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LESSON 10: SESSIONS AND VARIATIONS IN IRISH MUSIC
Sessions
When you get to be a good enough player and know a couple tunes you will more than likely want to try and play in a session at your local Pub. These sessions are a lot of fun and great for your playing. Plus, they love having uilleann pipers in them because lets face it not to many people are crazy enough to play these things.
Sessions Tune sets are usually formatted as follows:
Someone chooses a set of Reels, Jigs, Polkas or Hornpipes and player 3 different tunes 3 different times.
Tune A (3 times)
Tune B (3 times)
Tune C (3 times)
Check out the Virtual Session for a better understanding of the structure.
Before just showing up to a session for the first time and playing I suggest you go and introduce yourself and tell them you are new to sessions and was wondering if maybe they could suggest a couple tunes you could learn so you can play along next time you come. Most people will be more than gear to help out. Go home learn these couple tunes and come back and play them at the session and then ask for a few more tunes and so on and so forth. Eventually, you will have a similar repertoire and will have no problem playing with the group and then that's when the nerves leave and you begin to have a lot of fun.
Below is a good example of what many Pub Sessions are like.
Sessions Tune sets are usually formatted as follows:
Someone chooses a set of Reels, Jigs, Polkas or Hornpipes and player 3 different tunes 3 different times.
Tune A (3 times)
Tune B (3 times)
Tune C (3 times)
Check out the Virtual Session for a better understanding of the structure.
Before just showing up to a session for the first time and playing I suggest you go and introduce yourself and tell them you are new to sessions and was wondering if maybe they could suggest a couple tunes you could learn so you can play along next time you come. Most people will be more than gear to help out. Go home learn these couple tunes and come back and play them at the session and then ask for a few more tunes and so on and so forth. Eventually, you will have a similar repertoire and will have no problem playing with the group and then that's when the nerves leave and you begin to have a lot of fun.
Below is a good example of what many Pub Sessions are like.
Variations in Irish Music
As I mentioned above, you will typically play a tune times before switching to another tune and as you might think people get bored playing the exact same tune over and over again so they start to add variations in the tune. This just simple means they play some bars slightly different each time they go around to make the tune more interesting for themselves and the listener. Below I have written out some variations of a reel you already know so you can see what I mean.
Mountain road with Variations
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You can sub these variations in anywhere you like in-order to add additional flavor and complexity to the tune. It's a good idea to listen to other people playing tunes to get an idea for variations and to also make up your own. |