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ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I found this enormously interesting.
This is a website for a monthly music session which takes in Joyce's Bar, Tuamgraney, Co. Clare, Ireland. The SAMS sessions began on Tuesday 5 November 2002 and continue on the first Tuesday of every month.
Some sweet soul has maintained a set list of each session!
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I've seen all sorts of things happen at sessions in Ireland. Don't be misled into thinking that the music is going to be wonderful just because it is the home country!
There was a session in Clare a few years ago where a female *insisted* on entertaining us with a "Rolf Harris" stylophone. I'm not sure where that one stands in M G's hierarchy of instruments.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I went to a session in Tralee that was just songs, Will. It was fantastic. Eye-opening. Living over here I thought there were only 5 Irish songs, and they all stunk. (Whiskey in the Jar, Danny Boy, the Irish Rover, the Unicorn and Star of the County Down.)
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Kerri, you've got to read the list of songs at that "sharingmusic" site first. "All the Leaves Are Gone," "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank," "Seminole Wind," "Hey Ronnie Reagan," "Ticket to Ride, "Like A Rolling Stone"....
Yes, a sing-a-long can be great fun, and I'm genuinely happy for these people, enjoying their music. But their "set lists" are hardly representative of what gets played at most sessions.
I guess I differentiate between a song circle and a tune session. After looking at their repertoire, I wouldn't go to Joyce's in Tuamgraney expecting long sets of reels and jigs. In fact, I might not go to Joyce's at all.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I didn't know that Kerri was there. Nice hair there Ker. I really like the glowing effect -- it makes your whole head look like it's glowing. Were you playing "Pop Goes the Weasle" again?
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
The photos under the "people" link held a clue. Most of them show only guitarists. There's one fiddle player in some shots, but the face is obliterated with a yellow smudge.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
BT, where was that last session you were at? Sounds like one I'd enjoy. (I'm mostly kidding here, but the last thing a good session needs is another guitarist bedecking good tunes with Em7flatted5th chords. To each his own, but check your Em7b5 chords at the door of my sesh, thank you.)
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
"The yellow smudge thing often happens to fiddlers."
Yes, it's called rosin build-up. Can be nasty when inadvertently mixed with flute drool and allowed to harden, which is apparently what happend with that poor woman in the photo....
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Hmmm...I don't want to sound as harsh as I'm coming across here.
Yes, the Joyce session does sound like fun, but it's an entirely different kind of fun from what I go to Irish sessions for. I *do* enjoy a good run of songs, and I too am capable of putting the fiddle down to strum augmented 7ths on a guitar instead. But I wouldn't advertise that as a session in the same terms we talk about sessions here. And I certainly wouldn't take the Joyce's set list as representative of Clare sessions.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
You often find, when you go to the West of Ireland, that the locals call the tunes by completely different names to those found in Dave Mallinson's tunebooks, etc. 'Tribute to John Denver' is actually an East Clare name for 'The Humours of Scarriff'.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I do say that I go to an ITM session for ITM. I don't believe the Joyce sessions are billed as such.
I daresay, however, I would go over quite well at a session like that. I suspect my ukulele playing would be well received.
And my wife and daughter do a nice cover of I Can't Help Falling in Love with you during our Elvis impersonation set featuring twin magnum concertinas PLUS minor seventh chords. (no b5 on this one, I have my standards, low but I have them.)
I have a nice backup for Out on the Ocean with m7. Tonite I will play it and dedicate it to John Denver.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I was at a "real" ITM session in Manchester last year, and someone was playing the KAZOO. Now I know that this news is not sensational, but he was playing a plastic Kazoo, and I would have thought that a metal kazoo was the real traditional one.
Now I don't want to get caught up in this "snobbery" thing, but surely if this person was going to a "pure drop" session, he should have had a metal Kazoo.
I know M.G left the kazoo out of his hierarchy, but what do you expect.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Now, Jack, you know the only reason I was playing Pop Goes the Weasel was that I was being a respectful visitor to your session and following the set list you handed out at the start of the night.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
See for me, it's not "snobbery." I play rock, punk, blues, bluegrass, and folk music (on at least five different instruments). But when I sit down at an Irish session, I like to play mostly Irish trad music. Not accompaniment to someone warbling old Beatles songs.
I just think this session in Joyce's has as much to do with Irish trad music (and as much relevance here) as Wayne Newton does. If I went to such a gathering, I'd leave my fiddle at home and take a guitar or mandolin and have a good time.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Well, Jack, if you had just taken the time to show the guy who drew up the chord chart that the circle on a "d" goes on the left, not the right, there would have been a lot less confusion.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I am turning into a snob, I suppose. As my skills have improved, I've developed a taste for cleaner, tighter sessions. If you live in a place where open sessions are sloppy and chaotic, what's wrong with sneaking off once in a while for a quiet, tight little session and not telling anybody about it?
I *do* give the sneaky people a hard time though, I admit. Plus they're always lurking on these threads. I hope they miss this one, or my days of antagonizing them for their elitist attitude are numbered.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Kerri, how do you expect to have a "tight session" if you can't even play the right chords for "Hickory Dickory Dock" without looking at the cheat-sheets? It's a good thing we never got to the hard tunes like "Hole in the Log" that night is all I got to say. Geesh!
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Thanks, Jim, for the reality check. "Nice people" having a song and some picking is exactly what it looks like from their web site. A good time, no doubt.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
A tight session is one where the landlord provides one free pint between all the musicians, and has a policy that every musician must spend at least £15 at the bar in order to get a seat. That's why there are so few tight sessions around.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Not enough space in my pocket.
I've just noticed on a different thread something Kerri said about trade unions. There could be serious trouble brewing, especially as it was the miner's union.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Our session last night. A visiting banjo player (3rd tier hierarchy) led the first tunes, and then proceeded to dominate all night.
A guest singer sang "South of the Border, down Mexico way", and then finally, to accompany a song, I played shaky eggs. However obviously I am great with shaky eggs, and these were traditional Irish shaky eggs, not some far eastern copy.
Now we must have broken every rule for the "pure drop" session, but it was a great night, and the "Billy Bunters" loved it.
Now this banjo player is great, and well I was there, and yet we found time for some "indulgence" and requests, for we are paid entertainers. Even without the money, if the "diverse bits" make the night flow as well, why the hell not?
The music will always be at the core. You don't need to be snobbish, wear tweeds, or be a social worker or teacher/lecturer to preserve the tradition.
ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I found this enormously interesting.
This is a website for a monthly music session which takes in Joyce's Bar, Tuamgraney, Co. Clare, Ireland. The SAMS sessions began on Tuesday 5 November 2002 and continue on the first Tuesday of every month.
Some sweet soul has maintained a set list of each session!
http://www.sharingmusic.org/
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by bt
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I hope those tune lists are a windup..."Tribute to John Denver," Si Bheag, Si Mohr on solo banjo, an entire evening of songs. Yikes.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Will Harmon
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I've seen all sorts of things happen at sessions in Ireland. Don't be misled into thinking that the music is going to be wonderful just because it is the home country!
There was a session in Clare a few years ago where a female *insisted* on entertaining us with a "Rolf Harris" stylophone. I'm not sure where that one stands in M G's hierarchy of instruments.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by John J.
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I went to a session in Tralee that was just songs, Will. It was fantastic. Eye-opening. Living over here I thought there were only 5 Irish songs, and they all stunk. (Whiskey in the Jar, Danny Boy, the Irish Rover, the Unicorn and Star of the County Down.)
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Kerri Brown
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Kerri, you've got to read the list of songs at that "sharingmusic" site first. "All the Leaves Are Gone," "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank," "Seminole Wind," "Hey Ronnie Reagan," "Ticket to Ride, "Like A Rolling Stone"....
Yes, a sing-a-long can be great fun, and I'm genuinely happy for these people, enjoying their music. But their "set lists" are hardly representative of what gets played at most sessions.
I guess I differentiate between a song circle and a tune session. After looking at their repertoire, I wouldn't go to Joyce's in Tuamgraney expecting long sets of reels and jigs. In fact, I might not go to Joyce's at all.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Will Harmon
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I didn't know that Kerri was there. Nice hair there Ker. I really like the glowing effect -- it makes your whole head look like it's glowing. Were you playing "Pop Goes the Weasle" again?
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
The photos under the "people" link held a clue. Most of them show only guitarists. There's one fiddle player in some shots, but the face is obliterated with a yellow smudge.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by GaryAMartin
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
The yellow smudge thing often happens to fiddlers. Guess it adds to the mystery
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by RogueFiddler
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I dunno,
I think that session sounds like fun, There are a few ITM chestnuts sprinkled liberally about.
Isn't it nice to know that you can pull out a cover of Fats Waller or Gershwin or Elvis without getting tossed out on your ear?
Last session I was at, I was afraid to let anyone know that I can play guitar at all much less an em7b5. I just hid in the corner with a flute.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by bt
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
BT, where was that last session you were at? Sounds like one I'd enjoy.
(I'm mostly kidding here, but the last thing a good session needs is another guitarist bedecking good tunes with Em7flatted5th chords. To each his own, but check your Em7b5 chords at the door of my sesh, thank you.)
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Will Harmon
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
"The yellow smudge thing often happens to fiddlers."
Yes, it's called rosin build-up. Can be nasty when inadvertently mixed with flute drool and allowed to harden, which is apparently what happend with that poor woman in the photo....
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Will Harmon
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Hmmm...I don't want to sound as harsh as I'm coming across here.
Yes, the Joyce session does sound like fun, but it's an entirely different kind of fun from what I go to Irish sessions for. I *do* enjoy a good run of songs, and I too am capable of putting the fiddle down to strum augmented 7ths on a guitar instead. But I wouldn't advertise that as a session in the same terms we talk about sessions here. And I certainly wouldn't take the Joyce's set list as representative of Clare sessions.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Will Harmon
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
You often find, when you go to the West of Ireland, that the locals call the tunes by completely different names to those found in Dave Mallinson's tunebooks, etc. 'Tribute to John Denver' is actually an East Clare name for 'The Humours of Scarriff'.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I would think "Tribute to John Denver" would be code for the Floating Crowbar, perhaps, or Out on the Ocean. ;o)
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Will Harmon
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
ooh, that's nasty.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by bt
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I do say that I go to an ITM session for ITM. I don't believe the Joyce sessions are billed as such.
I daresay, however, I would go over quite well at a session like that. I suspect my ukulele playing would be well received.
And my wife and daughter do a nice cover of I Can't Help Falling in Love with you during our Elvis impersonation set featuring twin magnum concertinas PLUS minor seventh chords. (no b5 on this one, I have my standards, low but I have them.)
I have a nice backup for Out on the Ocean with m7. Tonite I will play it and dedicate it to John Denver.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by bt
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I was at a "real" ITM session in Manchester last year, and someone was playing the KAZOO. Now I know that this news is not sensational, but he was playing a plastic Kazoo, and I would have thought that a metal kazoo was the real traditional one.
Now I don't want to get caught up in this "snobbery" thing, but surely if this person was going to a "pure drop" session, he should have had a metal Kazoo.
I know M.G left the kazoo out of his hierarchy, but what do you expect.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by bodhran bliss
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Now, Jack, you know the only reason I was playing Pop Goes the Weasel was that I was being a respectful visitor to your session and following the set list you handed out at the start of the night.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Kerri Brown
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Yea, but I couldn't believe how you screwed up the chords to Hickory Dickory Dock.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I want a 6-keyed African blackwood Pratten-style conical bore kazoo....
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Will Harmon
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
See for me, it's not "snobbery." I play rock, punk, blues, bluegrass, and folk music (on at least five different instruments). But when I sit down at an Irish session, I like to play mostly Irish trad music. Not accompaniment to someone warbling old Beatles songs.
I just think this session in Joyce's has as much to do with Irish trad music (and as much relevance here) as Wayne Newton does. If I went to such a gathering, I'd leave my fiddle at home and take a guitar or mandolin and have a good time.
# Posted on March 25th 2005 by Will Harmon
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Well, Jack, if you had just taken the time to show the guy who drew up the chord chart that the circle on a "d" goes on the left, not the right, there would have been a lot less confusion.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Kerri Brown
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I am turning into a snob, I suppose. As my skills have improved, I've developed a taste for cleaner, tighter sessions. If you live in a place where open sessions are sloppy and chaotic, what's wrong with sneaking off once in a while for a quiet, tight little session and not telling anybody about it?
I *do* give the sneaky people a hard time though, I admit. Plus they're always lurking on these threads. I hope they miss this one, or my days of antagonizing them for their elitist attitude are numbered.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Kerri Brown
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Kerri, how do you expect to have a "tight session" if you can't even play the right chords for "Hickory Dickory Dock" without looking at the cheat-sheets? It's a good thing we never got to the hard tunes like "Hole in the Log" that night is all I got to say. Geesh!
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Thanks, Jim, for the reality check. "Nice people" having a song and some picking is exactly what it looks like from their web site. A good time, no doubt.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Will Harmon
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Jack, a "tight session" is one where the only table you can find is in a 4 seater booth and 8 musicians show up. What are *you* talking about?
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Kerri Brown
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
So THAT"S the kind of session you're looking for then, eh Kerri? I hope everyone takes a bath before they go.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Looks like a guitar invasion sing along to me.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Tim_Fiddler
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Actually a good acoustic jam is as fun as anything when yoiu are among friends and pints of the spirit of choice. Slainte' to the SAMS sessioners!
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Tim_Fiddler
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
A tight session is one where the landlord provides one free pint between all the musicians, and has a policy that every musician must spend at least £15 at the bar in order to get a seat. That's why there are so few tight sessions around.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Jack - enjoyed those comments - brought a smile to my weary face
Kerri - when are you going to learn those chords anyway?
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by breandan
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
You mean, you thought I was joking around???!!! :-0
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Some people smile when they feel pity, Jack. it's angelic.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Kerri Brown
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
ROFL at the "should have had a metal kazoo to be 'pure drop' session"...
Hhahahaaaaaaaaa
Good one, bodhran bliss!
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Tunes!
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
He really was playing a kazoo, and nothing else.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by bodhran bliss
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Is that a kazoo in your pocket you're playing with?
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Not enough space in my pocket.
I've just noticed on a different thread something Kerri said about trade unions. There could be serious trouble brewing, especially as it was the miner's union.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by bodhran bliss
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Oh my god, that one at Joyce's seems like the session from hell!
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Beheader
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
I agree!
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by gian marco
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
Our session last night. A visiting banjo player (3rd tier hierarchy) led the first tunes, and then proceeded to dominate all night.
A guest singer sang "South of the Border, down Mexico way", and then finally, to accompany a song, I played shaky eggs. However obviously I am great with shaky eggs, and these were traditional Irish shaky eggs, not some far eastern copy.
Now we must have broken every rule for the "pure drop" session, but it was a great night, and the "Billy Bunters" loved it.
Now this banjo player is great, and well I was there, and yet we found time for some "indulgence" and requests, for we are paid entertainers. Even without the money, if the "diverse bits" make the night flow as well, why the hell not?
The music will always be at the core. You don't need to be snobbish, wear tweeds, or be a social worker or teacher/lecturer to preserve the tradition.
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by bodhran bliss
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
We're supposed to wear tweeds?
# Posted on March 26th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: ever want to know *exactly* which tunes are played in a session in Clare?
You mean you don't?
# Posted on March 27th 2005 by bodhran bliss