I have read various accounts in songbooks and the like, about the how, what and the why of sessions. The worst of these, and I think these are rapidly becoming outdated and discredited, do tend to give the impression of a 'snooty' and exclusive club for musician's to get together and show off.

The problem is largely caused by the idea proposed by these, that there are such hard and fast rules and that knowledge of these overide the normal polite and common sense customs of social gatherings and enable musicians to be rude and behave badly.

Some folk do not need an excuse to act badly but many can be made far worse by the idea that they can behind hide these rules and cause damage by setting a poor example for others to follow.

It would be useful to see some printed examples of where these ideas originate.