NO, you are not HEARING me.

The way we run a jam or song circle (NOT a "session"), the group makes the decisions on what happens. That's what happened last night, about all aspects of it. People here know they can say what they think, and they do, without any sucking up. I htink they donp;t think of themselves as victims, but as good people working together to have a good time.

I think the elitism that is being so decried here is being applied to what we did-- "how to run a proper session." What we are doing is letting a thing evolve based on what is actually occurring, and responding to that, flexibly. It's a brand-new thing we are doing, and everyone here treats it that way. Maybe it's hard to imagine that, without being here. But the people here trust us to lead a good thing, and the only complaints are coming from this thread.

Last month, we had a sub-group of people among us who play together regularly, professionally. I was thrilled, and so was everyone else, when they gave us a taste of what they do, and let us see how they work together. We had two different sub-groups like that last night. One included young ladies ages 7-13 (and their parents) playing fiddle tunes like nobody's business. They ran through their repertory for a good chunk of the time, and people loved it and learned a lot from them. Another grouping, when I called upon them, leapt into some completely different material. Because we had so many young people present (another family group of tiny, just-starting fiddlers), we elected not to do our material, but not becuase the group objected. In fact I never raised the issue, because as it happened there was something more important going on with the yonng people. But I do know that those present would have just as happily heard us work through some of our stuff, because it's from another genre they like a lot.

According to what has been said above, everyone present last night broke some "session protocol." But their faces told another story, and you know, I think I will stick with that. If you can't imagine it, then I am sorry to have described it so poorly.

My from the remarks above is that maybe sessions ARE elitist, and God save me from ever being in one, because I suspect that we are doing something better.

~Susan