The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #138002 Message #3159658
Posted By: GUEST,Jon
24-May-11 - 07:33 AM
Thread Name: How many wandering musicians can't find a session?
Subject: RE: How many wandering musicians/singers can
Only festival I get to is Cromer and that one is pretty much a write off for sessions although the fringe may have a good number of acts around the town.
Twice this year, I got to sessions (which are scheduled on the program with maybe 1 or 2 hour slots) where the previous bands overran and the first of these was abandoned as a possible session venue.
But I don't think that's the biggest problem. The Festival itself simply does not seem to attract session players and most of the time when you do meet a couple of others looking to play, it seems to be either waiting around for others to turn up - and maybe one decides to give up before another turns up and/or tentative playing trying to work out what, eg. a contemporary guitar/singer (who's probably expecting a take it in turns anyway) , an English melodoen player and an Irish mandolin have in common...
I think the only ones (except one where at the last minute I did manage to persuade some from Norwich sessions up for an hour or so) I've been to where some "real" music has happened have been artist led ones but I don't know if it's just me or not but sometimes I think that can feel a bit like "them" plus "others" tagging along.
I did meet a few others living closer to Cromer this year though and I think we agreed that the only method of improving the situation would be to try to get together (even starting a monthly something in Cromer was suggested) and organise something ourselves in advance but whether I or any of the others will actually get round to doing this is another matter...