Thanks John. I feel that music played together is one of the ultimate cooperative activities. It generates a real good feeling.

I have only been playing in our session for around 6 years. Around 140 different people have come and gone. Around 20 gather regularly and we play as a ceilidh band of a random 20 or so.

I have heard alsorts of bands live and on disc. We went to see Dervish recently and I was struck by the way the build drama by bringing instruments in and out - which is one thing we try a bit - not quite as effectively as Dervish though.

Pairings can be fun - we go from Constant Billy a morris jig into Blue Eyed Stanger in 4/4. We also have Speed the Plough in G then in Em and then back to G.

Drum solos can be good not to mention short periods of silience

Best wishes