Tim

Just remember you did send us The Carpenters.

Bobby Bob wrote

I wonder whether tunes are in a different category to songs. Going to sessions, you hear all sorts of tunes, and if you like them, you try to pick them up and play them. I am aware that there are tunes at sessions which have been written, but that's not to say that I could actually pick them out. If someone starts a tune, everyone will pitch in because it's just a tune they've heard in sessions. The fact that the author may be sitting next to you is neither here nor there.

Interesting that. I write a lot of tunes and I sometimes play them at sessions. The bodrhan players don't mind and the guitar players usually pick up on them, but the melody players are not too happy, understandably as they can't really add too much without knowing the tune. So I don't play them too often, as sessions are usually best when everyone can be involved.

But the issue that does come up, when I do play them, is the nationality of the tunes, which is a bit of a problem for me.

Once at a session I played a 4 part tune of mine called the 'Rusty Tushkar' and I was asked what it was called and I said the title and when asked, also explained that a tuskar was a tool that I used in Shetland for digging peat, that was going rusty in my shed. To which the chap replied "so it's a Shetland tune"? Well was it? I am English but I don't think that many of my tunes would fit in with an English Music Session. Do I have to come up with a nationality for them? Some sound American, some Greek, some Irish and some like no place I can think of and most of them without me ever consciously trying to make them sound like they come from anywhere.

I get the impression that people at sessions would prefer the tune to be an unfamiliar tune from somewhere, than to know that it is original and effectively from nowhere.

What bin do I put them in Bill? (No don't answer that!*smiles*)