Ruth,

Why not bring your melodeon out in Bampton next year? Or the Morris party if you are there?

To be honest I think its difficult to get the right balance at sessions - after a few beers I tend to get a bit carried away, and play some fairly obscure tunes, play too fast etc. However if anyone else does that I can sometimes get a bit annoyed. Other times I just sit back and enjoy it. The huge range of factors makes everything difficult to analyse - location, type of session, quantity of beer drunk, type of beer drunk, all make different people react differently to different situations - there is no one answer to making all sessions great - although more communication makes things a lot easier. If you have introduced yourself to people and had a chat they will naturally be more receptive to you joining in. Human nature i guess.