At some of the music sessions which I've been to the players seem to try and play everything as fast as possible. This tends to happen more in the Irish sessions than in the ones playing English Country Dance Band music. The problem is not keeping up with the speed (I play guitar) it's the fact that every note becomes as short as possible. This means that there is very little variation in note values and therefor all the rhythm gets lost. The thing that really annoys me is hearing tunes like the O'Carolan walzes being played at such high speed that all the beauty is lost. Perhaps the reason that English Country Dance Band music tends to be played at more realistic tempi is that many of the musicians in such sessions do play for dancing and have a better idea of the right speed.