Session Tips/ Etiquette

That's great -- sessions are the best way to learn new tunes and traditional music style. Etiquette at a session is pretty simple, just listen when you don't know a tune rather than trying to play over it. Tuning the whistle means pulling out or pushing in the head joint or mouthpiece, depending on what type of whistle you have. You can tune to a tuner before you go, but that's no guarantee that the other folks at the session will be tuned to A440 -- usually someone will have an A (typically an accordion or some other instrument that's hard to tune!) and everyone tunes to that. If you're flat, push the mouthpiece in, pull it out if you're sharp.

Don't worry about bringing a non-D whistle, everything will be in D, G, A, Em, Bm, and Am, all of which can be played on a standard D whistle. The only time you'd need another keyed whistle is if you wanted to play along with a singer who was doing a song in another key. Don't bring a music stand! You might find a few in use if it's a complete beginner session, but 99% of sessions won't have sheet music, let alone music stands. Just bring the whistle, a recorder since the musicians said it's OK, and have fun! Be sure to report back how it went, too!

All the best,
Sean

Wow! No sheet music? I guess I'll have to get cracking on memorizing those tunes! I used to play the flute and the oboe before picking up the tin whistle so I was thinking along those lines... I'm looking forward to going, (I'm told musicians get a free pint!), and I will report back afterwards. Thanks for the tips!

Kathleen

Hahaha -- yeah, it's all by ear but that's what your recorder is for. As you learn more tunes you'll find that the structure of the tunes is very similar so you'll be able to pick them up faster as you are playing longer. Enjoy the pints, that's definitely one of the benefits of playing in a session!

All the best,
Sean

Just went to my first session last night and it was incredible! There was a fiddle, a flute player, a bodhran, uillean pipes a guiter player and three visitors including me. I was the least experienced but they went out of their way to play the two tunes I knew. (Kesh Jig and Boys of Bluehill). One thing I did not expect is that I could not hear myself playing at all. When I went back and listened to my recording, I was actually playing an octave too high! <> Fortunately I only did this for a few measures before stopping. What would you recommend to solve this problem? Sit further away from the guitar player? Or do I need a different whistle? I have a beginner Feadog whistle. One of the other visitors had a Susato whistle and it came out very clear on the recording. Just as you said, no one used sheet music, but they did send me home with a book of tunes that they usually play. They really wanted me to participate so they said I should play from the book, (and they would laugh at me afterwards, ha ha). Two other visitors dropped in and just started off a song they knew and everyone else just jumped in and started playing. It was a wonderful experience, not just the music but the whole atmosphere. It wasn't a performance, but just a place for everyone to bring something to the table and enjoy everyone else's music. I look forward to learning more tunes so I can do more playing and less sitting holding my beer and tape recorder. I also figured out the signal the leader gave for ending the tune, (extending his leg...that was very interesting, but effective)! So much to learn!

Thanks for the report -- I'm glad to hear you had such a good time! That's nice that they were willing to work in the tunes that you know, that's a sign that you were respectful of the etiquette and that they are good folks to play with.

You're always going to have a problem hearing yourself and it likely has little to do with the type of whistle that you're playing, though I can imagine a Susato carrying a bit better. The crowd noise generally ensures that everyone other than yourself will be able to hear your playing. A whistle, being high-pitched, is very directional and that direction is away from you since the mouthpiece guides the sound out to the audience. Many of the sessions and acoustic gigs that I play end up with a discussion similar to "Wow, I couldn't hear squat tonight..." Unfortunately, one of the side effects of this problem is overblowing as if that will make the whistle louder which, as you found out, it doesn't -- it just bumps the octave. Fiddle players tend to tire themselves out because they're really bearing down to get more volume for the same reasons.

That's good that you ended up with a bunch of tunes to learn -- that'll fast-track you into being able to play more which will get you thinking about style more than just learning the notes.

The leg thing tells me that they're probably bluegrass crossover people -- sticking out the leg is very common in those styles of music. Another one you might see (hear) is a "hup!" from whoever has the next tune. Of course, that's easier if you're playing a non-mouth-blown instrument like the fiddle or accordion. In other sessions you'll also notice is a simple look and upward nod to indicate the next tune or a left or right nod to indicate the end of a set.

Anyway, glad you had fun and the more you go the more you'll pick up!

All the best,
Sean

EDIT: Out of curiosity, what tune book did they send you home with?

This is not fair! here i am waiting for my tin whistle to arrive from the UK and i'm reading all these nice experiences people are having because of it! I want it tooooooo :P

Cheers from Portugal!

The tune book was made by the core members of the session at that particular pub. The core musicians each chose a selection of their favorite tunes and arranged them into sets. There are about 30 tunes printed out into a booklet with pictures and comments. The tunes range from reels like Drowsy Maggie and Silver Spear, to simple slip jigs like The Butterfly. They told me they don't limit themselves to the tunes in the book, but it is a good place to start for anyone wanting to join in. I've already memorized six of them. It is getting easier as I realize that each phrase and sometimes an entire eight measure section is based around one note. As long as I can remember the progression of the key notes, the intervals in between are easy. Harvest Home seemed really complicated until I realized that it comes back to an A after almost every note, and the other notes are just a scale up and down. It really makes you think about the structure of the tune, something I never had to do while playing classical music.

Ahh, that's a good idea about the tunebook then. The guys I play with occasionally used to do something similar and it was very helpful in the beginning.

As you play more you'll definitely notice similar structures to the tunes. You'll hear a tune and think "that sounds like XYZ tune but with an arpeggio instead of a scale" or something to that effect. Once you can start anticipating those structures it makes it easier -- and is a good sign that you need to look for more twisty tunes!

All the best,
Sean