It certainly is not a standard practice to do so, and I think there are very sound reasons for that. For one thing, a substantial number of the better players out there don’t have a clue of the names of many of the tunes they play. For the tunes that do have names, the names are often a muddle.
Just as a for instance, there’s a great D major reel I learned from Music of Sligo called “The Flying Column”. Except, I didn’t have the liner notes handy when I learned it, and Trip to Sligo called it “Maid in the Cherry Tree”, so that’s how I think of it. But neither name is commonly attached to this particular tune, as far as I know, and there are other tunes that those names are attached to. (I’m talking about the D major reel that starts out like a D version of London Lasses, D2FD ADFD|Addc def2.) Ooo, now I remember, it sometimes gets called “Farewell to Erin”, “Farewell to Eireann”, “Farewell to Ireland”, and now that I run the Fiddler’s Companion on those names, “Austin Tierney’s”. I think the “Farewells” are wrong names picked up because Michael Coleman recorded it in a set with “Farewell to Erin” and only gave one title to the two tunes; but maybe that’s the other way around.
Anyway, I’ve heard other people start it several times recently at our local session, and I’ve no idea what they call the tune. If I called out one of my names for it, they wouldn’t have a clue, and likely vice versa. The names just get in the way; the tune is the thing.
I have been at a couple of sessions where it seems to be common to wait until the person that started the tune has played it through entirely once before joining in. I’m not sure what I think of that practice – I can see pluses and minuses to it.
benbrad, you have to look for a slow session in your part of the world. I found one in Bloomington about an hour from my house. The solw session’s reason for being is to help along new players. I have been going for about a year every two weeks and am now almost at a point where I can hang in there at a real session. All that remains is to summon up some more courage. In our slow session we bring sheet music and then as we memorize each tune we leave that piece home and play it from memory. You can get an idea of what we do by going up on the whilstle shop web site. http://www.thewhistleshop.com/slow/session.htm
If ther is no slow session in your town mabe you can find someone experienced to start one!!
Good Luck
Jim
If you have finally mastered Si Beag Si Mor, and you come into a session where high speed reels are played with grim determination, you prolly won’t get the warm fuzzies. Opposite principle applies too. I know a guy who is not welcome at sessions because he insists on playing obscure reels (and some well known) at super high speed. Great musician, but disliked at sessions.
This is one I really wish would be paid more attention to. Unless you only have high ranking talent at your sessions, you are really not being courteous to just jump into a tune and leave others in the dust.
I do sometimes sit and quietly run through a couple of tunes on my own when the rest of the group is in a talking break, or a couple of people will put their heads together and figure one out together. But when the tune is for the whole group, it is a boon to let the whole group know what the heck it is!
Benbrad - there are some really good musicians in some of those videos, but I’ve yet to be at a really good session without some professional level players. However, the videos are representative of the sessions I’ve played in.
The suggestion to find a slow session is a good one. I did that for over a year before I ventured out into the full tempo session world (I had been playing on my own before going to the slow session). If you can’t find a slow session, find a tune they’re playing at your nearest session - learn it well enough to play along with a tape of it (ask before taping, but I’ve never heard anyone say no), and then ask if you can join in on the tunes you’ve learned.
It is a bit intimidating until you’ve done it a few times. It’s also rather addictive. There’s the good fun playing with nice folks, and there are transcendent moments where everyone’s together and wow - those times are grand.
I once listened to a (not commercial) session which takes place once a year here in Germany. The standard was very high and few musicians had the heart to join (I preferred to listen…). They were very welcoming if you hit their standard, if you didn’t you were b*tched out. A mandolin player who I consider to be very good started a set, and the other musicians laid down their instruments and waited until he finished it, then started another one by their own. That’s what I call an unfriendly session.
Otherwise, I certainly understand when people don’t want to play with musicians who clearly overrate themselves. Hm, twisted session world.
In our town (Peterborough Ontario) some of us fairly beginning players have started an informal “slow jam” that gets together every week or two - all are welcome, as long as they understand that our purpose is to have fun and learn tunes, and not to be virtuosos.
We have, let’s say, an eclectic variety of instruments (ukulele, anyone?) Word is now starting to get around, and we keep hearing from folks asking to join us. But even on nights when only a few people show up, we get a lot out of it. We generally meet early on the same evening as one of the more official Irish sessions, so we occasionally head out to the pub after we’re done to hang out and listen to the experienced musicians - and pick up ideas for new tunes to learn. So it’s worth just starting a slow session, if there’s not one already formed.
Daggone that looks like fun (those session links to youtube). What I’d call “makin’ music” if it was old time they were playing. I sure wish there was something like that in my neck of the woods.
