I have seen numerous threads here and on the newsgroups about people who have a terrible time at sessions. Usually with 50 others telling about all the idiots, power-mongers, and folk police one can find at sessions. So why are they so popular? Why bother trying to play music with people who want to compete? Why not get some friends over the house and play?

I used to go to a session here sometimes. My experience was that the guy who owned the pub and led the music was very welcoming and everyone else pretty much ignored me, so it was pretty dull as a social event. The music was hard to hear over the noise of the rest of the patrons, so musically it was not all that great. The place was full of tobacco smoke and drunk people, both of which are pretty stupid, and stupid to be around. In the eight or ten times I went, I witnessed most of the problems with sessions that everyone talks about -- multiple bodhrans, multiple guitars, rude defenders of the one true way of playing, speed demons, clueless beginners, inappropriate singers, rude listeners to singers, the works. I just figured that if you are going to have an open session in a public place, you are going to have all these problems and more -- why would anyone expect anything else?

If playing at a session is important, just ignore all the people who want to get some non-musical satisfaction out of being there. The music is what's important and the music doesn't care about all that other stuff.

John