Perhaps someone local could nip along one evening and give an informed assessment of the situation. I'd trust Jack Campin's judgement.

As other people have pointed out, each session slot has a different ethos. I've never been to a lot of them in the week so I can't really compare. Mostly I hang out at the Portobello Tap on Sundays because it's open and heterogeneous, I know the people well, and it's unusually long - I live in Midlothian now and don't like doing more travel than playing.

I haven't heard the playing-by-numbers thing in Edinburgh but it wouldn't surprise me. Some sessions have a very static repertoire that evolves into a fixed tunelist and eventually a book, and the largest trad music educator has ended up creating a cohort of players who are now heading into old age without ever learning to play by ear (despite rather self-righteous insistence to the contrary). You don't see much sheet music in Bell's though.

I REALLY disagree with the position here attributed to Michael that sessioneers should only be playing for each other. You're betraying the tradition if you don't try to get outsiders interested in it. If you've got an audience, communicate with them.