Session Etiquette
What is a session?
An Irish Session is a gathering of
musicians playing traditional Irish music (occasionally including other Celtic
genres such as Scottish, Brittany, Cape Breton, and French Canadian) on
traditional Irish instruments. Traditional Irish music is made up of dance
tunes such as reels, jigs, hornpipes, slides, and a few other miscellaneous
forms including polkas, set dances, airs and songs (although songs are infrequent
at the EOWS session). It is not so much a performance but a sharing of
traditional tunes among the musicians and those who care to listen. The
instruments might include fiddle, flute, accordion, uilleann
pipes (pronounced ILL-in), concertina, tenor banjo, whistle
(a.k.a. penny whistle, tin whistle), mandolin, bodhrán
(pronounced BOW-ron), guitar, and sometimes piano. An
Irish Session is not a "jam session".
Etiquette
If you are new to the session it is
advised that you approach the session leader(s) and ask permission to sit in.
Melody instruments should stick to the melody of the tune that is being played.
There is of course, plenty of room for individual embellishments (ornamentations)
within the framework of the tune. In almost all cases, it is really not
acceptable to do improvisation on a melody instrument at an Irish Session. If
you're not familiar with a tune being played at a Session and are trying to
learn it, try to play very quietly, so as not to disrupt the flow of the
tune. Disrupting the tune by playing “around” the melody (i.e. playing notes in
the same key, but not the particular melody) is also known as “noodling”, which is generally annoying to those playing the
actual melody. It is advised that you sit and listen so that you can become
familiar with the tune. It is acceptable to record the tunes so that you can
learn it on your own time.
The melody is the priority in a
session, while the melody may be accompanied by rhythm on bouzouki, guitar,
and/or bodhrán. However there should not be more than
one of each rhythm instrument being played at one time, so as not to overwhelm
or distract from the melody. The rhythm instruments are there to compliment the
melody and to enhance the rhythm, which is also a key component of traditional
Irish music, being that the tunes are usually dance music (reels, jigs, slip
jigs, slides, hornpipes, polkas) where the dancers use their feet to beat out
the rhythm of the dance.
Tunes are usually grouped into sets.
Frequently these sets consist of particular tunes played in a particular order.
There are sets that are traditionally grouped tunes, wherever you go in the
world, while other sets are particular to an individual session. The tunes that
are played in a session are usually verbally agreed upon before starting them
so that there is some communication about what is being played next. It is not
advisable to just launch into a tune without any communication. Paying
attention to what the session leader(s) are communicating cuts down on chaos in
the session. Tunes are usually played in a straightforward manner, which means
that there is no “arrangement” which varies from the traditional tune, such as
what a band might do to link tunes together with bridges during a performance.
If you have a tunable instrument
(stringed, flute, most whistles) you should tune it so that you are not
distracting from the melody. If you are playing with a non-instantly-tunable
instrument such as an accordion, it is advisable that everyone tune to them,
assuming they are reasonably close to being in tune.
The point of a Session is to have fun! If everyone abides by the usually unspoken etiquette guidelines, it leads to a more enjoyable time for all participants.
Further discussion
on Irish Session Etiquette
Field
Guide to the Irish Music Session