Sessions ARE public performances?
Something that Kerri and I talked about on her “noodling” thread raised a question that might be interesting to air out. I was talking about how tunes were possibly learned in the days before tape recorders etc. were around, and that people would have to hear the tunes when they were played at sessions held in pubs where the public could hear them. I used the term “public performance” (of the tunes) as opposed to private performances (in people’s houses.) Kerri thought I might have been inferring that sessions were “public performances” and now when I reflect back on it I started to think about it. (Always dangerous when Jack starts thinking… his wife has to move all the nice furniture and chach-kas out of the room he’s thinking in… give him some space so that nothing gets broken) Anyway, aren’t sessions in pubs public performances? Are dart games in pubs a “public performance” of darts… or what about pool games? And when people dance, isn’t that a public performance as well? It doesn’t have to be a “show” and the players/ dancers don’t have to be intentionally putting on a show -- but people are watching or listening… and sometimes even clapping. Wouldn’t this constitute a “public performance”?