Used to live in the Lehigh Valley PA and played at sessions regularly with friends (and CIAW for the last 4 years), but don’t play confidently enough to feel like I can join in an open session yet when I visit NYC. I need to be getting some tunes down really well… where do I start?
Thanks--you guys rock!
Greetings,
Well, you would certainly be welcome at the Slainte Session, 304 Bowery, NYC, every TUES night at 8PM. It is the longest running, totally open, most welcoming session in NYC. If you drop a line with your email address, we can add you to our yahoo newsgroup, where there is a tune list, and many other resources.
Looking fwd to meeting you.
See you soon,
JN
I wish I lived near a city with sessions :(
Off the top of my head you have three great options:
Try the Saturday afternoon slow session at the New York Irish Center (1040 Jackson Ave). It is a great place to learn tunes and play in a completely no pressure environment.
John Nevin runs a very nice open session at Slainte on Tuesday nights. He posted info above.
Caitlin Warbelow has a very welcoming session at Mary Os (32 Ave A) on Thursday nights.
You can’t go wrong with any of these.
As for tunes, there are plenty of lists of standard tunes for beginners. If you want just 15, you might try these (which can all be found on this site):
Father Kelly’s Reel
The Silver Spear Reel
Cooley’s Reel
The Earl’s Chair
The Mountain Road
Sally Gardens
Morrison’s
Out on the Ocean
Humours of Glendart
My Darling Asleep
The Cliffs of Moher
Harvest Home Hornpipe
Boys of Bluehill
Off to California
The Butterfly