Will Fly wrote:-
"2 concertinas, 3 fiddles, 2 mandolins, bodhran, melodeon, whistles, Northumbrian small pipes"

Therein lies another problem. The sheer number of instruments that characterise some sessions means that - quite aside from the clashing chords problem - the melody can just be an orchestral blur of sounds and masks the real joy of a small session where one can hear what individual musicians are contributing.

I suppose that, to an extent, the regular sessions in my area are a victim of their own success. I have complained about one of the sessions around here. I am not really Mr. Grumpy but now I am going to make adverse comments about another.

This session has been going for years and the overall standard of the musicianship has rocketed over the years, but just before Christmas I counted 25 musicians playing at the same time. More than once I found myself wondering which end of the room I should be joining in with, the playing was so out of sync.

Do we need to add another rule to Greg's list; one about the upper limit of numbers playing at any one time at a session?