should there be a code signal introduced so people who are really destroying your session, i.e bodhrans, beginners and people who like to pretend they know the tune when if listened to closely are barely in the same key, sorry i got angry and rambled!anyway there has to be some way of letting people know so they'll leave saying as none seem to have the motor skills to take a hint!!
tell them the owner of the establishment requested that if someone does not know the tune they should not play. To a bar/restaurant owner it actually is a performance most of the time, to the players it is just social and fun. It can be a general announcement to all, or even the next time have a printed flyer or card to hand out to everyone so no one takes it personally. Then, if they still don't take the hint someone can say something to them. I would tell them they may lose the session if the owner finds the music chaotic or disjointed.
Sessions nowadays are so closed off, if you come in and sit down wanting to play you get looked at in a bad way, why don't sessions be more open and accept beginers and give them advice; it is after all the only way they'll learn. You're acting in the wrong way and keeping the wrong attitude. There's nothing wrong with bodhrans, don't be so arrogant.
Or is this just a joke and did I just fall for it?
Well,
There are different kinds of sessions. In some the attitude is beginer-friendly and in some there is no chance of getting a possibilty to play. I know, there are some people who simply don't take any hints, are stubborn like a stump and kill the music. Don't worry- I can tell if I'm welcomed or not. Nevertheless- I would never have the gutts to enter a session with musicians better than me, who by the way - are playing a tune I know nothing about.
It's not a common rule that every single bodhran player is retarded, but you will know for sure if the one next to you is completely deaf.
In September during a celtic festival in southern Poland we had a session at an old medieval castle. Suddenly - a funny looking guy with a Freshwater bouzouki emerged out of knowhere and rushed in to take a good place with other musicians- He was so damn self-confident that our fiddler (now, fiddlers- that's a whole different story!) said: "Well if you push your way through so hard- you had better be good". And dammit- he was! Now- don't you love that feeling of relief, when anxiety about a new player turns into respect?
Well needaliver, for a start I think it might be a good idea if every session should have an ejector seat!
Each new player could then be automatically directed to this seat & if they turned out to be total eejits then a shared nod & a wink from the regulars would result in a big red button being pressed & yer man would find himself out on the street.
However, I would like to add that anyone, even a regular could find themselves being directed to sit in this seat, & so be on probation, if they were not wecoming to strangers & new players who were genuinly intertested in learning.
They could also be sent to 'the chair' if they were getting ideas of grandeur, above their station, & Ego Nobs would need to be very careful if they were caught trying to hog a session.
Zouk, of course there is nothing wrong with Bodhrans & I would suggest that Bodhran haters would very quickly find themselves in 'The Chair'. So any xenophobic traits would be stamped on straight away.
A session should be a welcoming place where newcomers are welcomed with a smile & at least given the benefit of the doubt.
Kuba, I couldn't believe you actually said - "I would never have the gutts to enter a session with musicians better than me"!
I think you've got it all wrong there mate.
I'd say you should be actively seeking out sessions where players 'ARE' better than you.
Now I don't mean that beginners should try & muscle in on High Flyer sessions with the likes of Gavin & Bradley, but just find players that are one or two rungs further up the ladder than yourself.
Better players will bring your own playing on, every time.
By the way, I like the sound of that session in a Medieval Castle. Would be a great venue for a Halloween Session, I bet!
P.S. Beginners, be warned, check your seat in any new session for wires & levers!
No, no, no Ptarmigan - you got me wrong. What I meant was- I would never join in a tune I don't know with good musicians- I would rather look, listen and learn *the 3 L's Rule?*. I sat with my eyes wide open and focused on the Campbell brothers at the session during Ardara Cup of Tae Festival last year- I mean- how much could I have add to that session apart from round of beers for the players? ;)
Oh yeah- you can check out the castle here http://www.festiwal.bedzin.info/ but sorry- no english- so go straight to the MULTIMEDIA.
Our sessions are totally beginner friendly. If you want it to be closed have a gig, not a session. Up at Mt.Brook the music can get pretty high octane much of the time, but if someone comes in who is a beginner we ask them to start some off that they DO know , even if they only know three tunes they will get to play them all that night....and we all play along slowly and cheerfully with them. We try to go in turn no matter who is there and at whatever level. We need to respect each other is all. People who don't know the tune and want to play along in the wrong key or whatever, consistently (sometimes we all get something wrong, but hopefully not all the time) may not be aware they are bothering anyone. Best to be tactful and not hurt anyone's feelings.
I have to admit, I have never been to a session. I didn't know what they were until someone explained it to me while I was in Newfoundland. I found out the timing and days for the sessions, but I could not go, seeing how I was leaving a day before the first weekend session.
I really would have liked to go, I know I would not actually be good enough to play along, but if I went, it would be to learn, and to find someone to teach me the proper way to learn the bodhran (yes, I am learning to play the bodhran, and I am doing it by myself and a video, there is no one here to teach me), so I could take some skills home and improve.
without encouragment from somewhere, where are the next lot going to come from? a perrenial question, no doubt. i session with some handy musicians who were right friendly when i turned up first. i must admit, however, there has to be a touch of caution or consideration on the part of newcomers. i personally sit out of a tune if i don't know it well. if i can figure out the chords (quietly to my myself) while everyone else is playing then i'll join back in.
consideration and encouragment from both the new ones and the oldies at a session is required. we were all rubbish when we started, i guess.
Ptarmigan,
This may be offtopic, but anyways- yeah - dancing is really something here in Poland. Weird place Poland is - many Irish dancing schools. Scottish trad. dancing is getting more and more popular..
Couple of great festivals... not so many musicians, though.
Kuba do you know the old Poznan Celtic Festival? My father (Rory Allardice) was the organiser and his band was the JRM band- they're still going, know them?
Please, what is a beginner, I've really only been at it for ten years or so, am I still a beginner? I could say a bit more but I don't know where to begin.
Zookman,
Of course I know old JRM's. I still have their recordings- it was back in 1998 when I got one. This was something fairly new to the polish-celtic market ;) around here. It was genuine! (R in the band's name stands for Rory, right?). They sound rather different now, but by all means- band still exists. We met at the Bedzin Celtic Festival last year. Check their new website http://www.jrm.art.pl/index_en.html
It's a small world after all,
All the best to you and your father.
It's really so bloody simple, I don't see what the problem is. You come into a session, you sit in the back row and learn the music. As you get better, you progress into the circle, just like everything else in life. You do not have the right to impose yourself on what's happening. Don't worry, you will be noticed, and if you persist, be humble, and play quietly you will be noticed. The good players in the session will have checked you out without you having to be pushy. If your a good player and you come into a strange session, you will be discovered and invited into the core, because good musicians are listening as much as they are playing, and will have clocked you pretty quickly.
If you are a beginner, come and play quietly in any session and you will be welcomed, encouraged, and tutored, because ITM musos love people who are into ITM, no-matter what their level. However, come in and say "It's my turn now, listen to me" and you've missed the whole point. Be humble, and realise that you have to pay your dues no-matter what style of music you play. it takes years to learn any music, and you should go into a session as a beginner saying to yourself "I'm here to learn", and you'll have people falling over themselves to give you a hand.
“anyway there has to be some way of letting people know so they'll leave saying as none seem to have the motor skills to take a hint!!”
If there are people “really destroying your session” then why don’t you simply tell them. I would think that something like “You are a terrible player are ruining the session for the rest of us so why don’t you leave and not come back” would do the trick, no? By the way it is truly unfortunate for both you and your sessions that there has never been a good bodhrán player joining in.
Well put - thedon! You have said it all................next thread please!
P. S. Kuba, certainly plenty Tartan there.
On the subject of tarten, it cropped up yesterday on Radio Scotland & the guy was saying that there's a shop on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, which boasts that it has 'everyone's' tarten in store, so even if you are Japanese & your family name is Hashigomogo, they will ask "Now is it the 'Hunting Hashigomogo' or the 'Dress Hashigomogo' you are looking for?
Stands to reason that people who are so cloth-eared as to ruin a session are going to be completely impervious to any subtle suggestions that they should desist.
Wow, that's amazing; i was just watching the Sari concert the other day, I was about 6 then - 10 years ago. Amazing that the JRM band's music is still with you guys. These festivals were great, brought out bands like Shooglenifty, Old Blind Dogs, Ceolbeg and anyone remember Patrik Ewen?
How's Poland at the moment? We hope to come back some time and rejoin the band and maybe host another Celtic Festival in Poznan.
P.S Rory says hi!
Good topic and advice, most sessions in my area seem to be closed and if more beginners would listen and hold back perhaps there would be more sessions open.
To the Polska brother, most of my paid work here is banjo or bass in 3 polka bands.
We try to gently tweak them in the right direction, but have also said "you are going to have to stop" a few times. The problem comes when someone comes in cold with instruments in hand expecting to play the very first time they arrive. The ones that don't ask permission to join in are the worst, generally speaking. We try to include them with a few tunes they know at their speed, and then usually suggest that the listen a lot more before they join in again. We try to give them hints about preparing themselves to join a session--listening to lots of music both live and on CD/radio, tunebooks, websites, lessons, etc. It is a balance between being open and preserving the quality of the music. We try to err on the side of openness, but never allow more than a set or two to be disrupted by someone who just doesn't get what is going on.
i'm new to sessions, and at the one i've been going to, everyone has been friendly and welcoming. at the same time, i try my best not to be an ass. it's a 2-way thing.
Polkas- that's very european of You ;) By the way, did you guys know, that one of the most popular trad dances in sweden is called Polska? - It's Polska here and there... ;)
I think the biggest obstacle to sessions is know alls with names like "needaLIFE" who attack bodhran players, newcomers and strugglers, but do not have the cajones to try to help.
Can you imagin if everyone did this. You could have the unbelievable situation of someone like Sharon Shannon asking ME not to play.
I wish Sharon would ask me to play, I'd forget all about the Corrs.
I recently rehearsed with three seasoned musicians with a combined experience of over a hundred years at ITM, they all got a bit touchy when I asked them to go through a new tune yet again. Sounds of pennies dropping when on of 'em said "Oh, do you have to learn the whole tune?"
I'm not patient with any sort of elitist.
Thedon's advice is the best on this thread to try to get beginners to understand even though they haven't had several years of experience playing in sessions.
The hardest part about trying to see it from each other's perspective is that someone who has played for 10 or 20 years might remember what it was like as a beginner, but beginners won't know what it's like to have 10 or 20 years of experience until 10 or 20 years goes by. You end up with beginners always asking, "What's the big deal if I try to play tunes I don't know? How am I supposed to learn?" They would only understand what it's like to be trying to play a tune with some beginner noodling in your ear if they were in the shoes of someone with experience. But those shoes are still 10 or 20 years away.
My greatest peeves re "knowing your place" include the egotists with good technique but limited repertoire who, desperate not to be observed not knowing a tune or set, resort to banging out improvisations, bluegrass style: chunking chord sequences if they are mandolin players, or drawling double stops if fiddlers.
Then there are the members of bands who drop into a session and proceed to present their repertoire, complete with harmonies, variations and segueways.
I'm trying not to be a "holy Joe" here, but as an erstwhile member of various gigging groups, I regard such behaviour as bad manners and session-destroying egotism.
knowing your place
knowing your place
should there be a code signal introduced so people who are really destroying your session, i.e bodhrans, beginners and people who like to pretend they know the tune when if listened to closely are barely in the same key, sorry i got angry and rambled!anyway there has to be some way of letting people know so they'll leave saying as none seem to have the motor skills to take a hint!!
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by needaliver
Re: knowing your place
tell them the owner of the establishment requested that if someone does not know the tune they should not play. To a bar/restaurant owner it actually is a performance most of the time, to the players it is just social and fun. It can be a general announcement to all, or even the next time have a printed flyer or card to hand out to everyone so no one takes it personally. Then, if they still don't take the hint someone can say something to them. I would tell them they may lose the session if the owner finds the music chaotic or disjointed.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by irisnevins
Re: knowing your place
Sessions nowadays are so closed off, if you come in and sit down wanting to play you get looked at in a bad way, why don't sessions be more open and accept beginers and give them advice; it is after all the only way they'll learn. You're acting in the wrong way and keeping the wrong attitude. There's nothing wrong with bodhrans, don't be so arrogant.
Or is this just a joke and did I just fall for it?
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by ecidralla
Re: knowing your place
Well,
There are different kinds of sessions. In some the attitude is beginer-friendly and in some there is no chance of getting a possibilty to play. I know, there are some people who simply don't take any hints, are stubborn like a stump and kill the music. Don't worry- I can tell if I'm welcomed or not. Nevertheless- I would never have the gutts to enter a session with musicians better than me, who by the way - are playing a tune I know nothing about.
It's not a common rule that every single bodhran player is retarded, but you will know for sure if the one next to you is completely deaf.
In September during a celtic festival in southern Poland we had a session at an old medieval castle. Suddenly - a funny looking guy with a Freshwater bouzouki emerged out of knowhere and rushed in to take a good place with other musicians- He was so damn self-confident that our fiddler (now, fiddlers- that's a whole different story!) said: "Well if you push your way through so hard- you had better be good". And dammit- he was! Now- don't you love that feeling of relief, when anxiety about a new player turns into respect?
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by kuba
Re: knowing your place
Well needaliver, for a start I think it might be a good idea if every session should have an ejector seat!
Each new player could then be automatically directed to this seat & if they turned out to be total eejits then a shared nod & a wink from the regulars would result in a big red button being pressed & yer man would find himself out on the street.
However, I would like to add that anyone, even a regular could find themselves being directed to sit in this seat, & so be on probation, if they were not wecoming to strangers & new players who were genuinly intertested in learning.
They could also be sent to 'the chair' if they were getting ideas of grandeur, above their station, & Ego Nobs would need to be very careful if they were caught trying to hog a session.
Zouk, of course there is nothing wrong with Bodhrans & I would suggest that Bodhran haters would very quickly find themselves in 'The Chair'. So any xenophobic traits would be stamped on straight away.
A session should be a welcoming place where newcomers are welcomed with a smile & at least given the benefit of the doubt.
Kuba, I couldn't believe you actually said - "I would never have the gutts to enter a session with musicians better than me"!
I think you've got it all wrong there mate.
I'd say you should be actively seeking out sessions where players 'ARE' better than you.
Now I don't mean that beginners should try & muscle in on High Flyer sessions with the likes of Gavin & Bradley, but just find players that are one or two rungs further up the ladder than yourself.
Better players will bring your own playing on, every time.
By the way, I like the sound of that session in a Medieval Castle. Would be a great venue for a Halloween Session, I bet!
P.S. Beginners, be warned, check your seat in any new session for wires & levers!
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: knowing your place
No, no, no Ptarmigan - you got me wrong. What I meant was- I would never join in a tune I don't know with good musicians- I would rather look, listen and learn *the 3 L's Rule?*. I sat with my eyes wide open and focused on the Campbell brothers at the session during Ardara Cup of Tae Festival last year- I mean- how much could I have add to that session apart from round of beers for the players? ;)
Oh yeah- you can check out the castle here http://www.festiwal.bedzin.info/ but sorry- no english- so go straight to the MULTIMEDIA.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by kuba
Re: knowing your place
Our sessions are totally beginner friendly. If you want it to be closed have a gig, not a session. Up at Mt.Brook the music can get pretty high octane much of the time, but if someone comes in who is a beginner we ask them to start some off that they DO know , even if they only know three tunes they will get to play them all that night....and we all play along slowly and cheerfully with them. We try to go in turn no matter who is there and at whatever level. We need to respect each other is all. People who don't know the tune and want to play along in the wrong key or whatever, consistently (sometimes we all get something wrong, but hopefully not all the time) may not be aware they are bothering anyone. Best to be tactful and not hurt anyone's feelings.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by irisnevins
Re: knowing your place
I have to admit, I have never been to a session. I didn't know what they were until someone explained it to me while I was in Newfoundland. I found out the timing and days for the sessions, but I could not go, seeing how I was leaving a day before the first weekend session.
I really would have liked to go, I know I would not actually be good enough to play along, but if I went, it would be to learn, and to find someone to teach me the proper way to learn the bodhran (yes, I am learning to play the bodhran, and I am doing it by myself and a video, there is no one here to teach me), so I could take some skills home and improve.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by alpha_girl
Re: knowing your place
without encouragment from somewhere, where are the next lot going to come from? a perrenial question, no doubt. i session with some handy musicians who were right friendly when i turned up first. i must admit, however, there has to be a touch of caution or consideration on the part of newcomers. i personally sit out of a tune if i don't know it well. if i can figure out the chords (quietly to my myself) while everyone else is playing then i'll join back in.
consideration and encouragment from both the new ones and the oldies at a session is required. we were all rubbish when we started, i guess.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by tommy_wintle
Re: knowing your place
Ah Kuba, are they photos of your band in the Multimedia section - Fiddle, Piano Accordion etc?
Looks like dancing is a big thing for your part of the world - even Scottish dancers in there too!
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: knowing your place
Ptarmigan,
This may be offtopic, but anyways- yeah - dancing is really something here in Poland. Weird place Poland is - many Irish dancing schools. Scottish trad. dancing is getting more and more popular..
Couple of great festivals... not so many musicians, though.
just visit http://www.ista.art.pl/index-e.shtml it's the english version...
My band is here www.rimead.art.pl
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by kuba
Re: knowing your place
Kuba do you know the old Poznan Celtic Festival? My father (Rory Allardice) was the organiser and his band was the JRM band- they're still going, know them?
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by ecidralla
Re: knowing your place
Please, what is a beginner, I've really only been at it for ten years or so, am I still a beginner? I could say a bit more but I don't know where to begin.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by mcknowall
Re: knowing your place
Zookman,
Of course I know old JRM's. I still have their recordings- it was back in 1998 when I got one. This was something fairly new to the polish-celtic market ;) around here. It was genuine! (R in the band's name stands for Rory, right?). They sound rather different now, but by all means- band still exists. We met at the Bedzin Celtic Festival last year. Check their new website http://www.jrm.art.pl/index_en.html
It's a small world after all,
All the best to you and your father.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by kuba
Re: knowing your place
It's really so bloody simple, I don't see what the problem is. You come into a session, you sit in the back row and learn the music. As you get better, you progress into the circle, just like everything else in life. You do not have the right to impose yourself on what's happening. Don't worry, you will be noticed, and if you persist, be humble, and play quietly you will be noticed. The good players in the session will have checked you out without you having to be pushy. If your a good player and you come into a strange session, you will be discovered and invited into the core, because good musicians are listening as much as they are playing, and will have clocked you pretty quickly.
If you are a beginner, come and play quietly in any session and you will be welcomed, encouraged, and tutored, because ITM musos love people who are into ITM, no-matter what their level. However, come in and say "It's my turn now, listen to me" and you've missed the whole point. Be humble, and realise that you have to pay your dues no-matter what style of music you play. it takes years to learn any music, and you should go into a session as a beginner saying to yourself "I'm here to learn", and you'll have people falling over themselves to give you a hand.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by woops
Re: knowing your place
“anyway there has to be some way of letting people know so they'll leave saying as none seem to have the motor skills to take a hint!!”
If there are people “really destroying your session” then why don’t you simply tell them. I would think that something like “You are a terrible player are ruining the session for the rest of us so why don’t you leave and not come back” would do the trick, no? By the way it is truly unfortunate for both you and your sessions that there has never been a good bodhrán player joining in.
Peace,
Ed
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by ejsant
P.S. Re: knowing your place
By the way Iris you know I love you dearly but isn’t blaming the publican a bit of a cop out? See you tomorrow night, save me a bit of your cider!
Peace,
Ed
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by ejsant
Re: knowing your place
Well put - thedon! You have said it all................next thread please!
P. S. Kuba, certainly plenty Tartan there.
On the subject of tarten, it cropped up yesterday on Radio Scotland & the guy was saying that there's a shop on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, which boasts that it has 'everyone's' tarten in store, so even if you are Japanese & your family name is Hashigomogo, they will ask "Now is it the 'Hunting Hashigomogo' or the 'Dress Hashigomogo' you are looking for?
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: knowing your place
Stands to reason that people who are so cloth-eared as to ruin a session are going to be completely impervious to any subtle suggestions that they should desist.
So it's either silence or violence I'm afraid.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by Bren
Re: knowing your place
JRM Band... still remember that "Thank you Jury" and "Thank you Rory" answer back in 1995 at the Sari festival in Zory.
Say hello to Rory, Zookman
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by Barfly
Re: knowing your place
Wow, that's amazing; i was just watching the Sari concert the other day, I was about 6 then - 10 years ago. Amazing that the JRM band's music is still with you guys. These festivals were great, brought out bands like Shooglenifty, Old Blind Dogs, Ceolbeg and anyone remember Patrik Ewen?
How's Poland at the moment? We hope to come back some time and rejoin the band and maybe host another Celtic Festival in Poznan.
P.S Rory says hi!
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by ecidralla
Re: knowing your place
Good topic and advice, most sessions in my area seem to be closed and if more beginners would listen and hold back perhaps there would be more sessions open.
To the Polska brother, most of my paid work here is banjo or bass in 3 polka bands.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by pick&bow
Re: knowing your place
We try to gently tweak them in the right direction, but have also said "you are going to have to stop" a few times. The problem comes when someone comes in cold with instruments in hand expecting to play the very first time they arrive. The ones that don't ask permission to join in are the worst, generally speaking. We try to include them with a few tunes they know at their speed, and then usually suggest that the listen a lot more before they join in again. We try to give them hints about preparing themselves to join a session--listening to lots of music both live and on CD/radio, tunebooks, websites, lessons, etc. It is a balance between being open and preserving the quality of the music. We try to err on the side of openness, but never allow more than a set or two to be disrupted by someone who just doesn't get what is going on.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by AlBrown
Re: knowing your place
i'm new to sessions, and at the one i've been going to, everyone has been friendly and welcoming. at the same time, i try my best not to be an ass. it's a 2-way thing.
# Posted on November 10th 2005 by flisstle
Re: knowing your place
Polkas- that's very european of You ;) By the way, did you guys know, that one of the most popular trad dances in sweden is called Polska? - It's Polska here and there... ;)
# Posted on November 11th 2005 by kuba
Re: knowing your place
I think the biggest obstacle to sessions is know alls with names like "needaLIFE" who attack bodhran players, newcomers and strugglers, but do not have the cajones to try to help.
Can you imagin if everyone did this. You could have the unbelievable situation of someone like Sharon Shannon asking ME not to play.
Unthinkable.
# Posted on November 11th 2005 by bodhran bliss
Re: knowing your place
I wish Sharon would ask me to play, I'd forget all about the Corrs.
I recently rehearsed with three seasoned musicians with a combined experience of over a hundred years at ITM, they all got a bit touchy when I asked them to go through a new tune yet again. Sounds of pennies dropping when on of 'em said "Oh, do you have to learn the whole tune?"
I'm not patient with any sort of elitist.
# Posted on November 11th 2005 by mcknowall
Re: knowing your place
by the way, the above is a bodhran player's whinge.
# Posted on November 11th 2005 by mcknowall
Re: knowing your place
mcknowall, you don't combine exprience, you divide it ;_>
# Posted on November 12th 2005 by Owell Mabee
Re: knowing your place
Thedon's advice is the best on this thread to try to get beginners to understand even though they haven't had several years of experience playing in sessions.
The hardest part about trying to see it from each other's perspective is that someone who has played for 10 or 20 years might remember what it was like as a beginner, but beginners won't know what it's like to have 10 or 20 years of experience until 10 or 20 years goes by. You end up with beginners always asking, "What's the big deal if I try to play tunes I don't know? How am I supposed to learn?" They would only understand what it's like to be trying to play a tune with some beginner noodling in your ear if they were in the shoes of someone with experience. But those shoes are still 10 or 20 years away.
# Posted on November 12th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: knowing your place
My greatest peeves re "knowing your place" include the egotists with good technique but limited repertoire who, desperate not to be observed not knowing a tune or set, resort to banging out improvisations, bluegrass style: chunking chord sequences if they are mandolin players, or drawling double stops if fiddlers.
Then there are the members of bands who drop into a session and proceed to present their repertoire, complete with harmonies, variations and segueways.
I'm trying not to be a "holy Joe" here, but as an erstwhile member of various gigging groups, I regard such behaviour as bad manners and session-destroying egotism.
# Posted on November 19th 2005 by fairhairedboy