The dos and don’ts for first-time goers and curious people alike (musicians or not!)
Every culture/society has their typical cuisine, language, songs and dances, among other traits. Notably, music seems to be tied to rituals and traditions, worldwide. Today we will be taking a dive into the traditional music landscape of Ireland, and some of its elements.
The habit of having musicians gather around a table and play some of the local songs is common to many countries, but in Ireland it became a notable cultural institution: the Irish Session (or seisún, in Irish).
Typically held in pubs, a session involves a group of musicians casually meeting to play Irish Traditional Music (sometimes abbreviated as ITM or just referred to as trad). The artists don’t necessarily know each other, and in general haven’t rehearsed together before. There usually isn’t a defined playlist of songs either. The atmosphere is fun and laid back, both for those playing and for those witnessing it.
If you’re going as a listener, the steps are simple enough. Find your local pub that has sessions going on, go alone or with a few friends, find a table, get yourself a Guinness and listen to the great music. Chances are that even if you live quite far away from Ireland, there is still a group of local musicians studying this style close to you.
The aptly named site The Session.org is one of the best resources for all things trad related, especially for musicians studying the style. It has a huge variety of songs written down in either ABC or standard musical notation. Often more knowledgeable musicians also leave insights into the history of each particular tune. They have a map of sessions around the world that can help you find one. Things might be a little slow during the pandemic, however, so bear that in mind.
Tips for listeners
Typically there will be one or a few tables set aside for the musicians to gather around. If you get to sit close to that table you’ll get to hear them better, but in general it’s best not to sit on the musician table itself unless you’re also playing. Common sense goes a long way in situations like this though, and it never hurts to ask, especially if you see a free seat among the musicians and just want to see things up close.
The more you listen to Irish music, the more you’ll start discerning the different types of rhythms that are common. Here’s a very quick primer if you want to try identifying some of these on your next session.
Reels and jigs are the most common rhythms, by far. Reels are typically played in 4/4 time. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means. You can feel it from examples like Julia Delaney’s reel:
I’ve seen some people explain the reel rhythm by repeating a 4 syllable word that fits the 4/4 timing. You could try repeating the word “pepperoni” in your head, over this song. Why? Well, why not?
Jigs, on the other hand, typically have a 6/8 time signature, which gives them a characteristic jumpy/galloped feel. You’ll internalize it after a few listens, but if you want another word-repeating trick, try a three syllable word like “salami” over Monaghan’s jig:
There’s of course a lot more rhythms to learn, like slipjigs, polkas, hornpipes, and more. Perhaps we’ll do an article about all of those at some point, but with the tricks above you’ll already be able to detect the reels and jigs played in your next session.
In many sessions, different tunes in these rhythms generally will be put together into sets of 2~4 tunes. Often the sets are all of the same type of tune (reels, jigs, etc) but sometimes they can be mixed, and these changes in time signatures can be fun and exciting. See if you can spot when the salami becomes a pepperoni on this video:
Although instrumental tunes constitute the majority of the music played in a session, often a few songs will also be included. This word, in a session context, often refers to music including lyrics. Such songs may be solemnly lilted by a single vocalist, or may be a drinking song where everyone in the pub sings along. It will generally be obvious which case is which. Here, we use “P Stands for Paddy” by Cara Dillon as an example.
Rules for Musicians
Whether you’re a session veteran, or a first timer wanting to go to a real session to play those tunes you’ve been practicing on your own, it’s never bad to revise some common practices for anyone playing in a session. The following are compiled from several sources, as well as personal experiences. These are loosely arranged in order of importance.
#1 — If you’re not familiar with a given session, observe before playing.
Take some time to see how the musicians organize in this session. Do they prefer backing instruments or not? Do they take turns starting sets, or is there one leader that always chooses the next one?
Common sense will go a long way here, but it’s also always a good idea to ask if it’s ok to sit at the musician’s table, if you’re totally unfamiliar to everyone there. Oftentimes musicians are happy to receive you, but it’s always best to check first.
You can use this observing time to tune your instrument and make sure you’re ready to join everyone.
#2 — If you don’t know a song, sit that one out. Don’t try to wing it.
Trying to stumble through a song you don’t know is usually not advisable. Some sessions are specifically beginner friendly, and this is not as much of a problem in that case, but you shouldn’t assume that to be the general case.
This is of course extra important if you’re playing one of the leading melody instruments (fiddle, flute, whistle, pipe, concertina, accordion, mandolin, banjo, etc).
#3 — If you start a tune or set, be ready to finish it.
If you started it, you’re the one dictating how fast/slow it goes and the number of repetitions. Be careful not to rush or drag.
#4 — Keep an eye (and an ear) out for signals!
Verbal and non-verbal communication is fundamental. Sometimes when playing a song, especially if it’s your first time, it’s common to get absorbed into the moment and forget there are other musicians that might be giving you input or waiting on yours.
Sometimes it could be as simple as a loud “hup!” to alert everyone that this is the last repetition of a tune, a head nudge or an eye movement.
A quite enjoyable example can be seen in this video (bet you you’ll be tapping your feet by the end):
Although technically this specific video is more of a performance and not so much a session, the example still stands. Notice how throughout the set musicians are constantly motioning to each other.
Around 2:05 in the video we see the fiddler in the middle of the group quickly glance at the guitarists. With that motion, she’s letting them know this is the final repetition for the first tune. A few instants later she looks at the other fiddler, next to her, for the same purpose. Up until this point, no words have been exchanged, and everything happened in less than 3 seconds.
The playing guitarist nods to the one waiting, to let him know he’ll start playing soon. Right after this, he asks the fiddler: “A”? She confirms that is indeed the key to the next song, and the information is then relayed to the backing musician awaiting. This type of communication happens in various forms multiple times in the video.
You can expect something very similar to this to occur frequently in a session setting, even between musicians that have never played together. This language of signals is not really standardized across sessions or musicians, but it is very effective nevertheless.
#5— Pause between sets.
Once a set is over, you might feel eager to start another one immediately. This may happen a few times depending on the session, but that pause in between sets often is just as important as the songs.
The short break gives musicians a moment to catch their breath, rest their hands, chat a bit. Enjoy this moment with them!
#6 — Don’t overlap backings!
Not every session out there wants/needs backing instruments (guitar, Irish bouzouki, bodhran, etc). For a long time in the history of Irish music, the main accompanying percussion was (and still often is!) the sound of tapping feet stomping on wooden floors. If you play a backing instrument, be extra mindful of this, and don’t barge in. You are there to accompany, and not to play over the melody instruments. Often you won’t be told the keys of the songs in advance, so practice listening and figuring them out quickly once they start, but also be mindful of rule #2. Be especially careful about winging it, if you’re requested to accompany a vocalist for a song you happen to not know.
As a guitar player myself, I know we have the most freedom in deciding how we want to accompany a tune, and how backing in Irish music is less set in stone than playing melodies (although even those have so many variations). But this freedom also means a big responsibility in making sure we don’t ruin the sound of the melodic instruments.
When there are multiple backing musicians on the same table, they’ll often take turns and give each other space. The reasoning behind this is that two guitarists playing at once can seem like two drummers improvising over each other, if they don’t know exactly how the other one intends to accompany the song. The result could be a disastrous cacophony.
However, as in many of the rules so far, everything is a matter of common sense and good communication. Some situations where you might see more than one guitarist playing at the same time, for instance, include: one or more guitarists fingerpicking/flatpicking the melody alongside the other instruments; Two or more guitarists are backing in a complementary way to each other, either by combining different tunings that focus on higher/lower notes, or some other arrangement mutually agreed upon.
Going back to the last video we mentioned, we see a great example of this at play.
This set has 4 reels: Father Kelly’s, Reconciliation, Mountain Road, MacArthur’s. We can see that for the first and second tunes, the guitarists take turns and play one at a time.
At around 3:42, however, we see the centermost guitarist signal to the other one as if saying “we’ll both do this one together, yes?”, to which the leftmost guitarist agrees.
How do they avoid the destructive cacophony? Well, it is possible even if they didn’t previously rehearse this song together. A few different things to note:
— Both guitarists are playing different styles of backing, with different chord fingerings and voicings. Middlemost-guitar man also uses a capo for a few tunes. The different ranges of the chords played by each guitar can complement each other nicely.
— From the moment they signal to play together, hat-guitar man constantly looks at the other guitar to make sure he’s playing in a similar rhythm (look at their right hands in sync). Both of them simplify their progressions and syncopations compared to the previous songs. For instance, Middlemost-guitar man drones a D chord with a consistent strumming pattern for quite a few bars at the start of the tune. All of this is likely done in a very second nature way and respecting Rule #4.
Despite the incredible power of this non-verbal communication, in practice it’s always best to err in the side of caution. Let each accompanying instrument take its turn individually, unless expressly stated otherwise.
Especially on the first repetition of a tune, avoid making the rhythm too syncopated or the chords progressions too spicy, to help set the tone for the other instruments playing. The last thing you want to do is confuse them or throw them off in any way. The focus is creating a nice base for them to shine even brighter, rather than showing off what you can do.
As everything starts to jam together, however, any variation possibilities will become more clear.
#7 — Have fun!
This one goes without saying, but when you’re actually in a session playing with other musicians and it’s all flowing nicely, you won’t be thinking about any of these rules. You’ll just be enjoying one of the most special musical experiences one can live, and understanding why it has been a tradition for so long in Ireland.
Conclusion
So all in all, here’s a quick summary of the rules:
#1 - Observe, observe, observe. Look first, play later.
#2 - Play the songs you know.
#3 - Only start songs/sets you can end.
#4 - Be mindful of communication, verbal or non-verbal.
#5 - Remember to pause, breathe, chat, drink your Guinness.
#6 - Extra care when playing backing instruments.
If you feel I forgot any important ones, I’m eager for your feedback.
Slainte!
