Session "etiquette" revisited

Whistle
21

A great topic that should be refreshed every so often…

In my experience of the Southern California session scene there seem to be two basic kinds of sessions:

  1. Sessions where the focus is on the music, i.e. great music = great craic.

  2. Sessions where the focus is on the social experience, i.e. mostly what matters is having fun and if good music is produced in the process, thats a plus.

We’ve tended towards having the open pub sessions around San Diego in the type #2 category, and several semi-closed or by invitation pub sessions in the type #1 category.

I think there is a need for both, otherwise as in any situation where there is a lack of resources, turf battles and bad behavior is generally the result… :slight_smile:

In the open sessions, pretty much anything goes, in the closed/invite sessions, generally the basic rules of session etiquette (tune your instrument, play what you know, don’t play what you don’t know, maintain the original tempo, backup players only back tunes that they either know or can hear the mode/chord changes) are informally enforced. Usually, it just goes without saying, everyone is considerate, but every so often, we get a visitor who “takes over” and we’re happy to set them straight if required.

I think of attending a session as visiting someone elses dinner party. You wouldn’t just walk into the kitchen and start rummaging through their cabinets and closets. There are basic rules of courtesy that generally go unspoken. Same thing for a session, follow some simple guidelines and everyone has fun. But in all aspects of life, there are those who don’t know the rules and have to be quietly spoken to.


We’re blessed in San Diego with sessions of both kinds, so everyone has a place to play where they can feel comfortable and play with people of like mind.



Cheers,

Michael

22

Well, thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts, I guess we’ve all had our share of bad and good sessions. My favorite sessions are the private ones, there’s a very good whistle player from this board and two very good flute players from around town, the music quality is good and also it’s very respectful. I still don’t know why they invite me, bust as long as I don’t play much I hope they’ll keep on doing so :slight_smile:

Anyway, the good thing about these private sessions is that someone who’s ruining it usually won’t be invited again, so you keep the environment “pure”.

One last thing about people who want to play all the time, there’s also the players who are beginners and on their way to intermediate, and they are just so HAPPY to be able to play a few known tunes, as if they’ve learned a new language and now they need to try to express themselves. Well, I’m not that angry at them as they’re not being really selfish, and if told once they will calm down (most of the time). I’m a shy person so thank god, never happened to me!