Joining Your First Session

I play several instruments, alas fiddle is not one. My feeling when we play is the more the merrier. Play to your level and learn from those around you... We have never turned anyone away when they want to play and have a genuine interest in the music and growing as a musician.

> 1. What level did you reach before trying to play with other people ?

Play quietly in the background, in a good session the noise will be loud enough to drown out your mistakes.

> 2. Did you master all fiddle ornamentations (roll, graces notes, shake, etc ...) ?

Very few players ever master everything. Keep it simple to start with, to reduce the number of catastrophic mistakes. Be discreet, eventually someone might ask 'that sounded good, what did you put in there?'

> 3. How many tunes did you have to your repertoire ?

In my case, about half a dozen. But you soon pick them up.

> 4. How hard was it to be accepted by experienced musicians ?

Some accept beginners immediately. (A great couple of weeks in Kilfenora with Tommy Peoples leading the sessions spring to mind- compared with him, we're ALL beginners). Others never accept anybody anyway. Remember it's not a competition.

Hey! Who are you calling "old"?!

> 1. What level did you reach before trying to play with other people ?

I was so excited about playing that I learned a few tunes and just showed up at a session.

> 2. Did you master all fiddle ornamentations (roll, graces notes, shake, etc ...) ?

Nope. I barely even knew they were there.

> 3. How many tunes did you have to your repertoire ?

Maybe five.

> 4. How hard was it to be accepted by experienced musicians ?

Surprisingly, not a problem at all. Although when Liz Carroll told me all my reels sounded like polkas, I played only jigs in public for weeks! But I'm glad she did so, because she was right and I wouldn't have noticed. Heck, someone had to tell me that Liz was an internationally-known and well-respected fiddle player.

Your mileage may vary, depending on the session you join. I think you ought to jump right in -- just be respectful, do a lot of listening, and, above all, have fun!

> 1. What level did you reach before trying to play with other people ?

I already played violin and fortunately had already had a lot of the classical style beaten out of me in the course of a foray into early music. 

> 2. Did you master all fiddle ornamentations (roll, graces notes, shake, etc ...) ?

Didn't know they existed.

> 3. How many tunes did you have to your repertoire ?

None. Went one week, sat and listened, decided it was the kind of stuff I could pick up as it went by (the notes were; I didn't have a clue about style for the next year, really), and asked if I could bring my instrument the next week.

It took me several months before I knew enough of the session repertoire not to feel like a complete idiot--and not feeling like a complete idiot meant I could play maybe a third of the time. This was a relatively beginnerish session with a repertoire of probably under 100 tunes.

> 4. How hard was it to be accepted by experienced musicians ?

The session I first started at, like I said, wasn't all that advanced. They were very encouraging. When I started going to more advanced sessions, I pretty much tried to stay out of the way. There would always be someone who said something nice about my playing, but I always assumed they were just being nice. 

I've been playing Irish music for 5 years, Breton for 2, and violin all my life, and it's only in the last couple of years that people I really look up to have complimented my playing and I could believe them. (Not that that happens all that often... all I really aim for is not to suck.)

If you're joining a 'jam' (ceilidh), the level of your expertise will determine what you will or won't play along with ( I assume you're beyond the 'Skweek and Squawk' stage), and getting accepted by 'experienced' fiddle players is usually only a matter of reminding them that they too once were tyros at the craft. I found ( with mandolin) that there were a sufficient number of good players who would take me aside and explain what was wrong and how to fix it to more than compensate for the 'rock stars' we all encounter.

Ornaments come with time... I remember how thrilled I was when I suddenly started 'pulling triplets' out of my...... I could never get those and then one night they just started rolling off the strings like I'd been doing them for years...what a joy!

How many tunes? So many I don't know the name of them all, couldn't remember how any one goes UNTIL it starts up, then I'm on it like stink on ..... ahhhh.... like white on bread.

Keep playing, keep practising and DEFINITELY go to as many 'jams' as you can... NOTHING beats playing with live musicians for getting you 'tuned up', as it were!

Bonne Chance!

> 1. What level did you reach before trying to play with other people ?

I've been playing with other people all my life and I encourage my students to do so as well. There is no better way to learn to play the fiddle than to do it as much as you can with other people.

> 2. Did you master all fiddle ornamentations (roll, graces notes, shake, etc ...) ?

No. I'm learning all the time.

> 3. How many tunes did you have to your repertoire ?

25-50

> 4. How hard was it to be accepted by experienced musicians ?

Not hard.

Just a cautionary tale from a musician who has experienced some inexperienced and ultimately annoying players recently - these musicians were not complete beginners, but obviously were oblivious to any type of session etiquette. The number of tunes they started was far higher than their status demanded - there were other far more experienced players present, who after a while stopped joining in these tunes!!

My first advice would be to Keep Quiet, and never start a selection unless asked, although this won't happen at most 'open' sessions - particularly when the musicians suss that you are a beginner. I would have more respect for a player who played one tune all night and started none, than a player who tried at every opportunity to 'contribute' in a misguided fashion.

Secondly, NEVER start a tune directly after a set has finished - I actually find this intensely annoying! Give the musicians who have just been playing a break! They're not robots, and need to drink, discuss the tunes (if it's that kind of session, etc.

When playing, don't play bit of the tune, stop, start two bars later, stop, start etc. Either play it (quietly if you're not sure - someone else may be trying to pick it up also, tape it, listen etc) or don't. IF you're really ropey on a tune, it's better to listen and try to take it in rather than fumble along.

Maybe these sound really negative, but following these points of advice will reduce frosty looks, musicians cutting people out (this WILL happen) and increase your enjoyment and chances of making acquaintances through playing.

Above all, listen to as much music as you can outside of sessions and learn as much as you can (personally I wouldn't advise anyone to go within an asses roar of an open session without up to 50 tunes). When you think you know a lot of tunes, learn some more! You can never have enough.