THE SESSION

A SOCIAL-MUSICAL PHENOMENON IN IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC

Part of the requirement for the degree of M.A. by examination

Queen’s University Belfast 1978

INTRODUCTION

Irish traditional music is played in many different forms and locations, but this thesis deals only with the music and behaviour in the musical situation known as the session. The following chapters outline in varying detail, the music itself and the behaviour of the participants involved in this situation, and the last chapter attempts to bring together and analyse the information as given. The term traditional music embraces a type of music that has developed in the country over a considerable period of time, and it also includes ‘songs’ as well as ‘instrumental music’.

1) The different types of tunes which comprise the music are named according to the dance which it accompanied, or still accompanies as follows:
REEL: In 4/4 time, with an even emphasis on each beat in the bar. The tempo is fast and this type of tune is probably the commonest to be heard in sessions.
JIG: There are three types of jig, namely Single, Double, Slip jigs. However, in sessions these are played in the same way. They are 6/8 time, with the emphasis on the first beat in each group of three. The tempo tends to be much slower than the reel.
HORNPIPE: Again in 4/4 time, but this time the noted are emphasised in two groups of two. The hornpipe probably varies more than any other type of tune, in terms of tempo and emphasis. That given above is probably the commonest, but in Sliabh Luachra, or example, the reel and the hornpipe are played in almost identical tempo and emphasis.
POLKA: Similar in emphasis to the reel but usually slower in tempo, the polka is mainly distinguished by its melodic structure, which used gapped scales to a large extent.
SLIDE: Similar to the jig in time and emphasis but much faster in tempo. Can be melodically distinguished in the same way as the polka. Many polkas and slides share common melodies.

Each of these tunes is in a rhythm, or more precisely, an emphasis of rhythm, peculiar to that particular dance, and most are in distinct tempo, although this feature in particular is open to regional variation.
It should also be noted here that there are actually no such dances as a slide or a polka in the Irish tradition, but in areas where these tunes are found, a reel set (see Appendix 2) is danced to polkas, and a jig set to slides.
Structurally each piece consists of commonly two, or more rarely three or more parts. The first part, the ‘Tune’, is followed by the ‘turn’, the second part, which is often a variation on the first part, but is usually mainly in the next highest octave.
Perhaps the commonest internal feature within this structure is the repetition of groups of notes a 3rd or a 5th higher or lower.
Koning (1976), goes into much more detail on this topic of formal structure, and I would refer the reader to that source for more information on this point, which does not really concerns us here. There is a huge repertoire of such tunes, which taken countrywide probably exceed 10,000 pieces. This might seem at first to be an exaggeration, but many tunes which at first listening seem to be identical, are actually distinct and separate pieces, and never mistaken by the performers themselves. The tunes do however, tend to occur in ‘families’ (my term), which are based on the same theme. It should be noted here as well, that not all the tune types in the overall repertoire, with Reels forming a majority, followed by Double Jigs. The other tunes fall far behind this in numbers.

Many tunes have been derived from the airs of songs, but this does not mean that musicians can take any air, play it in, say, Jig time and make a Jig out of it. The only category in which this is commonly done is that of Waltzes, and this only because many musicians dislike playing them; usually when asked to play one, they just play any common or well-known song air in Waltz time.

2 A second class of tune exists within the boundaries of traditional music.
These are Slow Airs, which are the airs to songs, (often of the “Aisling” type,) and are often played as instrumental pieces unaccompanied by singing. However, a tune may exist both as a song and as a slow air, in entirely separate categories.

Finally there are a small group of pieces not associated with either singing or dancing. Grouped here would be such pieces as Clan Marches, Planxties, and others originating in the old Harping tradition. This thesis deals with one type of situation in which such music can be heard, and dancing occasionally seen. This is the ‘session’ in which a group of traditional musicians, and perhaps singers, along with a musically non-playing but participating audience, gather to play and listen to the type of music outlined above. There may or may not be dancing.

In order to understand fully the importance of the session, and its social context, it is necessary to spend some time examining its origins from the small amount of historical data available to us. From comment by writers on, and visitors, Ireland from early times (see bibliography for sources), it is evident that the tradition of music and song was always particularly strong, and that music, song, and dancing, played a very large part in the daily life of the population. Even such factors as foreign domination for hundreds of years, and such disasters as the series of famines in the mid-nineteenth century, seem to have done little to dull the people’s enthusiasm for music.

Even in the North, where a large immigrant population settled, there was little effect, (since the people came from a similar culture and they brought similar music with them.) However, today, a survey of the Irish countryside will show that although some areas still maintain a strong tradition, such music and dancing has died out over a large part of the country. The reasons for this change are complex, and to examine them we must touch upon the broader fields of social history. In my own enquiries it seems that this change has come about very recently. Most older people will tell you that music and dancing flourished until 30-40 years ago, and in many areas until much more recently.

Ireland has always been a predominantly rural country. However, within the last 50 years there has been a drastic change in social and economic conditions, rural depopulation being the major factor. From the beginning of the 19th century, emigration, mainly to America, took place on a large scale from all parts of the country, though mainly from the underprivileged west. This depopulation continued into the 20th century, but in the years since independence, the pattern has changed, and many young people moved to the towns and cities, to take up jobs in industry rather than leave the country altogether. The effect of this movement of population, whether to the urban centres or to England has been as follows:

1)There are fewer young people in the countryside to whom musical tradition could be passed down.

2) There is a much greater consciousness of town culture among young country people, which leads them to copy this culture as much as possible, blatantly in terms of dress style and music. Thus traditional music, being associated with the old days of the countryside, was ignored by them in preference to the music of the show bands, dance orchestras, and country and western groups.

3) Traditional music was to a small extent introduced into the towns and cities. Around the same period, the radio was being introduced into many rural homes for the first time, and country people were exposed to urban culture and its music to an even greater extent. The overall effect of such factors was that many of the older musicians stopped playing (in public at any rate), and dances began to be catered for by bands playing American and European dance music.

At the same period in the cities, young people who had been brought up in this environment, hearing the type of music which had usurped traditional music in the country, began to show an interest in traditional music, many having heard their first traditional music, (or at least something like it), in the form of the ‘Ballad Groups’ which were becoming popular at the time. Some people followed up this interest, and eventually discovered the music which was being neglected in rural areas. This led some of them to learn the instruments and music of the countryside to search out the people with whom it had originated.

In the early ’50’s, a body known as Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann (C.C.E.), formed some years earlier to promote interest in traditional music, began to organise festivals known as Fleadh Ceol. Here musicians from all parts of the country met to play together, and to compete in competitions to determine the best player on each instrument. These festivals have increased in popularity over the years, especially with the young urban musicians and fans, and in recent years the larger ones have attracted in excess of 50,000 people.

The session is primarily associated with this group of young urban musicians, and its spread throughout the country as a whole may be due to their influence.

This thesis gives a detailed description of the session as a socio-musical situation, and seeks to explain the behaviour of the people involved. The information in this thesis was obtained chiefly by participant observation. Being a musician myself, I was able to attend sessions and observe them for myself, from the inside, as it were, although I made it a rule to behave exactly as I normally would, in order not to introduce too many extraneous factors, and to be as objective as possible. For this reason very few recordings were made or photographs taken.

The majority of fieldwork for this thesis was carried out in County Cork, between October 1976 and October 1977. During this period I attended as many sessions as I could possibly get to, and I would estimate that this amounted to about 95 per cent of the sessions which this particular group indulged in. The sessions were not restricted to Cork city, but many took place in the surrounding small towns and villages, mainly Newmarket, Ballyvourney, Kealkil, Kenmare, and Knocknagree. (The last two are in Kerry).

During this period I worked at various jobs, both full and part-time, some of them in Bars where traditional music was played, and this enabled me to discuss various points with the owners and customers, without ever having to rely on a formal interview.

In general my modus operandi was simply to keep my eyes and ears open, when `I was playing at a session, and then to make notes later on. Only rarely would I ask a musician a direct question about some point if I was unclear on, and then only those musicians whom I knew well. In order to support the role as a playing participant and not as an Investigator I very rarely made any tape-recordings, and when I did then only of particular tunes for learning purposed, as other musicians do, and not the “blanket” recordings of the Ethnomusicologist.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS;

My thanks are due to Prof. J. Blacking, without whose help this thesis would never have crystallised into its present form.

Also to the people and musicians of Cork named below:

Jackie Daly, Seamus Creagh

Noel Shine, Colm Murphy

Jimmy Crowley, Pat Ahern

Mick Murphy, Paidí Scully

Timmy Conners, Joe Toma

Christy Leary, Francis and Andrew Toma

Ray Daly and Danny Maidhci Ó Suilleabhain.

Finally, thanks to Andy Dickson, and Ben Gunn of Belfast for invaluable help and assistance.

CHAPTER 1

A DESCRIPTION OF SESSION ACTIVITY

THE SESSION – A DEFINITION

The session by its very nature defies a short concise definition. However, it will be possible to arrive at a working definition by considering its prominent features and the relationships between them. Of these factors we already know about the music. Depending on the area, and on other factors, there will be many more tunes played than songs sung.

Tunes are usually played in groups of two or three called ‘sets’ and the association between them is relatively constant, and very often associated with particular musicians or bands. For example, the tunes “The Green Groves of Erin” and the “Flowers of Redhill”, are very often played together, having been recorded in this sequence by the very popular Bothy Band.

This association of one tune with another assists the cohesion of the group of musicians, since in many cases musicians know what tune will be next, and the change* (Refer to Appendix 2) can be achieved smoothly.

Sessions in most parts of the country, (excluding the southwest where slides and polkas are commonly played), consist mainly of Reels and Jigs, with Reels being by far the most common. Tunes are played by all the musicians who know them, and tunes will be selected so that as many musicians as possible may join in.
Sessions take place mainly in public bars, but sometimes in private houses, and in both situations alcohol is usually consumed. The musicians sit together, preferably in a loose circle, e.g. around a table, and an audience is usually present, although it does not follow that all the people will be present to listen to the music.
From the point of view of organisation, a session could be described as informal, in that time, place and personnel are not necessarily regular factors, and that the musical content is not decided beforehand. Now although these points will probably hold true in the majority of cases, there are important exceptions to all of them, but for the purposed of this thesis, the session could be summarised as…

A gathering of people, between two an twenty musicians, and a variable number of audience, usually in a pub or private house, to play a series of Irish dance tunes in groups of two or three, usually Reels or Jigs. The musicians sit in a loose circle, and play groups of tunes in a sequence previously undecided.
The points considered above will now be considered individually, and at much greater length.

THE LOCATION OF THE SESSION

To the musician and audience this is an important consideration. Certain places are widely known as those where traditional music will be welcomed at any time, e.g. Pat’s Bar in Belfast. Mark’s Bar in Dundalk, or the Phoenix Bar in Cork. Many factors will govern the selection of one particular place over another. The main classes of Location are considered below.

1) Pubs
Probably the majority of sessions happen in pubs, reasons for this include:
Plenty of room for musicians and audience, and dancer if present, without the necessity of intruding on someone’s hospitality.
Drink is available, sometimes some or all of it being provided by the publican, who sees the session as attracting custom to his premises. It may be a central spot, well known and easily accessible to all involved.

Of these reasons probably the availability of drink is the most important. Many musicians consider drink to be essential to a good session, although there are exceptions. Most musicians, especially from the young urban groups, are drinkers, and a fair amount of drink will be consumed at an average session. It is not at all clear why the relationship between drink and music should be so strong, as musicians, when questioned, deny that they play better or worse when drinking. I believe that the major reason for this association lies in the behaviour patterns of the group to which musicians belong. This will be discussed in greater detail later on.

2) Private Houses
This would certainly be the second largest type of location and generally occurs in conjunction with 1. above. The pattern usually followed is that some musician or member of the audience will invite the group back to his house to continue playing and drinking after the pub closes. More occasionally a person interested in traditional music will arrange to have a session in his house on a particular date. However, in this case the musicians will probably meet in some pun, and play and drink until closing time. As often as not, the musicians will not be keen on a house session, many will have to be up for work in the morning, or perhaps they have no money to buy a carry-out. Again if musicians considered to be essential to the session decide to go home instead, then the other musicians will probably also go home. Some sessions are renowned locally for the house sessions afterwards, rather than the sessions themselves.

3) Sessions at Fleadhs
The first Fleadh was organised in 1951, and they have continued every year since then. Each county has a Fleadh, and also each province, finally culminating in an all-Ireland Fleadh at the end of each summer. From the point of view of C.C.E. the main object of the fleadhs are the competitions which are organised for various age groups, and instrumental classed, as well as for singing and dancing.

However the vast majority of musicians who attend Fleadhs do not enter these competitions, and attend mainly to play in sessions with other musicians. Although these sessions take place in bars or outside if the weather is fine, and therefore fall theoretically into the first category, I have decided to consider them separately here, since they do have many distinguishing features. Fleadhs provide an opportunity for musicians to play with a much wider selection of people than they normally encounter. Also at the larger Fleadhs, they can listen to and perhaps play with, the best and most famous musicians in the country.

4) Factors relating to choice of Location
These are numerous, and only the main points are discussed here. On many occasions it is the bar that selects the players, and not vice-versa. Many towns and villages have bars where traditional music is played regularly. Probably in these cases the owner has some interest in the music, as well as in the increased custom which the music brings. Again, with the house sessions, musicians are invited to a particular location and do not choose it, although they are free to reject an invitation.

The musicians who are in the habit of attending also affect the choice of location, especially for other musicians. A pub may easily get a ‘bad name’ because the music there is usually of a low standard, and this location would then be avoided by others, dependent on their level of technical ability and appreciation.

Pubs may physically of the wrong shape for a session, or perhaps although music is allowed other clients will make so much noise that playing and singing is impossible. Finally, those factors such as the quality of the drink available and variety may affect the choice, e.g. a pub where no fraught stout was served would probably be excluded, since this is a popular drink amongst musicians; but again a combination of other factors could conceivably over-rule this.

PARTICULAR EXAMPLES OF LOCATION

The two main centres where I have attended sessions are Cork and Belfast, and to illustrate the above points I will draw on examples from each location in turn: first Belfast.

1/Sessions in Belfast
The political situation in Belfast over the past seven or eight years has made it unique and different to other parts of Ireland, not only in this but in other respects as well.

First we must realise that in the North in general traditional music is associated by the majority of Protestants with Catholicism and Republicanism. Thus playing traditional music becomes an overt political act. This throws a totally different light on a study of sessions in Belfast. However, the main points discussed here remain unchanged, even in this stress situation.

i) Pat’s Bar
My first experience of sessions in Belfast was in Pat’s Bar in Dock Street in the Docks area of the city. This has been a very well known place for traditional music for many years, and at certain times contemporary folk music and blues have been heard there as well. The bar is ‘old style’ i.e. the decor has probably not been changed since the 1930’s or even earlier, and it is of unusual shape, being long and thin, with the counter down one side. The musicians gathered in various places, most often in the corner farthest from the door.

The owner provided free drink for the musicians by paying a prominent musician (this was £7 in 1974 – 1975), and rounds of drink were bought from this until it was gone. Musicians often bought extra drinks from their own pockets, though.

Pat’s Bar is unusual in that it is non -political, and is not associated with any organisation such as the I.R.A. This may be due to its location, which ensures a clientele of mixed religion dock workers and sailors from all over the world. At several times during the past few years, arguments have developed between the musicians and the bar owner, mainly over his strictness about closing time. This has resulted in several music-less periods, when the musicians have refused to play, but they have always returned, probably due to a lack of other placed to play.

Pat’s Bar remained popular during the ‘troubles’, probably due to it being a safer place to go than many other bars in the city,
ii) The Falls Road Bars

Several other bars in the Falls Road area of the city have been associated with traditional music since about 1970. The first of these I visited was a bar called the ‘Old House’ in the Lower Falls area. This bar had very strong associations with the Official wing of the I.R.A. The bar itself was very small, and the sessions took place in a roughly converted upstairs room. It was decorated with LP covers of republican songs, and pictures and posters of prominent republicans. Seating was provided by seats taken from corporation buses.

The musicians all gathered around a table at the far end of the room, and free drink was provided in a similar manner to Pat’s Bar.

This particular case illustrated the relationship between music and politics in the North of Ireland. The musician’s presence in the bar was tolerated only because they were musicians, i.e. they probably would not have been welcome there as individuals who were strangers to the area, and whose political associations were in doubt. In this case traditional music was taken as evidence of solidarity with the socio-political climate that prevailed in the bar.

Sessions ceased in the Old House when it was burnt down during the Official/Provisional Feud in 1975.

Two other bars on the Falls Road were used for sessions, namely Daly’s and Beacon’s, but I never attended them, and again music ceased when the bars were destroyed by bombs during the Official/Provisional feud. Both these bars were associated with the Official I.R.A. The destruction of these premises left only one place on the Falls Road where music was played. This was the O’ Donovan-Rossa Gaelic Athletic Association Club. G.A.A. clubs often like to have music at least one night a week, since it is their policy to sponsor cultural events apart from sport.

Again in this case free drink was provided for the musicians. Because it was a club rather than a pub, closing time was not so strict, and this was appreciated by the musicians, who liked to sit and talk and drink for a while after they had finished playing.

Sessions in Cork

The difference in sessions between Belfast and Cork, can be directly related to the absence of a crisis situation in Cork. For example, the most noticeable difference between the two cities is that Cork sessions are not regular, and very little free drink is provided for musicians. This can further be traced to the fact that many more locations are available in Cork, and therefore the same pressure does not exist for musicians to find somewhere to play. The absence of free drink is probably due also to the price increased of a few years ago, for according to the musicians in Cork free drink was much commoner before these increased took effect.

It is interesting to note here that the only place in Cork that did provide free drink was the Conradh na Gaeilge*, which had a vested interest in providing traditional music for its patrons.

In general sessions in the Cork area can be divided into two groups on the basis of money involvement; “Normal Sessions” where musicians gather in a location purely for their own satisfaction, from the first group, and secondly, “Paid Sessions” where certain musicians are contracted and paid to play, and others may come and play with them.
Below are examples of each.

1 The Phoenix Bar, Cork.
This particular Pub was a normal session as defined above. The most regular session was on a Sunday night, but since the pub was also a meeting place for musicians, often a session would start on the spur of the moment. The musicians played either in the front and main room of the pub, or if this was crowed, retired to the back room. No free drink was provided.
However, if there was a house session afterwards, the landlady, who was keen on traditional music, would often bring a large carry-out, which he would share with the musicians.

11) The Mills Bar, Ballyvourney.
Ballyvourney is a small Gaeltacht* village in West Cork, on the main Cork/Killarney road. This was a paid session in that in this case two well known musicians in the area, Jackie Daly (accordion) and Seamus Creagh (fiddle), were paid to play on alternate Saturday nights.

Several sets were danced during the evening to polkas and slides, but before and after the sets the musicians would play sets of Jigs and Reels. In this case no free drink was provided. House sessions were very common in this area, and often went on to five or six o’ clock in the morning, with large quantities of poteen being consumed. The session in the private house is at the moment more common in the Cork area, since the political situation in Belfast prevents people from moving about the city late at night.

CHAPTER 2

THE PARTICIPANTS

THE MUSICIANS

1.Background

At present the musicians come from a large variety of backgrounds, both urban and rural, and from all classes. This is in itself a recent development, since twenty to thirty years ago the vast majority of musicians would have come from a rural background. Those musicians who come from a rural background I will call Phase 1, and this group consists of people who come from a rural/small farmer background. At the present time, since interest in traditional music in country areas is falling off, they tend to be older people, though this is not by any means the rule. Like most people of their generation they would have grown up hearing traditional music, and in all probability would have learned to play as children. Their technique, style, and repertoire tends to be characteristic of their local area, although media influences are eroding this in some areas.

The second group, Phase 2, are made up mainly of urban dwellers of a younger age group, whose first acquaintance with traditional music has generally been via the media, and very often after musical experience in another field. Their technique, style and repertoire tends to be more universal in the sense that these “Phase 2” musicians from, say, Dublin, Cork and Belfast, will play the same tunes in a similar way.

It is interesting to note here that the majority of the top musicians in all fields are Phase 1 musicians.

2 Recruitment

Recruitment can again be divided in the same manner as background; in other words, Urban and Rural musicians recruited in different ways.

In the case of rural musicians, recruitment may be within the family, for example, Matt Molloy, the flute player for the Bothy Band, comes from a long line of flute players, going back to his great-grandfather and many of his other relatives were and are players too. The majority of rural musicians would have come from families where parents or other relatives were musicians and encouraged the children to play. Many old country people say that every house had a fiddle, flute, or concertinas, depending on the area of the country, so that children had easy access to instruments. Also, since in those days music often took place in private houses, children heard music and songs, and saw dancing from an early age.

3 Recruitment of Urban Musicians

Urban musicians usually approach the music by an entirely different route, although some rural “Phase 1” musicians did migrate to the cities and pass on their music in a way similar to that described above.

Because urban dwellers have, and had, many fewer opportunities to hear traditional music, many of them are ‘converts’ from other types of music, i.e. they began playing a type of music different from traditional, but on being introduced to traditional music, gradually changed and began to play it instead. In many instances this was via the medium of records, radio, or television. Learning via performances then usually comes as a second stage in their development as musicians. Recruitment to the actual session situation can take place through several different channels, and this will be discussed in Chapter 3 under session behaviour.

THE AUDIENCE

The whole concept of an audience, in the sense of a group of people who are p0resent to specifically listen and watch a performance of music, is a relatively recent development in Irish music, and one which is to a large extent tied up with the development of such situations as the session. Although in the past at house dances, weddings, and wakes, the people present obviously listened to the music, that was far from being its sole function, and in fact musicians were asked to play so that dancing could take place. Thus those who came to situations where there was music, did so as dancers, and not simply as listeners.

Nowadays, with dancing much less common than it used to be, we must accept as part of the session a group of people whose musical participation is minimal, and who come solely to listen to the music. The people present listening to the music form an integral part of the total situation, and they must be considered in detail if we are to understand the session fully. Sessions generally take place in crowed bars, probably because the music attracts people, rather than by the musician’s choice. In fact musicians often try to find quiet uncrowded places to play, especially at fleadhs, which tend to be crowded. It is important to realise that in the session situation, not all the people present are there to listen to the music. On the contrary, a very few will actually gather around the session and listen closely without talking. For most of those present it merely acts as background music.

In the urban setting the majority of the audience will be young people, often friends of the musicians. One reason for this is that in the town there is the exact opposite of the situation in the country, where the young have not heard traditional music. In the city it is the older people who are not familiar with traditional music, as in this situation it is almost as much a young people’s music as is pop music.

In rural areas there is a wider appreciation of traditional music, even in areas where traditional music is no longer heard, because most of the older people will have heard some traditional music in their youth, and therefore there tends to be a higher proportion of older people in the audience in rural areas. It is my experience that older bachelors especially appreciate traditional music, and the dancing associated with it, because they associate the dancing with the opportunity to meet an eligible wife.

THE MUSICIAN/AUDIENCE RELATIONSHIP

It would be difficult to estimate the percentage of ‘true audience’ i.e. people present to listen to the music, in the crowd at any session, but in my estimation it would be rather low (around 20% to 30%). This situation creates problems, for although the musicians don’t expect total silence when the play, bars tend to become very noisy, sometimes to the extent that musicians find it difficult to hear themselves or each other. Also a certain amount of physical space is required in which to play, and this can be encroached upon in a crowded bar. At the same time the musicians like to have people to listen to them and appreciate them.

In general, in what would be considered a good place to play, there will be some degree of order, and almost total silence when someone plays a slow air or sings. However, followers of the music often comment that musicians are temperamental, and won’t play if they think no one is listening.

The most important point to understand in the relationship between the musicians and the audience, is that although appreciation by a non-musician audience is part of the average session, musicians are in general satisfied, and more often seek for, the acceptance and appreciation from other musicians. For this reason, it is possible to have good session, from the musicians’ point of view, without any audience at all present.

RECRUITMENT TO THE SESSION

This section deals with how the personnel of any particular session come to play together, and how new musicians are incorporated. The process is distinctly different from recruitment to the musical scene as a whole, since the session is not the only type of musical activity in the sphere of Irish traditional music. In order to place in context recruitment to an already existing session, we must also consider the generation of particular sessions. The summary below is based on observation of, and involvement in, numerous sessions. This can happen in two ways:
Firstly, someone apart from the musicians themselves may wish to start a session for various reasons; this is most commonly a bar owner, but may be simply a member of the audience who wishes to hear music in a particular area or pub.
Secondly, musicians may seek out a place for themselves, either as beginners who have not been associated with any particular session before, or as members of another session who for some reason wish to find a new spot to play. The point to make here is that most locations have a regular group of musicians associated with them, and that what is discussed below is who forms this group initially, and who joins and leaves it subsequently.

Recruitment may be considered as being in two phases: arrival, where a musician arrives at the scene of a session; and acceptance, where he becomes considered as one of the regular members of the session. A musician may arrive at a session in three ways:
i) He may be among the original members who established the session in the first place. This qualification of being there at the start does not guarantee acceptance.
ii) He may hear of the session from some source other than the musicians, and arrive hoping to be able to play
iii) He may be asked by one of the musicians who are regular members of the session; or by a pub owner or other party who may have initiated the session.
Acceptance by the other musicians comes as a second phase in this process, and is influenced by the following factors.

Technical Ability

i) A musician with a high degree of technical ability will be accepted more readily than a beginner, especially if he has been heard and recognised as a good performer.

ii) Behaviour in the Session

This is probably the most important factor in deciding whether a musician will be accepted as a session member. For a session to be considered as good by members and audience alike, there must be good communication, musical and otherwise, between the musicians. This can be ruined by one or two musicians who, say, insist on playing tunes that none but themselves know, or engage in other forms of ‘anti-social behaviour, e.g. playing out of tune loudly. The personality of the musician obviously has much to do with this.

iii) Suitability of Instrument

Depending on what instruments are already present in the session, the instrument the new musician plays may have some bearing on his acceptance. Some instruments are considered as highly non-traditional by the urban musicians who make up the majority of session musicians, e.g. piano accordions, pianos, and the larger types of accordion in general. Again, some instruments are frowned upon when there are more than one of them, e.g. bodhrans, guitars, and to some extent pipes. Really the only instruments which are welcome when more than one, are flutes and fiddles Its must be understood that ‘acceptance’ as used here, has a rather special meaning. The circles of musicians who form session groups throughout the country tend in general to be quiet closed with regard to the acceptance of new members, since very often they feel that they have arrived at a composition (in terms of personnel) which is satisfactory both musically and socially. Thus in many cases it is hard for a beginner to find a session in which he can play and feel totally welcome. What actually happens is that as beginners become more competent, they form session groups of their own in new locations or in places found for them by others.

The way in which an already existing session group selects new people who may turn up, is very subtle, and in many cases probably at an unconscious level. No one is ever told to go away or hardly ever told to go away, in so many words, but a complex of other statements might suggest this. On a more positive level, a new musician whom the group finds to be both musically and socially suitable, may be actually asked to return or invited to some other location where the group plays.

PARTICULAR EXAMPLES OF RECRUITMENT TO SESSION GROUPS

In order to extend and illustrate the points made above, it is intended here to follow the development of a particular session group in Belfast, from its formation to the present time, and also to draw on examples from elsewhere. The group involved in the Belfast situation, came to be known as “Na Buachaillí”, in Irish ‘the boys’ or ‘the lads’, and under this name the nucleus of the group appeared professionally for a number of years. They were in the main though, a session group, and the sessions that they played in were known as “Na Buachaillí” session by both other musicians and audience members. It is interesting to note that although other musicians were present at these sessions, the core of musicians described below were so obvious in both musical and social behaviour that the sessions were described as “Na Buachaillí” sessions.

The members of the group met initially in a pub in Kincasslagh, Co. Donegal, called the “Tig Bán”, which opened, probably under new management, in 1973. The owners invited some musicians along for the opening, and it was on this occasion the fiddler, Andy Dixon, and the banjo-mandolin player Gerry McCarthy, met through a mutual friend. They agreed to come back and play again in the same place, and this time they were contracted by the landlord to play in the pub for a period of ten days, for free drink and accommodation.

It was on this occasion that most of the other members of the group arrived as well. The basic connections seems to have been through Gerry McCarthy, because on this occasion three other people (Dermy Diamond, banjo played, Eugene ‘Spooly’ Kelly, guitar player, and Leslie Bingham, flute player) were also there, and they were all friends of Gerry McCarthy’s whom he had come to know in Pat’s Bar in Belfast.

Also at this stage, and on that particular occasion, Sam Weir, the bodhran player, and John Parkinson, whistle and later flute player were present, and shortly after this began to play regularly with them. Two other members later came to play with group. They were Gerry Garvey, the whistle player and singer, and Oliver Brown, the fiddler. It is not certain how Gerry Garvey came to play with Na Buachailli, but again it was probably through the influence of Gerry McCarthy. Both men are fluent Irish speakers, and they may have met either in the Donegal Gaeltacht, or in the Irish club in Belfast.

The scene in Cork city was quite different to that described in Belfast. Here there was a large group of musicians associated with a particular session location, The Phoenix Bar, and the group which played there on any particular occasion was composed of members drawn from this pool of musicians, very rarely would they all be present on one occasion. As to professional associations in Cork, the same rule applied although not so strictly. Various loose relationships between musicians formed and broke up again over very short periods of time, and there was no one group which dominated the session or professional scene.

In general, in Irish music, groups formed for the express purpose of playing professionally do not last very long, especially the ones which are not commercially successful. Even these, however, rarely last more than a few years, and within this time, many personnel changes are common.

CHAPTER 3

PATTERNS OF SESSION BEHAVIOUR

BEHAVIOUR OF MUSICIANS

1) Musical Behaviour
This covers both the instruments and the actual music that the performers play.

i) Choice of Instruments
This can be influenced by the following factors:
a) Expense: Although a person feels he would like to play a certain instrument, he may either be prevented or encouraged by the price. Tin whistles are taken up by many because they cost around a pound. On the other hand a good piano accordion may cost over £1,000. However, surprisingly accordions are one of the commonest instruments, although the standard red* Paolo Soprani two row accordion* costs nowadays around £400. Thus it is obvious that cost is by no means the only factor governing the choice of instruments. There follows a list of the cost and price ranges of instruments as they are available in Ireland at the moment:

Tin Whistles ————– £1-£2 depending on the key
Concert Flute ————– £40 – £350
Uileann Pipes* ————– £50 – £90 for a practice set
£300 – £800 for a full set
Fiddles ———————– £15 – £100 and upwards
Bodhrans ——————– £12 – £30
Accordions —————– £400 – £4,000
Concertinas —————– £50 – £350
Guitars
Mandolins ————– £30 – £350
Banjos
Bazoukis etc.

The remaining instruments cost nothing at all, as ‘Bones’ may be obtained from any friendly butcher, and spoons from the nearest cutlery drawer. These prices are of course for new instruments, (except in the case of concert flutes which are all old and second-hand, since they stopped being made in the late 19th C.), and very often they can be obtained for less than this.

(b) Availability of Instruments
Because many of the instruments played in traditional music are no longer made today, or are only made by a few craftsmen, they are notoriously hard to find, even if one has enough money to buy one. The hardest to find are flutes and concertinas, with the old grey accordions preferred by some players on a par with the above. Although pipes are still being made, there are so few makers with so many orders that the novice piper may have to wait a long time for a set. Again availability may depend on the area in which the player lives. A potential concertina player would probably find it easier to get an instrument in Clare, than in any other part of Ireland, and similarly with a flute player in Sligo or Roscommon.

Within the last five to ten years, some people have become known for dealing in instruments particularly for traditional musicians, but in general, young musicians, especially in urban areas, may have to wait a long time, and search very hard to find one of the rarer instruments.

(c) Area in which the Player Lives
This may also influence choice, in that certain areas and counties are well known for particular instruments. This is illustrated in the map in Appendix 1. Thus the player’s choice may be strongly influenced by the type of instruments he has already heard played. Players often choose more than one instrument; for example many pipers play both flute and whistle, as well as the pipes, having ‘graduated’ from the whistle to the flute, and then to the pipes. Other combinations are also not uncommon.

(ii) Choice of Music
By choice of music I mean choice of particular tunes within the total repertoire of Irish music. The factors which may influence this are outlines below.

Obviously a musician cannot choose music he has not heard, (except of course through the medium of written music), so that other factors more involved with strictly non-musical activity may influence this.

(a) Technical Ability
This will really only influence beginners, because most tunes are of a similar degree of difficulty. Also those players of limited technical ability may easily adapt tunes to their own limitations, without actually playing them wrongly.

(b) Appropriateness of Instrument
Certain tunes are suited to certain instruments and not others, presumably because they were composed by players of particular instruments who knew exactly what the capabilities and limitations of their instruments were. For example, there are fiddle tunes, pipe tunes and flute tunes, all of which might be simple to play on their own instrument, or which might show it off to its best advantage, but which would be exceptionally difficult to play on another instrument.

Thus, for example, flute players tend to avoid playing fiddle tunes, since often they go beyond the range of the flute, and the player has to change and adapt them almost beyond recognition. Again many piping tunes have as a common feature three or four notes of the same pitch in a row. Pipers can accommodate this by inserting grace notes in between these notes hence making them sound separate and distinct. (This is very difficult to do on any other instrument)

(c) Area
Some tunes are very local, in that they may be played only by a few players in a small area, but today, largely due to media influence, there is a large body of tunes common to musicians in most areas.

However, local tunes in this respect are far from being dead. Perhaps the best example is the Sliabh Luachra area in North Cork / South Kerry, where slides and polkas predominate over all other types of tunes. But again, tunes get the name of Sligo tunes, Donegal tunes etc., because they are mainly found in these areas and best exhibit the local style of playing in these areas.

(d) The Media
This has an immense influence on the choice of music. Whereas fifty years ago a musician from Kerry and a musician from Clare may have had very few tunes in common, this situation has radically changed.

Older musicians have not been influenced to the same extent as the young urban musicians. This is often the only way they can hear traditional music is from the radio, T.V. and records. Thus they all tend to learn the same body of tunes, and even very often retain the same style and order in which they were played. This in itself reinforces the pattern, since the musicians, who do not hear the tunes via the media, will hear others who have, playing them, and learn in this way.

(e) Tune Sequence

Two aspects of tune sequence are considered here. Firstly, the sequence of sets of tunes which may occur during the session; and secondly, the sequences of tunes in the sets themselves.

There are several factors which loosely govern the sequence of sets of tunes, and they are set out below; but in particular it depends, like other behaviour in the session, on the interaction between the participants.

At the beginning of a session, tunes which are very well known or which have a slow tempo, are chosen so that the musicians may “warm up”. This period may last for some time and may end with the arrival of more musicians, or of a particular musician, perhaps a session leader, since there may be tunes which the other musicians would not attempt until a certain musician was present.

The series of tunes which then follows tends to have a distinct pattern of large groups of reels, which are separated by single sets of other classes of tunes such as jigs, hornpipes, slow airs, and very often songs, if there is a singer present.

The sequences of tunes in the sets themselves also follow to some extent a pattern. It is unusual to have a tune played on its own, and although there are exceptions which are always played thus, (e.g. The Gold Ring, which has parts, and is as long when played on its own as many sets of two or more tunes), in general the most commonly played tunes are always played with another, and this relationship tends to be constant. Many of these ‘sets’ as they are known, come from a particular source, such as the recordings of the fiddler Michael Coleman, which have had a huge influence in this and other respects.

There are certain rules which govern the arrangement of tunes in sets. Very often, the tunes will be in the same key and this makes for an easy change from one to the other. Again, certain sets may change key in order to establish a good change. The type of set which is played in a session depends very much on the musicians present. If they are all of a high standard, very often normal sets will be ignored in the search for mew and better arrangements, and before a tune ends one of the players may call out the name of the next tune to be played, and the musicians will then change to this when the first tune ends. Although those present on such an occasion will perhaps find what are for them new and better arrangements of tunes, they will conform to the standard arrangement when playing in a session with different personnel, because it is the fact that the tunes do exist in such standard sets that provides one of the strongest musical cohesive factors in the session.

(iii) Musical Style
Of all aspects of musical behaviour, style is probably the most difficult to analyse and discuss. What some people would call style, others dismiss as personal idiosyncrasies. I believe that the best way to examine style for analytical purposes, is to assume that every player has his own style, certain features of which would be shared with perhaps the majority of other musician, but also certain features which he shared only with local musicians from his own area. These are the components of a local style, i.e. facts of tone, volume, variations, rhythm, tempo, phrasing and articulation, which are shared by a group of musicians, usually associated in a geographical area.

There has been much discussion as to whether local styles actually exist in traditional music today, since the influence of the media has been immense, with thousands of musicians hearing and perhaps learning the same version of a tune. Another modern factor which tends to iron out stylistic differences is the session itself, as certain features of a style tend to be sacrificed for the sake of playing with other musicians.

However, local styles of playing and singing do in fact exist. For example, at least three distinct schools of fiddle playing could be pointed out, these being the Donegal, Sligo, and Sliabh Luachra schools.

Obviously as well, style will depend on the flexibility of the instrument played, since some must have more capacity for variation of the factors listed above, (there is much talk of fiddling styles, but very little of whistle styles).

Finally, we must also recognise the use of the word style to denote a player of a certain ability, in any one of many local styles; e.g. one might say of a musician, “He’s a stylish player”.

Non-Musical Behaviour of Musicians

(i) Seating Arrangements
One important aspect of non-musical behaviour is the way in which musicians arrange themselves with regard to each other and to the audience. This arrangement obviously depends on the numbers present but the general tendency is to form a closed circle; even three musicians would tend to do this, rather than sit in a line. There are two basic reasons why this is so:-
Firstly, it enables the musicians to hear each other better, and if this at first seems to be an exaggerated claim, remember that the session may be taking place in a noisy bar.
Secondly, it has to do with the musician/audience relationship, in that the musician feels no qualms at all in turning his back on the audience, because the session is not a concert, and neither does the musician feel that he has to face the audience, or does the audience feel that it should keep silent for the musicians.

The relative positions of the musicians to the audience can also be noted. In general, the musicians select corners and back rooms in which to play, and very often a particular place is selected because it is acoustically superior.

The relative positions of the musicians with regard to each other is of importance to the actual functioning of the session, and this distribution tends to be related to the behaviour of the individual musicians in a musical sense. Thus the session leaders tend to sit together towards the middle of the group, with the other musicians around them. Positions might be rearranged for purely physical reasons as well, e.g. a right-handed fiddler on his right-hand side, since their instruments would constantly be knocking against each other.

(ii) Behaviour of Musicians between Tunes
On the basis of my observations I will divide this into two distinct types of behaviour; Relaxation and Tune initiation.

Immediately after a set of tunes is finished, the players generally relax, sip their drinks, light a cigarette, and converse with each other. Conversation at this point usually revolved around the last tune played, its good and bad points, and the musicians may congratulate each other on the performance. Other conversation, totally divorced from music, the session etc. also takes place, and this will continue in a fragmented manner all night.

Tuning of instruments takes place, and the players of constant pitch instruments (accordion, concertina, pipes and whistle) will be asked to play a note that the others may tune to. All this can be considered as relaxation behaviour, and is quite distinct from the tune initiation behaviour now described.

Sometimes during the relaxation behaviour someone will play a few bars of a tune at low speed and volume. This in fact amounts to a musical suggestion, and if the other musicians are seen to take up0 their instruments to follow him, he may suggest another tune in the same manner to complete the set.

Occasionally a musician will begin to play a tune at full tempo and volume, and the others may join in or leave him to play a solo.

Singing at sessions falls more readily into the category of behaviour relaxation, than any other. Many musicians have a few songs, and sometimes have many. However, the singer in general in this country is recognised distinctly as a singer, and as different from a musician. Songs are quite often called for in between tunes as a break for the musician and audience alike. The audience usually keeps very quiet during songs, in many cased keeping total silence.

Rarely is more than one song sung at once, unless perhaps the singer is very well known, in which case he might be asked to song several songs in succession, and many songs during the course of the evening.

SESSION BEHAVIOUR OF THE AUDIENCE

i) Musical Behaviour
This is limited to foot tapping, clapping and the strange cry to which audience and musicians alike give vent to during tunes. Foot tapping is an almost universal response of the audience to the music, and only those who can’t hear, refrain. Hand clapping in time to the music as distinct from applause, is frowned on by the musicians since the audience often clap out of time, which breaks the rhythm the musicians have set for themselves, and very often bring the music to a halt.

ii) Non-Musical Behaviour of the Audience
We must remember here the distinction between the concept of an audience as those non-players present, and considering it to be those people who are actually listening. In fact, it is easy to distinguish between the two groups by means of their different behaviour.

Those actually listening, very often gather closely around the musicians, sitting or standing, even if seats are available elsewhere. In general, they don’t speak much, and when they do, never in such a way as to interfere with the music, e.g. loudly during a slow air or a song. The other section of the audience behave exactly as a person in the bar would if music was not present, except if order is called for, they may then respond for the space of a slow air or a song. The level of conversation often creeps up during longer song, and this may be criticised by other present shouting, “Quiet for the singer!”, “Shhhhh”, and other such phrased.

Some people who are not participating musicians may sit within the musicians group. Usually these are spouses, or boy/girl friends, and even they may be politely encouraged or in fact asked to sit elsewhere, if a tardy musician has not got a seat.

CHAPTER 4

EVALUATION OF SESSION BEHAVIOUR

This evaluation of the behaviour patterns observed in the session observed in the session is derived from discussions with informants and from observation of the interactions which take place between the people who compose the session, including the audience. The evaluation of a musician within the session, by fellow musicians and audience, depends on the factors which are discussed below.

1/ Technical Skill

This is a major factor in the evaluation of a musician. Obviously the greater a musician’s ability in playing his instrument, the more highly he is regarded by all concerned. It should be noted here that no one of the factors discussed here can be isolated as the ultimate criterion of evaluation, but that all of them must be considered together.

2/ Background

The position of a musician as Phase 1 or 11 as dealt with in Chapter 2, is used to some extent evaluation, but in general only if all other factors are equal. In that case, a Phase 1 musician would have a slightly higher evaluation. For example, if a musician comes from a famous musical family, this fact is highly thought of.

3/ Instrument Played

Some instruments have a higher evaluation than others, and this is transferred to the players. Older, more traditional melody instruments would score highly in this respect. There follows a list of the instruments played, ranked according to this criterion; Uillean Pipes, Fiddle, Concert Flute, Concertina, Accordion, Tin Whistle, Banjo, (Guitar, Mandolin and Bouzouki) rank together, (Bodhran, Bones and Spoons) rank together. Note that the instruments which were introduced last i.e. historically, tend to have the lowest evaluation. This list is to some extent subjective, other musicians/groups might put the instruments in a different order.

4/ Repertoire

Two features of the repertoire can be evaluated. Firstly, the size of the repertoire is important, and most musicians held in high esteem have large repertoires. This might be in the range of 400 to 600 tunes. However it is generally acknowledged that player who hopes to be rated highly must have a large repertoire as well as a good playing technique. The criticism is often made that someone may know 400 tunes but cannot play of them properly.

Secondly, the type of tune contained in the repertoire is also important in this respect. A repertoire consisting of strange and unusual tunes if highly evaluated, and even more so if the musician is Phase 1, in which case the tunes will have been learnt in the oral tradition, and not from records or books.

5/ Reputation

A musician’s reputation in terms of personality, friendliness or otherwise, has a small effect on how he will be evaluated by the audience, but it may have a considerable effect on how he is rated by other musicians. The term used most commonly to refer to someone who behaved badly in terms of session etiquette is “a bollocks”. It is often said, for example: “He’s a good musician, but he’s an awful bollocks”. As a result of how musicians are evaluated by other people (and by themselves as well), they tend to fall into one of several types of behaviour patterns, which by their interaction leads to the overall from of behaviour that we call the session.

In order to make clear the different types of behaviour which are commonly observed in the session I have chosen to refer to them under the headings below. It should be made very clear at this point that these are my terms and concepts, or use these terms when discussing the session.

1/ Session Leader

This is normally the most highly evaluated musician (or musicians) in the session, both from the point of view of the musicians and of the audience. Session leaders take the lead in all forms of musical behaviour in the session. This includes calling the tunes in terms of both sets and sequence, and setting the tempo rhythm of the playing.

The sequence of tunes in the sets is often pre-determined by factors outside the session such as recordings of well-known musicians playing tunes in a certain sequence. However, many tunes are not associated with others in this way, and it is in this case that the session leaders decide the sequence. This process is not entirely a matter of random selection but is governed by a set of rules, some conscious and some unconscious.

For example, tunes may be put together for the following reasons:- Two reels which are in the same key are sometimes played together for not other reason than that it makes an easy change. Two tunes which sound very alike may be played together as one naturally suggests the other. Again two tunes which are in different keys, and may be very dissimilar in many ways, are played together not only for the sense of contrast between them, but also for the beautiful effect of changing from one key to another without stopping. There may be more than one session leader to a session, but in general there are not more than two.

2/ Filler

This is a musician who is a competent player, but usually remains musically in the background during a session, not usually suggesting tunes but playing along with the tunes suggested by others. He will not be as technically competent or have as large a repertoire as the session leader, and he will only very rarely attempt to play a solo. It should be noted here that often a musician, who is technically fit to be a session leader, will not do so purely due to his personality.

The category into which a musician falls often depends on the particular situation he is in. For example, in a different session a filler may become a session leader, and take over this role quite easily. In the session where he is a filler, he will probably have one or two tunes that are associated with him to such an extent that he feels justified in calling them; certain tunes tend to be associated with certain musicians in the session. Usually they were the first to learn them. Thus the musician, who has introduced the tune to the company, is usually the one to suggest playing it, musically at any rate. Thus the session leaders, having the most tunes (and many of the others have learnt these tunes from them), find that it is up to them to call these tunes in the session.

However, fillers and even beginners can indirectly instigate the playing of a tune by asking the session leader to play it. By son doing he gets to hear the tune, which he probably wants to learn, but even if he knows it already, he follows session etiquette, for not starting to play the tune himself, he acknowledged the position of the session leader. Some musicians are evaluated as fillers on the basis of the instrument they play to a very large extent. These are the players of backing, or non-melody instruments, who can never directly call a tune, but at the same time can be an outstanding musician e.g. a Guitar or Bodhran player.

3/ Beginner

This is a musician who is at the stage where he is still learning tunes, and in fact is still a long way from mastering his instrument. As he stands in the session, he probably only knows a few of the tunes being played, but he listens carefully to the others, and perhaps tries to play along for a few bars. Musicians when learning tend to join session before they can contribute anything worthwhile to it. (This is from the point of view of the other musicians.) However, they are tolerated because the more advanced musicians realise that this is the only way in which aspiring musicians can learn.

A session which has too many beginners tends to break down, since beginners do tend to play out of tune and out of time. They come in for a lot of criticism from other musicians, due in part to the fact that many chose inexpensive and simple instruments like the whistle and bodhran. The bodhran is the greatest offender here because it seems deceptively easy to play. In fact it is just the opposite, and in the opinion of many, there are only a handful of good players in the country. An inexperienced player on a loud bodhran can bring a group of good musicians to a standstill, because it is extremely difficult to play with someone who is emphasing the wrong beat in the bar, or even worse, someone who is playing totally out of time.

When present at a session, beginners tend to sit on the out-skirts of the group, unless as sometimes happens, they attach themselves to a more mature player of the instrument of their choice, in which case they will probably sit close to them.

These types as discussed above are to be found in almost every session throughout the country, but there is a further class not discussed yet who can exert an influence even in sessions where they are absent; this group is what we shall call the;

4/ Master Musicians

These musicians are recognised by everyone concerned to be the best in their class. Many of them are full-time professional musicians, and may be well-known via media performances. There are of course only a few Master musicians for each instrument, but they exercise a tremendous influence over the other musicians in terms of style. For example, some of the Master musicians in the field of concert flute playing, are Seamus Tansey, Matt Molloy, and Patsy Hanley. The musicians exert their influence to a large extent via records, and thus they can exert and influence in the average session, since people will be playing their tunes in imitation of their style.

INTERACTION WITHIN THE SESSION

In order to fully understand the session, it is necessary to consider not only the musicians, but also all the other people present who make up the total situation at that particular moment in time. Thus the audience and the owner of the bar or house where the session is taking place must be taken into account as well. Some of the major interactions that commonly take place, are outlined below.

1/ Interaction between individual musicians

What actually happens in this case depends on how the musicians evaluate each other, but it is true to say that musicians in general get pleasure from playing tunes with other musicians. This may be qualified to some extent by saying that while a total beginner may really enjoy playing tunes with a Master musician, the reverse might not be the case. Secondly it is in the session that all musicians learn new tuned from each other.

2/ Interaction between Musicians and Audience

Here the basic exchange is that the musicians play music which gives pleasure to the audience, and the audience give the musicians a certain amount of appreciation. Even those members of the audience previously discussed who do not attend sessions to listen to the music, interact with the musicians in various ways.

3/ Interaction between Musicians and Host

Even in cases where the host provides no encouragement to the players in the way of money or free drink, he at least provides a place for them to play. Many pubs will not allow music to be played on the premises, and so this can be an important factor in itself.

From the publican’s point of view, the fact that there is music one or more nights a week, draws custom into his pub, and often, if the music is good, the name of the pub will spread, and many people will come in looking for music. If the session happens to be in a private house, again the musicians and audience alike are appreciative of a place to play and drink, more especially as most house session are after-hours. In this case, from the host’s point of view, it provides him with a chance to hear more music, in all probability in a much quieter atmosphere. It is noticeable that the people who host house-sessions are in general deeply and seriously interested in traditional music.

CONCLUSIONS

This dissertation has looked in some detail, at a form of musical behaviour central to the contemporary performance of Irish traditional music.
The different types of instrument used, the social situations where they are used, the backgrounds of the musicians playing them, and the way in which they interact, have all been closely examined in an attempt to understand how this complex of musical behaviours works.
It became obvious to me in the course of the research that the way in which musicians behaved in the session, and hence the music which resulted could be to some extent explained by the interaction of two concepts well known to sociologists and anthropologists, those of role and status.
To be clear: status can be defined as the relative social position of an individual within a group. Role is the behaviour which results from this status.

We have seen that various factors can influence the status of musicians in the session situation.

1/Their background as Phase 1 or Phase 2.
2/The instrument/s they play.
3/Their technical ability
4/Style*
5/Repertoire
6/Reputation
7/Age (greater age conferring higher status)

The above are not necessarily listed in order of significance, but rather it is the interaction of the factors which result in an overall status. Hence a person who might be expected to have a low status due to say Phase 2 background, a low status instrument, youth, and not widely known, could by virtue of great technical ability and a large repertoire. Have a higher than expected status.
Conversely, an older phase 1 musician, playing a high status instrument, could have a lower status due to poor technical ability and repertoire.

In terms of role, I have identified three broad roles within the session situation.
1/Session leader
2/Filler
3/Beginner

It is important to realise that individuals may “see” different status in the same individuals because they value aspects of their status differently.
Similarly, status may be affected by the combination of individuals, and thus their roles may change in the presence or absence of others.

The germ of the idea behind the type of analysis presented here was an idea that I had presented in an essay submitted to the Society for Ethnomusicology which proposed the use of the scientific method in anthropology.

The essence of the scientific method is:
1/Examine the evidence/data
2/Propose a hypothesis to explain that evidence.
3/Design an experiment to test the hypothesis.
4/Conclude hypothesis is either supported or contradicted.
5/Move towards a theory which explains more permanently the observations.

The essential conclusion of this dissertation is that the status of an individual musician very largely determines their role, hence their behaviour, and consequentially the way in which a session sounds to both the musicians and the audience.
In terms of the application of the scientific method, the results of the research could be therefore be presented in the following way.
The data accumulated demonstrates that a musician’s status can be influenced by various factors which I have identified.
Observations also demonstrated that musicians adopt different roles in the session.
The hypothesis is therefore that musical behaviour – and hence musical sound – can be predicted by knowing how the status of musicians will affect their role, and hence their behaviour.
The experiment would be to look at a group of musicians who get together to play a session, being aware of their status, and to predict how they will behave…i.e. what their roles will be.
Testing this hypothesis requires no resort to a constructed experimental milieu. Many, if not most, traditional musicians are constantly, if not always consciously testing the hypothesis, by observing how a session is beginning to form, and deciding if it will work for them, or in fact if it will work at all.
This of course happens more frequently in the less organised type of sessions such as occur at festivals and Fleadhs. The paid sessions that occur in pubs, obviously have a more settled personnel with an established status and role, and there is less possibility of variation of musical behaviour. That said, my model allows the prediction of a change in behaviour when a new musician turns up and wants to play, as well as predicting the probable behaviour when musicians not personally known to each other try to get together to play a session.

APPENDIX 1

BIBLIOGRAPHY

B. Breathnach: Ceol Rinnce na hEireann, Dublin,
Oifig an tSolathair, Parts 1&2
1963, 1974, and 1976.

B. Breathnach Folkmusic and Dances of Ireland, Dublin,
Educational Company of Ireland, 1971.

D. Bulmer: Music from Ireland, 1974.

Bunting Manuscripts in the library of Queen’s Univer
-sity, containing tunes and also the
Autobiography of Arthur O Neill.

P. Joyce Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, 1907
Reprint 1965 by Cooper Publications, N.Y.

J. Koning Irish Traditional Dance Music,
A Sociological study of its structure,
Developments, and functions in the
past and present. Paper, University of
Amsterdam, 1976.

Maxwell County and Town in Ireland under the
Georges, Dundalk, 1949

McCullagh, L.E. Style In Traditional Irish Music, Journal
of the society of Ethnomusicology, Vol xx1,
January 1, 1977.

F. O’ Neill Irish Music and Musicians,
1001 Gems of Irish Dance Music
Irish Folk Music, A Fascinating Hobby

APPENDIX 2

Explanation of terms marked with an asterisk in the text, in alphabetical order.

AISLING: A dream ballad. Originally a class of song in Gaelic times, where the hero of the song falls asleep and dreams the main part of the story as told by the singer. In later times the concept was transferred to many English-language songs, where the hero sees a young woman who symbolises Ireland. The verses are usually rather long, and the air of complex structure and in free rhythm.

BALLAD GROUPS: Groups of musical performers who originated in the 1960’s and are found in smaller numbers today. Their music consists of songs of ballad form, the majority nationalistic in sentiment. These are usually performed in a highly non-traditional manner, with a strongly rhythmic backing provided by such instruments as guitar, banjo, and tin whistle. Their repertoire is on the whole, however, adapted from traditional material.

BODHRAN: This is the traditional frame drum, of the Irish players. Until recently it was restricted to some areas of the southwest, but has become very popular, especially with the young urban groups. The frame is circular, between 17 and 24 inches in diameter, and between 3 and 5 inches deep. The skin is usually goatskin. There may be two struts at right angles inside the drum. It is played with the hand, or more commonly with a double-ended short stick. It plays an intricate rhythm around the basic three and four beat rhythms of the dance tunes.

BOTHY BAND: A group of musicians very much appreciated by the young urban musicians and traditional fans.

CHANGE: This word is used to refer to the process of changing from one tune into another, without stopping. It means more than simply the interval between the last note of the first tune and the first note of the second one, and in fact can be used to refer to the whole musical effect of the last bar of the first tune becoming the first bar of the second. A good change is in essence the creation of a new melodic figure by putting together the last notes of one tune with the first notes of another.

CONRADH NA GAELIGE: This is an organization for the promotion of Irish language and culture, and they have premises in Dublin and Cork. They run classes in Irish, and usually each club has a bar where they like to hold sessions.

FALLS ROAD: This is one of the major Catholic areas of Belfast, and as such it is in this area that much of the traditional happens in Belfast.

GAELTACHT AREAS: These are areas that the government has designated for the preservation of the Irish language. Most are areas where Irish is spoken as the daily language, and the children grow up as native speakers, with Irish as their first language.
They are taught English at school, with the result that all Gaeltachts are bi-lingual areas.

INDEPENDENCE: Prior to 1916, Ireland was one state, governed by the British from London. 1916 saw an abortive rebellion in Dublin, but with the result that eventually a Republic was set up covering all but the six Northern counties, who chose to remain British. It was not until after the civil war of the early 1920s that the Southern government really came into being.

POTEEN: This is a type of whisky made illegally to avoid paying tax. It is colourless and very strong, being usually over 100% proof. It is manufactured in remote country districts, and when available, retails at £2 per bottle. It is the subject of many songs in both in Irish and English.

RED ACCORDION: Accordions are generally referred to as “boxes” by traditional musicians, and they are usually Italian in origin. They are generally disliked by the younger urban musicians because each note is produced by up to five reeds which are all tuned slightly differently. This makes the tone of such an instrument “buzzy”. It is also very loud, and tends to drown the other instruments in a session.. However, some of the instruments made by the same firm had only two reeds per note, and these produced a much clearer tone. When this type of box is combined with the older style of playing, it sounds like a totally different instrument.
These older boxes are grey or black in colour, while the newer ones are red.

SET: This word has two distinct meanings when applied to traditional music. Firstly, it means a group of tunes which are played together. For example a series of three reels played together by a musician is called a set of reels.
Secondly it refers to the type of dance which is common in the counties of Clare, Cork, and Kerry. These are actually modifications of the quadrille, and are danced by four couples normally in six parts. They are noted for the way in which the dancers strike the floor with their fee, to emphasise certain beats in the bar.

SLIABH LUACHRA: This is the old name for the area in North Cork and South Kerry around the valley of the Blackwater river. It is famous for the strong tradition of music and dance which still survives there, and for the many superb musicians that it has produced. It is the home of the tune types, slide and polka, and is also noted for it’s very distinctive rhythmic emphasis in the style of playing.

TUNE: The first part of any piece of music in the Irish tradition. The tune normally introducing the major melodic idea of the whole piece. It also refers to any piece of music in the sense…”They were playing tunes…”

TURN: This is the second part of a piece, and is often a variation on the tune, played in the upper register. It can also be used as a verb e.g. “ I have the tune of that reel, but I can’t turn it.” In other words “I know the first part of that tune, but not the second”.

TWO ROW: This refers to the number of rows of buttons on the keyboard of an accordion. Two is standard,but here can be up to five.

UILLEANN PIPES: The type of bagpipe which is native to Ireland. It is the most complex bagpipe in the world, and consists of the following parts:- the bellows which supplies air to the Bag, which in turn acts as a reservoir of air for the Chanter, on which the melody is played. There are three Drones, and also the Regulators which only sound when their keys are pressed by the side of the right hand. They are used to provide a harmonic and rhythmic accompaniment to the melody.

APPENDIX 3

A LIST OF THE TUNES PLAYED ON 3/7/77 IN THE PHOENIX BAR, CORK

On this particular evening the players were:

Seamus Creagh Fiddle
Pat Ahern Guitar
Noel Shine Whistle
Colin Hamilton Flute
Eoin O’Riabhaigh Pipes

The tunes played during the evening, from just before 9 O’Clock until closing time (10.30 on Sundays) were as follows. Alongside each tune is the key in which it was played, and the instrument which started it.

1.Two Reels The Old Blackthorn D Fiddle
The Humours of Tulla

2. Jig Tom Billy’s D Fiddle

3. Jig The Gold Ring G Flute

4. Two Reels The Wise Maid G Whistle
The Lady on the Island

5. Two Reels The Humours of Ballyconnell G Whistle The Sailor on the Rock

6.Two Polkas Names Unknown G Whistle

7.Slip Jig The Kid on the Mountain D Fiddle

8.Slow Air Her Mantle so Green D Fiddle

9/Two Jigs Tripping up the Stairs G Fiddle
The Trip to Athlone

10. Jig (solo) The Blue Angel G Whistle (Bb)

11. Two Polkas Names Unknown D/ G Flute

12. Two Reels Last Night’s Fun D Fiddle
The Sunny Banks

13. Reel Lucy Campbell D Pipes

14. Reel (solo) Shaney Mulhern’s G Fiddle

15. Two Reels The Five Mile Chase D Pipes

16. Song In Praise of Mullingar Seamus Creagh

17. Reel The Bucks of Oranmore G Pipes

18. Three Reels The Salamanca G
The Banshee D
The Sailor’s Bonnet G

Comment has already been made on how the relationship and the interactions between the people who make up the session are the most important factors determining the observed behaviour patterns.

What is given overleaf is basically a list of some of the patterns of behaviour that can be observed and recorded, in this case on a tape recorder. What we see here is a fairly typical Sunday night session in the Phoenix, in the early summer of 1977.

The first sets of tunes were selected as ones which all the musicians present knew, and they served the purpose of “getting the session of the ground” as it were. Note that the first solo ( the slow air, “Her Mantle So Green” did not occur until nearly halfway through the session, when it fulfilled the function of providing a period of relaxation for the musicians and audience alike. Its position there also meant that the musician who played it had time to warm up before he attempted a solo.

All the tunes were in the keys of D and G except for one, and that was a solo. The keys of D and G encompass nearly all the tunes in the repertoire of Irish musicians, but looked at in this way it gives a false impression of the type of tune played. Many of the tunes are modal and employ gapped scales and many tunes in the same key may be totally different in character.

One tends to find also that the time interval between tunes decreases as the session progresses, and the musicians get “warmed up”. The longer set at the very end is a typical device for getting more time from the publican, who is trying to clear the bar, and on some occasions such a set may run to five or six or more tunes. Again there tend to be more reels played as the session progresses, and the jigs, and perhaps the hornpipes, which are played earlier on, are regarded by some as merely warming up tunes, since they are in a slower tempo.