19th June 22. Midday. I have just posted LinNG 13/22, and now I am contemplating this afternoon’s session. How many will show up? To be honest, although we have always had a reasonable turn-out, I find the anticipation a bit stressful. This should be the last session as we are taking a break in July and August. However, some friends from Malta will be joining us for a long weekend next month, so we might ask the manager if we can have a wee session then. The couple ran an online session during lockdown. A Greek friend, who has a sister in Malta, introduced us to the Maltese online sessions. Enough for now.
20th June. The session turned out to be one of the best. Thirteen musicians! Once again, I must stress that these sessions would not be viable – let alone successful – without the participation of Greek musicians. A big ευχαριστώ to all of them. In my introductory notes to the sheet music I provide for the sessions I state, “Irish music is open to everybody. All nationalities are welcome.” In our Dubliner Sessions we have proven that. Eight of the thirteen musicians who showed up yesterday are Greek. The others are Irish (x2), 1 Welshman, 1 Englishman and a New Zealander. And we all get on well. We even told a few musician and instrument jokes. In ITM circles, bodhrans, accordions and banjos are the main targets as in this example.
Q: If you throw a banjo, a bodhran and an accordion from the 20th floor of a skyscraper, which one will reach the ground first?
A: Who cares?
Here is a pic from yesterday:
Finally, while I acknowledge that sheet music is not usually used in sessions, I believe my hunch (to provide the music) was correct. We have competent, well-trained musicians who are new to Irish music. Moreover, they have busy working lives, so they need the support. On a personal level, I can learn both by ear and from the dots, but I have noticed that once I have learnt something from sheet music, over time the piece evolves and becomes my own. There are fierce debates over learning by ear versus learning from sheet music. I wanted to use the word “auralist” to describe “ear fanatics” but I wasn’t sure if the word existed or not. It does. But not in the way I intended. An auralist is someone who is sexually aroused by music and other sounds. Porn on the radio!
Was delighted to have been part of Sunday’s session. For me it was THE best so far. Thank you, Luke, for all your hard work and dedication to the music. Definitely, hats off to your vision and accomplishments.
Yes, it was a great session. Lovely to have an accordion. The guitarists blended beautifully, too. Fiddles, mandola, whistles, harmonicas and percussion were all on form. Next session we will have a harp!