Just did too much travelling the past few weeks (some business, some pleasure) and had some long weather-induced layovers that landed me in airport bars for more than a few hours at a time.
Had my flute in my carry-on bag, saw loads of people in the airports with instrument cases, and thought, "Hmmm, do any of these people with instruments play Irish music?" How wonderful would it be to have a session in an airport bar - so that travelling musicians could just drop in for a few quick tunes while on layover.
Do many of you fly frequently - for business or pleasure? Surely going to / from festivals, etc...? Have you ever wished you could make constructive use of the hours on layover?
Of course there would be no benefit to the proprietor, so it could probably never happen, but it's nice to wonder...
Our local open floating session (a New England / old-time / contra jam more than an ITM group) just returned to the Albany NY USA airport for December for the first time since the general tightening of security of the last couple years. We played in the departure lounge, and the musicians had to clear the passenger check point and follow a few restrictions, but the passengers coming through seemed to like it a lot. And muscians passing by have joined in as well. The group has also played at the Amtrak train terminal. Given the security issues, the airport session took some advance work, I gather, but it was worth it.
Interesting, jfsmith. I'll have to make a point to book all of my flights thru Albany. Just out of curiosity - how many "passing by" musicians were there?
I do quite a lot of travelling, on one route though (Warsaw-Manchester), and in same company of my colleague. My colleague, she's very nice, but doesn't play any instruments and, if I can read her face well, the last time I took her to Jolly Angler (a very good one) session, was THE last time for her.
I tell her that she should learn to play squeezebox, so we don't get bored in the airports, but she just wouldn't listen.
Airport sessions are almost always good fun, but you have to be open to a variety of musical styles. I once spent an hour at the New Orleans airport playing fiddle tunes backed by an old man in a silk suit on finger-picked blues style guitar, and then returning the favor by playing lines around his E-A-B blues songs. Great fun. I've also enjoyed impromptu sessions in Spokane WA, Sea-Tac, and Dulles Internat'l.
When there's time to pass, I sit down near the windows at an empty gate, pull a low whistle out, and play softly. Seems about 20 percent of the time someone else will ask to join in. Only once (at Dulles) was it another Irish trad player. Here in the States you see a fair number of guitarists with baby Taylors, some fiddlers, and the occasional sax.
But I've often looked at the smoking rooms in airports and thought what we really need are session rooms and health clubs. I'd love to have a gym with weights, stationary bikes, treadmills, the lot to use during a layover. That's probably my big money-making idea and I just gave it away....
I spend way too much of my life in airports. It would be tremendous if there were sessions to drop in on instead of sports bars. I think if I started playing my banjo in the "concourse" it would end up being shoved somewhere unpleasant, courtesy of travel-weary passengers. At least I'd know for sure they couldn't use nail clippers on me.
Had a nice impromptu session with the van full of people coming back from Celtic week at Swannanoa, in North Carolina. But we had to play in the lounge by the check-in so the guitar player could check his guitar in for his flight after a while.
Don't fly - use ferries. I've had good sessions on board boats. Easy enough around Scottish Islands - perhaps less good across the USA. So move to a place with islands and ferries. Actually, and I've only just thought about this, airports are inescapably horrid places and I would not like to develop an association between them and good music. Read a book and pretend its not happening to you - best solution.
I remember a story I heard in a pub one night about some of the local musicians travelling somewhere and actually having tunes in the back of the airplane while it was in flight. Apparently it got broken up by the stewardesses. Guess they preferred the sound of the engines. *Befuddled*. Whatever the case, was kind of amused when I first heard the story.
I ALWAYS play my mandola in airport terminals. Never had any musicians jump in, but I'm waiting. One time in the SanFrancisco terminal two teenaged girls who were well educated in the steps jumped in and danced a couple of reels, a jig, and a hornpipe spontaneously, up and down the aisle. It got a lot of people clapping, and was lots of fun.
Playing in airports has always been positive for me. When you start to get self-conscious and worry about making a nuisance of yourself, take a look across and up and down the aisle, chances are you'll see a lot of discrete foottapping, and even some headbobs. Then again, a mandola can be played very lightly, and I'm not blowing folks away with volume. When I travel, I grab the mandola and carry it on, slinging it in the overhead. Come to think of it, the last flight back from Hawaii, I got bored after the movie and played it in my seat, using my right wrist as a mute. I noticed a couple of stewardesses hovering nearby and apologised, and they went out way out of their way to comment, to the contrary, that it was delightful, and please, please continue. So I did. As I deplaned a passenger nearby thanked and complimented me. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that so many people actually do like competently played ITM.
What we need is a Uniform Irish Musician Locator (UIML), probably something like a tasteful flashing green shamrock (or Comhaltas retort?) that attaches inconspicuously to the top of your head. This would enable prospective airport/ferry/tramp freighter sessionners to spot each other in waiting areas.
Eventually it would be replaced by an implanted RFID tag that would cause your cellphone to emit the first bar of "The Boys of Bluehill", or something equally annoying when you get within range of another player.
You often see fiddlers at the airport in Aberdeen. Or perhaps they are violinists. We sort of check each other out but don't say anything.
I've never had the neck to just start playing in an airport .
I once played a tune (on request) for a nice woman in a Heathrow duty free shop in return for some more free drams of the single malt she was promoting.
And I had to play my banjo at security in Damascus once, they couldn't figure out what the strange-looking contraption on the X-ray was. I had learned a simple Egyptian tune from some Egyptians (strangely enough) that I was working with up country. They (the security) went "aah, muzika!" and laughed.
In a joyful, non-banjo-mocking way of course.
The resonator mandolin comes up looking pretty strange on the X-ray too. I usually ask the flight attendants to put it in a locker for me, and they usually joke about me playing them a tune and I usually joke about getting an upgrade in return and that's usually the end of the joke.
Will's idea about gyms has long been a reality in Singapore airport, the world's best by far. There's a jazz violinist that plays there sometimes (in the lounge area, not the gym) , a Chinese guy in his fifties with dyed bright red hair. I wonder if he would be up for a session?
I did play some country and western tunes with the pianist on the Indian Pacific train many years ago, somewhere between Kalgoorlie and Perth
But ferries are reputedly the best - the ferries to Shetland and Orkney folk festivals are legendary for sessions, though supposedly a bit quieter coming back after everyone's been on the batter all weekend.
I read that when Sharon Shannon was touring with the Waterboys years ago, they played at airports a lot, and even on planes apparently. Sure wish I'd been in the airport on those occasions!
I play quite often in airports while waiting for planes. I generally try and find empty spaces to play in, but that doesn't work very well. Last time I ended up playing very very quietly (trying not to annoy) behind a departures board.
Some waterski-ers on the Murrimbidgee River at Hay were privy to an impromptu fiddle performance from the bank below the bridge, if they could hear over the roar of the engines and the splash of the wash.
Never in an airport, I would find a session here a bit noisy as always alot of hum in the background. On the ferries though, I have had some great sessions between the North Wall, Dublin and Holyhead, Wales over the years and on ferries to France. I think what makes the ferry good for me is the fact that nobody is going anywhere ontil she docks.
Three of us played on the Channel Tunnel - the staff were really good and opened up their radios so others could hear and we gave percussion instruments to the people in the car behind us to join in.
Also had a session on a ferry trip to France and in a motorway service station.
Had a session in Boston Logan for about 30 minutes while waiting for a flight with two friends. Also had a session on the Brittany to Ireland ferry. We didn't reserve seats so sessioning was the best idea. Tunes and songs and dancing. Also, no my first trip as an adult to Ireland, I took a charter flight from Chicago. They saw the fiddle coming on and "forced" me to take it out and play it in flight!
during the major blackout like 2 years ago, i was travelling to ireland with some friends for the fleadh and we were stuck in the airport for 15 hours so we decided to start a session i think everyone enjoyed it. : )
I travel too much for work and have thought precisely the same thing. I bring whistles in my carryon luggage and my bags routinely get searched, I suppose they look like rifle barrels or god knows what weapon on x-ray.... But I as yet haven't pulled a whistle out in the airport. I just cart them along to my hotel and play by myself when I'm unable to find a session wherever I am (*sigh*).
7's a luck number right? Henceforth pull out your instruments and sit by gate 7 in whatever terminal you happen to be. I'll be looking for you to join in!
LOL -- now there's a lovely idea -- we can all cluster round Gates 7 all over the world until someone decides that there must be some kind of weirdo conspiracy theory like thing going on...
"Hmmm, do any of these people with instruments play Irish music?"
""Hmmm, do any of these people with instruments play Irish music?""
This is why case stickers is a Good Idea (TM). If I saw someone with an empty fiddle case, I wouldn't say a word. But if that person had a sticker on his/her case stating he/she played irish music, I sure would ask for a few tunes... ;)
There should be a thesession.org sticker, or perhaps we should all get the t-shirt...
In the airport in Cuba there were musicians busking right at the gate. Definitely the cheese factor was downright feta but even the cheeziest Cuban music is still good.
While I was waiting in the airport I decided to get a couple CDs from a little stand, but I didn't have a clue what to look for, being totally ignorant about Cuban music. So I asked the proprietor in my extremely flimsy Spenglish to find me something really old and very acoustic. He immediately started ripping open discs to pop into the CD player and before you know it he was spinning me all around the airport floor giving me a Mambo lesson. Great fun.
Story # 2: On my way home from Australia my plane got stranded in Hawaii (I know, what terrible luck!) so the airline put us up in a hotel by the beach. While milling about with my fiddle I met a guy with a guitar. We struck up a conversation and ended up spending most of the day together playing tunes in the hotel courtyard (where a Japanese tourist gave us a twenty). We also spent a few hours floating around in the bathtub-warm sea and took a hula lesson. One of the finest days of my life. (I think someone made a movie about it starring Ethan Hawke.)
Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Just did too much travelling the past few weeks (some business, some pleasure) and had some long weather-induced layovers that landed me in airport bars for more than a few hours at a time.
Had my flute in my carry-on bag, saw loads of people in the airports with instrument cases, and thought, "Hmmm, do any of these people with instruments play Irish music?" How wonderful would it be to have a session in an airport bar - so that travelling musicians could just drop in for a few quick tunes while on layover.
Do many of you fly frequently - for business or pleasure? Surely going to / from festivals, etc...? Have you ever wished you could make constructive use of the hours on layover?
Of course there would be no benefit to the proprietor, so it could probably never happen, but it's nice to wonder...
# Posted on January 5th 2005 by browndog
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I never go anywhere.
# Posted on January 5th 2005 by rocking bow
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
That is a really interesting idea.
# Posted on January 5th 2005 by Unseen122
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Our local open floating session (a New England / old-time / contra jam more than an ITM group) just returned to the Albany NY USA airport for December for the first time since the general tightening of security of the last couple years. We played in the departure lounge, and the musicians had to clear the passenger check point and follow a few restrictions, but the passengers coming through seemed to like it a lot. And muscians passing by have joined in as well. The group has also played at the Amtrak train terminal. Given the security issues, the airport session took some advance work, I gather, but it was worth it.
Jordan
# Posted on January 5th 2005 by jfsmith
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Interesting, jfsmith. I'll have to make a point to book all of my flights thru Albany.
Just out of curiosity - how many "passing by" musicians were there?
# Posted on January 5th 2005 by browndog
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I do quite a lot of travelling, on one route though (Warsaw-Manchester), and in same company of my colleague. My colleague, she's very nice, but doesn't play any instruments and, if I can read her face well, the last time I took her to Jolly Angler (a very good one) session, was THE last time for her.
I tell her that she should learn to play squeezebox, so we don't get bored in the airports, but she just wouldn't listen.
# Posted on January 5th 2005 by EastPole
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Airport sessions are almost always good fun, but you have to be open to a variety of musical styles. I once spent an hour at the New Orleans airport playing fiddle tunes backed by an old man in a silk suit on finger-picked blues style guitar, and then returning the favor by playing lines around his E-A-B blues songs. Great fun. I've also enjoyed impromptu sessions in Spokane WA, Sea-Tac, and Dulles Internat'l.
When there's time to pass, I sit down near the windows at an empty gate, pull a low whistle out, and play softly. Seems about 20 percent of the time someone else will ask to join in. Only once (at Dulles) was it another Irish trad player. Here in the States you see a fair number of guitarists with baby Taylors, some fiddlers, and the occasional sax.
But I've often looked at the smoking rooms in airports and thought what we really need are session rooms and health clubs. I'd love to have a gym with weights, stationary bikes, treadmills, the lot to use during a layover. That's probably my big money-making idea and I just gave it away....
# Posted on January 5th 2005 by Will CPT
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I spend way too much of my life in airports. It would be tremendous if there were sessions to drop in on instead of sports bars. I think if I started playing my banjo in the "concourse" it would end up being shoved somewhere unpleasant, courtesy of travel-weary passengers. At least I'd know for sure they couldn't use nail clippers on me.
# Posted on January 5th 2005 by grego
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Hah, makes you wonder grego, huh, how nail clippers made it on the banned weapons list but banjo didn't.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Will CPT
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Had a nice impromptu session with the van full of people coming back from Celtic week at Swannanoa, in North Carolina. But we had to play in the lounge by the check-in so the guitar player could check his guitar in for his flight after a while.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Candace
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Years ago, there was a Dublin/Liverpool ferry that sailed through the night. Boy, there was some great tunes in that ferry's barr
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by llig leahcim
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Don't fly - use ferries. I've had good sessions on board boats. Easy enough around Scottish Islands - perhaps less good across the USA. So move to a place with islands and ferries. Actually, and I've only just thought about this, airports are inescapably horrid places and I would not like to develop an association between them and good music. Read a book and pretend its not happening to you - best solution.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by bigfish
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I remember a story I heard in a pub one night about some of the local musicians travelling somewhere and actually having tunes in the back of the airplane while it was in flight. Apparently it got broken up by the stewardesses. Guess they preferred the sound of the engines. *Befuddled*. Whatever the case, was kind of amused when I first heard the story.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Jason G
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I ALWAYS play my mandola in airport terminals. Never had any musicians jump in, but I'm waiting. One time in the SanFrancisco terminal two teenaged girls who were well educated in the steps jumped in and danced a couple of reels, a jig, and a hornpipe spontaneously, up and down the aisle. It got a lot of people clapping, and was lots of fun.
Playing in airports has always been positive for me. When you start to get self-conscious and worry about making a nuisance of yourself, take a look across and up and down the aisle, chances are you'll see a lot of discrete foottapping, and even some headbobs. Then again, a mandola can be played very lightly, and I'm not blowing folks away with volume. When I travel, I grab the mandola and carry it on, slinging it in the overhead. Come to think of it, the last flight back from Hawaii, I got bored after the movie and played it in my seat, using my right wrist as a mute. I noticed a couple of stewardesses hovering nearby and apologised, and they went out way out of their way to comment, to the contrary, that it was delightful, and please, please continue. So I did. As I deplaned a passenger nearby thanked and complimented me. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that so many people actually do like competently played ITM.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by rainog
Re: Airport sessions --> ID
What we need is a Uniform Irish Musician Locator (UIML), probably something like a tasteful flashing green shamrock (or Comhaltas retort?) that attaches inconspicuously to the top of your head. This would enable prospective airport/ferry/tramp freighter sessionners to spot each other in waiting areas.
Eventually it would be replaced by an implanted RFID tag that would cause your cellphone to emit the first bar of "The Boys of Bluehill", or something equally annoying when you get within range of another player.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Gzeg
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
You often see fiddlers at the airport in Aberdeen. Or perhaps they are violinists. We sort of check each other out but don't say anything.
I've never had the neck to just start playing in an airport .
I once played a tune (on request) for a nice woman in a Heathrow duty free shop in return for some more free drams of the single malt she was promoting.
And I had to play my banjo at security in Damascus once, they couldn't figure out what the strange-looking contraption on the X-ray was. I had learned a simple Egyptian tune from some Egyptians (strangely enough) that I was working with up country. They (the security) went "aah, muzika!" and laughed.
In a joyful, non-banjo-mocking way of course.
The resonator mandolin comes up looking pretty strange on the X-ray too. I usually ask the flight attendants to put it in a locker for me, and they usually joke about me playing them a tune and I usually joke about getting an upgrade in return and that's usually the end of the joke.
Will's idea about gyms has long been a reality in Singapore airport, the world's best by far. There's a jazz violinist that plays there sometimes (in the lounge area, not the gym) , a Chinese guy in his fifties with dyed bright red hair. I wonder if he would be up for a session?
I did play some country and western tunes with the pianist on the Indian Pacific train many years ago, somewhere between Kalgoorlie and Perth
But ferries are reputedly the best - the ferries to Shetland and Orkney folk festivals are legendary for sessions, though supposedly a bit quieter coming back after everyone's been on the batter all weekend.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Bren
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I had a good session with a band AND dancers in La Guardia once...
Also the ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland is always good for a tune or two in the bar area...
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by bestcraic
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I figured someone had already done the airport gym thing. Good on Singapore. I wish they'd include gyms in the USA airports.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Will CPT
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I read that when Sharon Shannon was touring with the Waterboys years ago, they played at airports a lot, and even on planes apparently. Sure wish I'd been in the airport on those occasions!
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by swearbox
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I play quite often in airports while waiting for planes. I generally try and find empty spaces to play in, but that doesn't work very well. Last time I ended up playing very very quietly (trying not to annoy) behind a departures board.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Zina Lee
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Some waterski-ers on the Murrimbidgee River at Hay were privy to an impromptu fiddle performance from the bank below the bridge, if they could hear over the roar of the engines and the splash of the wash.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Clear Drops
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Never in an airport, I would find a session here a bit noisy as always alot of hum in the background. On the ferries though, I have had some great sessions between the North Wall, Dublin and Holyhead, Wales over the years and on ferries to France. I think what makes the ferry good for me is the fact that nobody is going anywhere ontil she docks.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by compaqjohn
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Three of us played on the Channel Tunnel - the staff were really good and opened up their radios so others could hear and we gave percussion instruments to the people in the car behind us to join in.
Also had a session on a ferry trip to France and in a motorway service station.
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Tarrantella
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
Had a session in Boston Logan for about 30 minutes while waiting for a flight with two friends. Also had a session on the Brittany to Ireland ferry. We didn't reserve seats so sessioning was the best idea. Tunes and songs and dancing. Also, no my first trip as an adult to Ireland, I took a charter flight from Chicago. They saw the fiddle coming on and "forced" me to take it out and play it in flight!
# Posted on January 6th 2005 by Jode
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
during the major blackout like 2 years ago, i was travelling to ireland with some friends for the fleadh and we were stuck in the airport for 15 hours so we decided to start a session i think everyone enjoyed it. : )
# Posted on January 8th 2005 by fiddle11
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
I travel too much for work and have thought precisely the same thing. I bring whistles in my carryon luggage and my bags routinely get searched, I suppose they look like rifle barrels or god knows what weapon on x-ray.... But I as yet haven't pulled a whistle out in the airport. I just cart them along to my hotel and play by myself when I'm unable to find a session wherever I am (*sigh*).
7's a luck number right? Henceforth pull out your instruments and sit by gate 7 in whatever terminal you happen to be. I'll be looking for you to join in!
# Posted on January 8th 2005 by markwilson
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
LOL -- now there's a lovely idea -- we can all cluster round Gates 7 all over the world until someone decides that there must be some kind of weirdo conspiracy theory like thing going on...
# Posted on January 8th 2005 by Zina Lee
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
"Hmmm, do any of these people with instruments play Irish music?"
""Hmmm, do any of these people with instruments play Irish music?""
This is why case stickers is a Good Idea (TM). If I saw someone with an empty fiddle case, I wouldn't say a word. But if that person had a sticker on his/her case stating he/she played irish music, I sure would ask for a few tunes... ;)
There should be a thesession.org sticker, or perhaps we should all get the t-shirt...
# Posted on January 30th 2005 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Airport sessions... hmmmm...???
In the airport in Cuba there were musicians busking right at the gate. Definitely the cheese factor was downright feta but even the cheeziest Cuban music is still good.
While I was waiting in the airport I decided to get a couple CDs from a little stand, but I didn't have a clue what to look for, being totally ignorant about Cuban music. So I asked the proprietor in my extremely flimsy Spenglish to find me something really old and very acoustic. He immediately started ripping open discs to pop into the CD player and before you know it he was spinning me all around the airport floor giving me a Mambo lesson. Great fun.
Story # 2: On my way home from Australia my plane got stranded in Hawaii (I know, what terrible luck!) so the airline put us up in a hotel by the beach. While milling about with my fiddle I met a guy with a guitar. We struck up a conversation and ended up spending most of the day together playing tunes in the hotel courtyard (where a Japanese tourist gave us a twenty). We also spent a few hours floating around in the bathtub-warm sea and took a hula lesson. One of the finest days of my life. (I think someone made a movie about it starring Ethan Hawke.)
# Posted on January 30th 2005 by Kerri Brown