Good old chestnut this one.

Ingredients:

Musicians who have practiced and learned their tunes and songs and who want to do the best they can

Audience, some of whom think you are only there for their benefit

Young musicians who are really keen and try to join in with everything even when they don't know the tune (That Eb chord was just what was missing...)

Nervous newcomers who just want a chance to have a go.

Old stagers who have very firm views on everything from the speed of a jig to the number of times each tune should be played and when.

And then there's usually half a dozen who have played sessions for years, seen it all come and go, watched the pub close, another one open, sessions moving around.

Of course there is a session etiquette. It's just plain rude to push in and take over someone else's tune set, or accompany an unaccompanied singer, or thrash about droning away in DADGAD when someone is trying to play a carefully chosen chords on a concertina. These things are just about maturity and understanding that no-one has an automatic right to treat everyone else at the session as background to practice against.

I sympathise with all the groans and moans and after more than 25 years I still go to sessions and try to find a comfortable way through the mass of hopelessly out of tune fiddlers, off-key singers, randomly-twitching bodhran owners, assorted clicking bits of bones, spoons, keys and anything else that will rattle, bloody-minded drone guitarists, loud parping concertina players, and all the other people we love to winge at.

On the other hand, I can think of loads of people who went through that stage, learned that courtesy extends to people in sessions, that they should try to develop some consideration for others and play a constructive part. Even to the extent of joining the elite ranks of the grumpy old buggers themselves! I think we do have to keep reminding people that a sesion is not a free-for-all, that we don't do it to provide people with somewhere to practice, that they music is worth listening to, and that just because you own an instrument you are not entitled to ride roughshod over other singers and musicians.

Getting the message across is not easy and you do risk being seen as the miserable old bugger who wants to control everything. But in my experience, there are very few people who take part in sessions who fail to see the point. It's worth making the effort to stop sessions degeneratng into a free-for-all, it helps the music and all those involved in it.

I say, keep wingeing, but do it kindly.