The news from Spiddal

Winter has arrived suddenly for the musicians and purveyors of culture in Spiddal and most of the summer sessions are suspended for the quiet months. The famous Sunday session is still going in An Droighneán Donn every Sunday at 5.30 and Ned Giblin leads an open session in Tigh Giblin on Monday nights from 9.30.

The next big event we're all looking forward to is the 7th Annual Spiddal Gathering 20th-22nd November. One of the best yearly events in Spiddal, the Gathering sees musicians from all over Ireland, England, Scotland and further afield arrive for a solid weekend of tunes, good company and the finest of food and drink.

There are no classes, workshops, concerts or competitions, the Spiddal Gathering is purely a musicians' festival; we gather just to swap tunes and stories and we fill Spiddal's bars with music all weekend and often well into the following week. Anyone looking for information or accomodation should have a look at the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/spiddal.gathering. More about this in future blogs!

Now seems a good time to think about developing our blog and YouTube channel and we have several ideas which we hope to work on over the winter and bring you regular news on the blogspot as well as new tunes for learners and videos and links to other items which might be of interest to our friends.

Meanwhile, we would like to extend an open invitation to fans of Spiddal Sessions to contribute items for inclusion in English or Irish. We are interested in everything from upcoming events to personal experiences and impressions of Spiddal and its musical tradition and historic anecdotes or photographs. Send contributions to spiddalsessions@gmail.com.

Spiddal Sessions has been set up as a profit-free forum for aficionados of traditional music. It is run by volunteers and we promise never to sell your articles to the NSA, but still, it might be best not to put sensitive or libelous information in items for blogging.

www.spiddalsessions.org

Charlie Lennon on sessions

Sessions

An excerpt from Musical Memories, Traditional Irish Music, Volume 1, by Charlie Lennon

I am often asked, usually by people from abroad who take more of an interest than the locals in such things, what a session is and how it works. They cannot understand how a gathering of musicians can sit down and play together, switch keys and tunes, change speed and finish together – all without direction! Others can't count in blocks of 8 and 16, never get the structure of a tune sorted out and never know when it's likely to end. There are yet others who cannot differentiate between tunes.

A great insight can be gleaned from a Cockney man's description of a session. As told by my good friend Pat Finn, the Cockney had been brought to a session in London by his Irish girlfriend and enjoyed the atmosphere very much. Commenting afterwards he said: “It was a great night, but one thing I could not understand. The musicians played the same tune all night and at the end everybody stood up and they played it all over again! Cor blimey!”.

A session is usually comprised of the participating musicians, listeners and onlookers and a third group who neither listen nor look. The importance of good listeners positioned around the musicians cannot be overstated as they help to bring the best out of the musicians and make the session a success.

A session by its nature is unrehearsed and spontaneous and it is not possible to say in advance whether it will be very good, fair or mediocre. There are also certain unwritten rules which everybody should respect.

The fact that you are a musician, a bodhrán player or a bones beater doesn't give you the right to join an existing session. If the players want you to share in the session for whatever reason then they will invite you to join them.

A session is usually controlled by one person, sometimes aided and abetted by one or two others. Between them they decide on the tunes, the repeats, when to start, when to stop and when to call for a song. With gentle movements, unnoticed by those outside the circle, the leader fashions and weaves the entertainment for the benefit and enjoyment of everyone around.

A good session can leave you walking on air, send you home happy and keep your mind filled with music for a whole week. New tunes, old tunes, new settings, old settings, all are there to be enjoyed, captured and stored in the treasure box of the mind, to be recalled in a period of quiet reflection or at the next session.