldn’t exactly complain that they are wanting in drive.
By the same token, you can have things fairly quick AND in hand … but I think you have to be really, really good – and know the tune really, really, REALLY well – for that.
Well I, for one, find this fascinating! Can’t these poor people have a session somewhere else and just not go there? Maybe he’s got a few shills among the regulars.
I really hadn’t and I guess I did. I looked up Garth that Caj mentioned and and had a little trouble figuring out what the connection was there but now I know that Dana Carvey played both the Church Lady and Garth characters. Thank goodness for Google! I am trying to fill in these gaps in my education. 
