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Author Topic: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)  (Read 24427 times)

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forrest

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #120 on: September 06, 2012, 04:07:12 PM »

Here in the US, the places where sessions occur are few and far between, but many taverns, bars and 'brew pubs' offer music of some sort occasionally. There is an interesting dynamic that occurs in venues that serve alcohol. Some patrons are there to drink and converse with friends, some to hear music, and some for both reasons. The musicians, wanting to be heard well, will often play at three levels: loud>, extra loud>, and deafening. If they have mixing boards and speakers, (most clubs have them, and even acoustic instruments are run thru these), then it becomes a tug of war.....'music' vs. 'talk'. This reaches a point where the talkers are obliged to scream into each other's ears to be understood. It makes for a rather unpleasant venue for all parties.  This seems to happen less often in a Cafe or coffeehouse setting....is this the case in Britain as well?
« Last Edit: September 06, 2012, 04:11:03 PM by j.w.forrest »
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Marje

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #121 on: September 06, 2012, 04:46:56 PM »

Here in the US, the places where sessions occur are few and far between, but many taverns, bars and 'brew pubs' offer music of some sort occasionally. There is an interesting dynamic that occurs in venues that serve alcohol. Some patrons are there to drink and converse with friends, some to hear music, and some for both reasons. The musicians, wanting to be heard well, will often play at three levels: loud>, extra loud>, and deafening. If they have mixing boards and speakers, (most clubs have them, and even acoustic instruments are run thru these), then it becomes a tug of war.....'music' vs. 'talk'. This reaches a point where the talkers are obliged to scream into each other's ears to be understood. It makes for a rather unpleasant venue for all parties.  This seems to happen less often in a Cafe or coffeehouse setting....is this the case in Britain as well?
In Britain, the "coffeehouse" setting for folk events is almost unknown. Almost all folk sessions and concerts take place in a licensed venue where alcohol is sold, usually a pub, ale being the favoured drink with most folkies. This doesn't generally entail drunkenness or drinking to excess, but it's considered a normal and civilised enhancement of the evening. I'm just pointing that out becasue I know that attitudes to alcohol in the US are somewhat different.

If a band is booked to perform, they'll usually use amplification of some sort, but in that case the understanding is that people will have come to hear the band and won't mind it being loud. It tends to mean, as you've observed, that the audience get louder and louder, and can also (to my mind) create a bit of a barrier between them and the performance.

An open music and song session will not normally be amplified. The volume will depend on the number and type of instruments/voices and also on the acoustic of the room - some pubs have quite a "soft" acoustic with carpets, upholstery, etc, while others have bare floors that amplify the sound more. Pubs often have low ceilings that are divided by exposed beams, which can make it tricky for the musicians to hear each other properly if there's a beam across the middle of the room.

The best pub venues for music sessions are those with a room that has some sort of alcove or L-shaped arrangement that allows the session players to gather in a defined area that is open to the bar and the rest of the pub. This allows other pub guests to move closer to or further from the music, depending on thier inclination. But the music not generally loud enough to prevent conversation in most of the room, and people who want to chat can move away from the music to do so. People do often sidle up to listen for a while and then move away to chat. The pub where we have regular sessions also supplies newpapers and board games, so we sometimes play to people who are reading the paper or playing Scrabble.

Folk song clubs, by contrast, are most often held in a separate room, often a back or upstairs room of a pub, and the only people in the room are those who are there to contribute or to listen. This also enables them have paid performers, and to charge an entry fee, which doesn't happen at sessions.
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Marje

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #122 on: September 06, 2012, 05:30:01 PM »

Quote
Almost all folk sessions and concerts take place in a licensed venue where alcohol is sold, usually a pub, ale being the favoured drink with most folkies.

Irish sessions in Irish pubs in the U.K. are not known as folk sessions just sessions - the drink is mostly stout or lager rather than ale and you wouldn't call either the muscians or the patrons folkies without risk of a severe talking to  (:)
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Marje

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #123 on: September 06, 2012, 06:02:05 PM »

Quote
Almost all folk sessions and concerts take place in a licensed venue where alcohol is sold, usually a pub, ale being the favoured drink with most folkies.

Irish sessions in Irish pubs in the U.K. are not known as folk sessions just sessions - the drink is mostly stout or lager rather than ale and you wouldn't call either the muscians or the patrons folkies without risk of a severe talking to  (:)

I think a lot of English and Scottish musicians would also object to the tag "folkie" but I can't think of another neat word that covers it. And although English sessions are also referred to by the regulars as just "sessions", I was trying to make it clear to someone from the US what I was describing. You are quite right about the drinks, though, the Irish session players tend to be Guinness-drinkers. I don't really know what the favoured drink in sessions in Scotland is, but perhaps someone will tell us. I did go to a session on Skye once, where they brew wonderful ales, but I didn't notice what the local musicians (who were mostly students form the Gaelic College) were drinking.

This thread is now in danger of becoming a beer thread.
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deltasalmon

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #124 on: September 06, 2012, 06:06:52 PM »

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The musicians, wanting to be heard well, will often play at three levels: loud>, extra loud>, and deafening. If they have mixing boards and speakers, (most clubs have them, and even acoustic instruments are run thru these),

Most local sessions by me are un-mic'd acoustic sessions whether they be in bar/pub or coffeehouse. I find there are more of the amplified "sessions" in the bigger cities like New York. These also are usually the same 3-5 people and some would consider it to be more of a performance than a session for these reasons.
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malcolmbebb

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #125 on: September 06, 2012, 06:07:16 PM »

What do make I larf:

The local Irish session (in Moseley) is at the Prince of Wales. Which is just across the road from an O'neill's pub which doesn't have sessions.

They sell lots of Guiness. But also have several guest ales :|glug
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Ebor_fiddler

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #126 on: September 06, 2012, 06:46:06 PM »

To change the subject away from the Demon Drink ( >:E)- has anybody else noticed how many "folkies" look like Harold Shipman clones?  :|bl
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malcolmbebb

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #127 on: September 06, 2012, 06:52:05 PM »

<bad taste alert>
I bet there's a few dead ringers...
</taste>

Actually, thought he, looking at his security pass - the bloke has got a point...
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Dino BPII.
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Graham Spencer

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #128 on: September 06, 2012, 07:04:46 PM »

The local Irish session (in Moseley) is at the Prince of Wales.

Ah, I remember it well; good to know it's still there, as so many of the pubs round that neck of the woods seem to have turned into Indian restaurants. I used to teach just down the road in Sparkhill........   Is The Old Moseley Arms still going? (Sorry about the thread drift!)

Graham
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malcolmbebb

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #129 on: September 06, 2012, 07:17:49 PM »

I believe so (a couple of possible candidates?? but both I think still going).

I am staying just on the border between Moseley and Sparkhill - the latter being a place where one would NOT expect to find an Irish session. Or indeed, an English one. But small supermarkets, ready food and clothing shops of a variety of ethnicities abound, as, oddly enough, do pharmacies. Never seen so many so close together.

Digressing further (sorry) the group in which I am working don't do doughnuts, sweets, or sticky buns on birthdays - instead it's a box of fresh cooked local meat or veg samosas. Terrific. I'll never buy a supermarket samosa again.
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Dino BPII.
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Graham Spencer

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #130 on: September 06, 2012, 07:43:56 PM »

Absolutely - I spent most of my teaching career in inner-city multi-ethnic schools, the last 6 or 7 years in Sparkhill; a lot of the kids I taught worked weekends in balti houses in and around Ladypool Road, as a result of which we always used to get VIP treatment, and the kids' mothers were always sending "food parcels" in.  Happy days........

Anyway, back to melodeons!  :||:

Graham
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Bob Ellis

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Re: Session v Tune-swap (some Irish content)
« Reply #131 on: September 07, 2012, 12:27:12 AM »

(Back on topic)  ::)

I've just come in from a near perfect session at the Old Hill Inn - just six musicians, all playing different instruments, some standard tunes with everyone playing, some lovely new ones with most of us listening or trying to pick up the tune, and some relaxed conversation between tunes. No pressure or feeling of embarrassment when I fell off a tune. Now, that's my kind of session!  (:)  :||:  :|glug  (:)  :|||:  :|glug
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