Inviting All Lurkers to Reveal Themselves

Some of us have been coming to The Session longer than it’s been an open forum. In the old days, Jeremy was the only person able to post tunes or comments here, and the fact that some of us logged on every week is testimony to the grand job he did in presenting interesting tunes and comments on how to play them.

Then about a year ago (when exactly was it?), Jeremy overhauled the site and generously opened it up for anyone to contribute to. I think the resulting online session is remarkable, wonderful, and as rewarding as any good realworld session.

In fact (despite my apparently “nippy, narky, snippy” tone in a recent thread 🙂, I’d say The Session.org just keeps getting better, in large part because more and more people are joining in and actively participating. It’s terrific to see tunes from such a wide range of tastes and experiences, and to read comments and advice from dozens and dozens of people around the world, from the greenest beginners to accomplished professionals.

My point here is this: hundreds more of you are lurking out there, reading and listening to tunes, but never posting yourselves. That’s okay, fine really. And I can understand that there are many good reasons for not posting anything. (A friend once said that his younger brother didn’t start talking until he was 4 years old, and then spouted off in complete, gramatically correct sentences. When they asked him why he hadn’t talked before then, he replied, “I had nothing to say.”)

But I thought it might be worthwhile to post a clear and open invitation for more people, especially all you lurkers, to join in. Just like at our meatspace sessions, there are always people milling around the edge of the circle, and some would never open their instrument cases unless invited to do so. And I hate to think of the tunes and good crack we might be missing for the lack of a welcoming smile and nod to an empty chair.

So consider it done. If you’re teetering on the virtual edge, take the plunge. C’mon in, post a comment, ask a question, start a discussion, nail a tune to the archives. We promise not to bite your head off (at least not until we know you better 🙂.

Toes and fingers, on the other hand, are fair game. Just kidding. *grin*

Zina

Hello, my name is Glauber and i’m a flute player.

*snicker* Glauber, you goof. Sure you can’t manage a coffee at the airport or something?

I just went back (I should be working, you know) and looked at our very first posts and waxed sentimental. Wow. Was that only just this last year? Seems like I can barely remember a time when I didn’t know all you folks.

So, to all you lurkers who’ve never or who only rarely chime in, I hope you’ll follow Glauber’s lead and stick your oar in as well as the rest of us loudmouths. It seems like everywhere I go now, I have friends there to play with, and we’d be honored to add you to that list.

Zina

Hello, my names Wackadack and im an alcoholic.

I’m an occasional poster and frequent lurker. I don’t write much because 1) I don’t always have that much time to be online, I’m not a fast (or accurate) typist so I need spell-checking time, etc., and there are so many things to look at on The Session and elsewhere (all those links and such.) And 2), I don’t always have something really relevant to say (Some of you may think this is a case in point!). Also if several people have already posted to a thread, maybe they’ve already said what I was thinking.

I’ve only recently become aware on some other sites that some regular contributors feel uncomfortable about people who read all their comments but don’t post themselves or even identify themselves. It hadn’t occurred to me before that this was a problem. I figured people were just busy or not that talkative. It was still nice to know that people became members of The Session because they cared enough about traditional Irish music to find the site and associate themselves with it, even if they weren’t always vocal members. Of course, I agree that many people have interesting things to say and it’s great to hear from them if they do feel like posting.

Well, until I have my next impulsive Session contribution, I’ll continue to lurk and surreptitiously read the comments of Will and Zina and company.

Thanks to anyone, regulars or newbies who writes in here and livens up my day!

Zhenya

Hi - My name is Mary Angela and Will, you brought this on yourself. Wait until these fine folks hear that I actually know you! I do, I swear it’s true. I play with him every week and hike with him and commiserate with him over our sons’ behind-schedule homework projects. I’ve been a dedicated lurker for quite some time - very much enjoy the posts and the craic. Especially as Will’s not nearly this much fun in person :>)

I actually have posted once or twice before, but without any identifying info so that’s the same as lurking, I suppose. Will and I discovered, over pizza years ago, that we both played fiddle. I explained that I wasn’t playing much, as the local musicians seemed to all play Old Time and I (apologetic look here) played Irish. He practically spit out his pizza and we’ve been playing together ever since. There are many things I could tell you…but don’t worry, Will, I won’t. Just hello to all of you.

So, Mary Angela, the blackmail begins! 🙂 How much will it cost me to keep you quiet? How can I keep you from revealing that I don’t even own a fiddle, and that my cd collection is just Barry Manilow, Yanni, and the Captain & Tenille….ooops. Did I say that out loud?

Oh well, I’m sure by now Zina has emailed you through the member link and you’re spreading truth and egregious candor about me behind my back….grin.

Zhenya, I don’t really have any negative thoughts about the hidden audience who reads us here but never contributes. It’s hard to imagine them getting much vicarious or voyeuristic thrill out of it, and even harder to think that someone could somehow turn it against us. Hmmm….cyber-voodoo. Creepy idea.

So I just want to make it clear that I’m hoping to encourage de-lurking from a more optimistic point of view--that perhaps some fun, funny, enlightening people (like Mary Angela, and I’ll pay you that $50 later) have been holding back who just need a gentle nudge to join exactly the kind of crack we have going here now. And not to discourage anyone from just lurking if that’s their ticket. There’s a lot of good information on this site, and it’s great that it’s so widely available, and judging by the mile-long members list, so widely read.

Damn! Will got to you before I could, Mary Angela! *grin*

Not to worry, Will and I have already commiserated about what on earth we’re going to do if we finally get in the same room this summer and not be able to stand each other’s company. If worst comes to worst (or is that wurst? I need to go eat lunch!), we’ll just shut up and play and go back to e-mail and The Session to actually talk. Heh.

I’m warning you all now. I’m much more polite and tactful online. Offline and in real life I’m more of a disaster area. Which is sometimes fun for me, I must admit. Ask Dirk, he’ll tell you. *snort*

So…*fascinated look*…Mary Angela, is Will REALLY as bad a fiddler as he claims to be?

Zina

P.S. Now I have the Muskrat Love Song stuck in my head. Thanks a lot, Harmon. hehehe

It’s amusing to me, Will, that your invitation to lurkers has become a love-in for some of the most frequently posting members. C‘mon lars! C’mon Brad! Scotty! Quit hiding in the shadows! Let people know you’re out there!

Like you should talk, Kerri. *grin*

zls

I should! I should talk! Hasn’t anyone noticed I’ve been unusually quiet lately? I could have been lurking. Who knows? Maybe this thread was just what I needed to give me that social kick in the behind! (I wasn’t lurking, though. I was too busy packing the bags of my recently liberated fiance to check up on the threads.)

Muskrat Love…isn’t that a slip jig?

Aaargh. What? WHAT? Kerri, it’s time to switch to e-mail….WHAT?! I figured you were just busy!

Zina

Yes, ouch, Kerri. cc me.

Why not just start another thread? 🙂

teehee. yes I’ll call it “what type of tune goes with kicking out the fiance?” Or I could write a tune called Kicking Out the Fiance. (I already wrote one with a friend called “The Cheating Lark of the Dirty Bastard”). But we digress. Any lurking strangers care to join in the conversation?

hey, I think I’ll post that tune.

I’ve been so sporadic a poster lately that I guess I qualify as a lurker. But I do pride myself on having contributed some pretty kicking tune names, back in the old days. Oh, and I play the whistle, if my miserable squaks deserve to be called “playing.” Apart from that I still haven’t submitted my Mighty Crack tunes and next month I will take my first trip to Cannada (Quebec), attend a day-long whistle workshop, play for a contra-dance and move to our new house. And don’t ask how I got my handle.

Hey, Mary Angela, when you hike & commiserate with Will, does he mention bowing patterns, at all? 🙂

A minor tune with lots of dissonance, I’m thinking. Jaysus. *Sorry* to hear about this, Kerri, dead sorry. More by e-mail.

zls

So, Manfred, how DID you get your nick? *grin*

zls

My name is Carl. (bluegrasser from Baltimore MD) I have chimed in a few times, but I’m your basic hardcore lurker. I really like ITM, but it isn’t my forte. In fact, when I play Irish tunes they have a sort of bluegrass accent - hee hee. I’ve been going up to Ontario quite a bit in the last four years, love those traditional Canadian fiddle tunes (some of which are Irish based- I think) Well, I ran into Scottythefiddler, and I always try to catch up with him for some jamming. Phil and Debbie Howes have a great “Reel and Strathspey Session” in Markham Ont. every 2nd, and 4th Saturday - I go to some of those sessions, and Scotty, Phil, Debbie and I have had some wonderful jams (with good food and refreshment) .
I’m going to my first ever Fidde Camp this Aug. “The Graham Townsend Memorial” fiddling & Step Dancinig Camp Now, Graham could play in just about all fiddling styles, and Irish music was in his blood. Another first for me will be to enter the fiddle contest at Shelbourne, Ont. with the objectives of: having a little fun, Not Come in Last (hee hee), and certainly to work up my waltz, jig, and reel to a level higher than my usual playing,
I really enjoy this list, (mainly lurking, ) EH ! Not a purist, but I’m hangin’ out on the edge ! Take care.

Hello to all - My name is Maryalice and I play the flute and whistle (and please note that I use the word *play* rather loosely!). I am 37 and taught myself how to play both instruments three years ago. I am in the process of trying to master “technique” with ornamentation and so forth. I’ve not played ITM with anyone except myself (of course!) and a few members of my family.

I apologize for lurking around the periphery of your Session…I don’t mean to be creepy!! If I were ever to attend a Session in real-time, I am afraid I would probably do the same. It is easy to see how experienced all of you are, and I can’t ever really elaborate or enhance the answers or comments you have already posted in a thread. But I do enjoy the crack…and hope you don’t mind if I listen awhile before I embarass myself by eating shoeleather in front of strangers! 🙂

Well, Zina, it’s a long story and actually a bit of a joke for those who hang out at chiff & fipple (there isn’t just fiddles in the world, you know). A while ago there was this thread there, you know, “how did YOU get your handle.” Well, I got a bit carried away…

Anyway, I’m gonna need more prodding before I repost *that* story…

P.S.: Kerri, sorry to hear! Sounds like it may be better in the long run, though… As for tunes, have you considered “Merrily Kick the Slacker” or “The Rocky Road to Singledom”?

Best!

Hi Maryalice,
If you are working on ornamentation technique for (simple system) flute or whistle, here are some tips from bitter experience:

* Work on cuts and taps first, and for a long time. Get them short and crisp and be able to put them whereever you want.
* When you start on rolls, slooooooow dooooown. So slow that you play note-cut-note-tap-not in perfect time, with the cuts and taps really short, just like little blips, NOT like notes. It helped me to count eigths during this stage.

If you haven’t found it already, Brother Steve’s tinwhistle page is a must:

http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/

Thanks so much for the link to Brother Steve’s! Will I lose all respectability if I confess that I am taking a class from Conal O’Grada on the Scoiltrad website?? I find it so helpful to actually watch the ornamentation and tune-playing being demonstrated. I suppose, after all, that it what Sessions (slow!!) are all about.

*darn*….see, I’m eating shoeleather already! I just found a link here on The Session to Scoiltrad, so now I’ve probably offended someone by being reluctant to admit I’m taking a lesson! I’m going back to lurking….

Nope, you’re out now! 🙂 Quite a few of us take lessons from Scoiltrad here. They’re a lovely way to get some learning in.

And, by the way, I consider myself a beginner as well (only been playing a few years), so you’re in good company. So, no going back to hiding now!

Zina

prod! prod! prod!

Well now, see, some of us lurkers here really just have day jobs. 🙂 This summer I’ve engaged with local brothel to play harp in the background while their customers are being, umm, entertained, and evenings this spring I was organizing basketball riots, wondering if any of them drunk people wanted a fiddle in their ear…not much else to do in southern Indiana.

Kidding, of course. Really, I just enjoy reading the chatter - particularly recently, while my neutron simulation program (physics research) runs and I’m just waiting to copy down numbers. Around here, at least, there are several of us physics pholks who are also trad people - anybody see that anywhere else, the overlap between math/science and music?

Here’s another question, while I’m unlurking…anybody else have pet birds? I’ve just acquired a parakeet, and I *think* she likes listening to me practice, but maybe I’m deluding myself.

Elia

Bloomfield, the only time Will and I talk about bowing patterns is when we recount to each other the time someone told us we REALLY sounded great together, but it would be even better if we’d make our bows move together and smile!

Maryalice, I came out a while back and have been doing a fair bit of eating of the shoeleather myself. But, I just put that in the same category as playing in public - scary, painful but useful nonetheless - what’s that phrase? Oh yeah, it’s a learning experience 🙂. So go for it!

Elia, I live close to Los Alamos, where there are more physicists per square foot than anywhere else in the world. Many of them play instruments - and love to talk about the connection of math to music, but they tend toward classical, perhaps due to the need for structure. The few I know who play trad, play scottish which is more classical in nature, and use sheet music. They don’t like that ornamentation and noodling around stuff. Case in point, I’ve been trying to talk one of them into getting his wife to play trad on her flute. After hearing some really good players at a session in San Fransisco, his comments? She’d hate it - it is all just so random and they play anything they feel like playing, and anyway, how do you know when you’ve got it right? Um, yes, and that would be a *good* thing…

Ahhh, Kerri, so sorry to hear that. But, it’s a good tune you just posted, and, speaking from personal experience, the ending of a relationship can bump you up a level in your playing. Not a recommended way of getting past the old drab plateau, of course…

Sosaidh

All right, Glauber, you asked for it… 🙂

Scoiltrad is great I hear. And Conal is da man! Good luck with it, Maryalice.

I think I count as a lurker as I read more often than I post… I also play airs almost exclusively…so I lurk on this dance site to see how emotional everyone gets……Every now and again I like to jump in and let people know that I’m out there (as in…really out there!!)….I’ve yet to pluck up the courage to play in public and don’t think it’s gonna happen soon.

However, this website keeps me sane…I love the fact that human nature is what it is..still shines through…beautiful and bright….music unites all of us in humility and self deprecation….how’s that for linking threads🙂

Andy

Elia, I have two congo african greys and they LOVE Irish trad. When I’m playing, especially if there is a whistle (my oldest daughter is a whistle player) or the hammered dulcimer going too, they just go OFF. Its not exactly a harmony - they keep a close rhythm tho and seem to stay in key. Now, before you think I’m anthropomorphizing, I heard one of them sing harmony to a Dwight Yokum song once. Yikes.
Ok, I’m Birgit, I’m a recovering rock and roller.. no, that’s not true. My sister is. I grew up going to coffee houses and listening to old timey and Irish and singing ballads with my friends. I’ve been doing this kind of stuff for 25 years now. My first and main instrument is mountain dulcimer, but I mostly play mandolin these days. I’m learning fiddle. I can’t seem to make myself learn concertina (does anyone know
a concertina instructor in the Laramie, Fort Collins area??) and I’m lucky enough right now to have someone to play fiddle tunes with on a regular basis. Yes, I lurk, I don’t know ABC very well, and this is the best site. I’ve learned so much already from reading the comments, not only on playing but living.
Thanks all y’all.

This is great…it’s like sitting in a half-empty circle of chairs on a regular session night and watching old friends and new faces walk in the door ready to play. In the face of the daily grind (not to mention what we saw last September), it is *deeply* reassuring to see people from so far afield come together so full of enthusiasm and downright joy over something as at once arcane and alive as Irish trad music.

Play on….

this is really fun -- even better than the thread about self-deprecation 🙂 i can’t speak about birds and ITM, but one of my cats comes to sit by me every time i pull out the fiddle. a glutton for punishment, that cat … both of my cats hate the concertina, though.

i’m in portland, oregon. are any lurkers located here? (i already know about *you*, eithne!)

sarah

Well, a cockatiel used to be part of our family, until my wife’s dog ate it for Thanksgiving dinner (the rest of us were cooking a bird, so….). The bird’s name was Reward (we bought her and a cage with the reward from finding and returning a $3,000 diamond that had fallen out of it’s setting when the owner was walking her dog three blocks down our street), and Reward would whistle and screech whenever I played fiddle, clearly enjoying it--because I sounded like a love sick, tuneless male cockatiel.

Was I rambling? I’ve got Bloomfield’s parable stuck in my head and, like a cockatiel, I’m mimicking…. 🙂

elia, I have a dog that curls up under the piano bench whenever I play Moonlight Sonata or Pachelbel’s Canon.

I had a goldfish once. There was no way to know if it was enjoying the music or not.

scottythefiddler lurking, well maybe…

Today, while framing the roof of a 3 story building, putting the trusses in place, there I was standing on top of the trusses, on top of the world, 45 feet above the ground, and I started to sing at the top of my lungs, “If I were a rich man, oh a dia dia dia dia dia dum, All day long I’d… The site superintendant looked up from the ground, grinned, and yelled, ” What on earth are you doing?“, and I replied, ”FIDDLER ON THE ROOF"….. (ta Da kBoom)

Actually, I have mellowed while absent….

No, the truth is, trying to jump in on one of these threads is like trying to jump onto a moving freight train. But, I really enjoy reading all of your comments.

Well, the real truth is that I have mellowed with advancing age…while absent due to my computer’s failed memory…

Or is that getting absent-minded with advancing age,… I told my lovely wife the other day, “I have a good memory, but it is short!”
She asked, “How short is it?” I replied, “How short is what?”

The genuine real wholehearted truth is that I broke my fiddle while falling off a roof, and have decided to become a Broadway singer, and a stand-up comic…..as soon as my legs heal….I have already booked my first gig, but the hall is still under construction… My boss is giving me his full support. He said, “Don’t give up your day job.”

Cheers
Scottythebroadwaysingerandstandupcomic

I’m like the 4 year old that Will was talking about…If I don’t have something to say…I don’t say anything. I’ll go ahead and say something now though. I think my very first post stated some stuff about me, but I’ll say it again. I’m 14 years old, my name is Brent, and I live in Oklahoma. I play fiddle, concertina, and whistle. When I was about 4, my dad made me and my brother take Suzuki violin lessons (at the time he played fiddle…Mostly old-time/Americana type stuff…Soldier’s Joy, Old Joe Clark, Liberty, etc.). Needless to say, my brother and I hated it. We continued to do that for a few years…Finally, he let us quit. That was a couple years before we moved here (we lived in Kansas before we moved to Oklahoma). I didn’t pick up the fiddle again until a couple years after we moved here. The reason: I was jealous of my brother and my dad. They were playing places (Dad: hammered dulcimer/guitar and brother: mandolin) and occasionally getting some money. So I took lessons…My teacher was giving me the same stuff that my dad and brother were playing and, although I didn’t know it at the time, a few Irish tunes. My playing was kind of off and on…Some weeks I’d practice a few hours, and other weeks my fiddle would collect dust. After about two years, I quit taking lessons. I started playing more Irish tunes (I still didn’t know they were Irish…I just had a big pile of music that I had collected from the Carp Camp…More on that later). That big pile of music was commonly referred to at my house as the “Carp Camp Homework”…Maybe because that’s what they called it the Carp Camp! Carp Camp is a camp at a festival called the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. Every year Dave, the “leader” of the jams at Carp Camp, put out a new set of homework. Seeing all those people there, enjoying themselves while they played music, inspired me. I took up playing more seriously. Sometime in there I picked up whistle (Its been almost a year and a half). One day my dad bought a cheap whistle and was going to learn to play it…I said I was the “wind” person (I played alto sax in band) and that I would learn it. So I did…It was a couple weeks before Christmas and for Christmas I got, among other things, a Susato D. After that, I didn’t play whistle for awhile…I don’t really know what made me pick it up again. And like I said before, whistle was really what led me to Irish music. I started buying tunebooks and CD’s…That’s where I first heard concertina. So, I set about learning about them…That’s when my dad called to my attention that sometime that regularly jams at Carp Camp played concertina. I had seen him playing it before, but I didn’t know what it was at the time. With urging from my dad (I really don’t like to do stuff like what I was about to do), I emailed him to ask him if he had an extra one…Turns out, he did (it was a 30 key, C/G Herrington hexigonal model, for all those interested) and he said he’d bring it to Winfield. Now, we always go to Winfield a week early, just to get some extra jamming time…He brought it that week and let me take it home, with my promise to bring it back the weekend of the actual festival. Every day I went over there, and got a lesson. Then he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse…$10 a month, towards the final cost, for me to keep it. If I decided that I didn’t like it…Send it back…I would be out a little bit of money, but better than if I spent $500 on one and didn’t like it ($500 is pretty cheap, I know, but that would’ve been all I could afford). I still have it, and once I can actually get a job, I’ll start paying him more. So…That’s how I came by all 3 of my instruments…Sorry for all the sentence fragments, improper english, spelling errors, etc. Now that you all know I’m out there, I’ll just go back to lurking again until I have something else to say. Until next time!

Brent

Hi, everyone! I haven’t had much to contribute in awhile so… but I still check in nearly every day. It’s rather nice to learn and laugh at the same time.

(For those who don’t know me at all, I play at percussion in Chicagoland and when my time frees up more at the end of the summer, I’m going to be really anxious to start whistle lessons.)

I’ll be in Vincennes, Indiana next week-end. Any ITM out there?

By the way, I have no birds or cats or dogs, but my 89 year old mother hides in the back bedroom whenever I practice!

This place just keeps getting better and better! Thank goodness for the “new” tab or I’d never be able to keep up. Especially now that I’ve decided to spend part of my days making a database of all my trad cds and albums and what tunes are on them. So I’ll never have to say again “arrrrgh!!! Where have I heard that tune?? I know I have it somewhere!”.

Sorry to hear about your trouble, Kerri. That can’t have been pleasant. Glad you’re back.

Heyyy Scotty, I think yer fibbin’…Heh. Except for the “don’t give up your day job” part. We’ve all heard *that* before I’ll bet 😉

Zina, now I *really* want to meet you! Dirk, spill the beans! What is she *really* like?! Too bad my mother-in-law doesn’t live in Denver anymore. It would be fun to visit your session. And if you have the (proposed) gathering there I’m going to do my best to make it. Except I hope I can take a train or something. The turbulence over Denver the last time I flew there was scary! Nice new pics on your site, by the way.

All right, my turn! I’m Henk, living in the Netherlands (close to the Belgian border) and have been playing the violin for 15 years now, and Irish fiddle for nearly 8 years now.
I’ve made a few comments a while ago, but lack of time kept me from further contributions.
I’m a firm ‘consumer’ of the session though, checking the site every day; especially when Will is taking the stage I am happy, since his comments on Kevin Burke are just what I need; so now you all know who is my great inspirator among the hot shots of Irish fiddle.
The session really helped me to overcome my fear to attend a session in-the-flesh, that is probably the best it did for me. Meanwhile I have become a regular session visitor!

Me, Chris? I suspect Dirk will tell you that people who like me really like me quite a lot, and people who don’t like me can hardly bear to be in the same room as me. *grin*

If you make it out here, there’ll be a place for you to stay!

As for pets, I had a cat once that hated my recorders and whistles. (Not that I play them well, so that was probably the trouble right there.) He would sit in front of me while I played and meow. Gradually, the meowing would become more and more piercing as I went on, and Dexter would scoot closer and closer to me, until finally he was standing on his hind legs in front of my chair and trying to hook the whistle out of my mouth with his paw. Sooner or later I would start laughing and have to stop playing, so I guess Dexter’s strategy always worked. 🙂

Zina

Thanks Zina, for the offer of a place to stay!

Henk, I think of you every time I reach for that high “b” note and make it, thanks to your suggestion on Irish Fiddle Session about shifting my thumb!

My cat cries when I stop playing…really! But I think she’s just telling me to put the noisy box down and pick her up instead 🙂

My name is Wayne and I’m a lurker in Oklahoma.
Fiddle is my main instrument.
There are no sessions around here to speak of (Which is something I am trying to remedy) and most of my experience is performing, not sessionering. The music I play is 75% ITM and the rest traditional old time, mostley for Contra’s, Step dancers, Ceili’s, living history events, and other gatherings.

I do check the site often and find the discussion very informative and interesting but I don’t tend to say much. Generaly when I wind up with shoe leather in my mouth. However,,, I’ll try to be less of a lurker and get more involved.

It is somewhat satisfying (admittedly, in a bizarre sort of way) to see that there are so many shoeleather-eaters out there! *grin*
…hmmmmm, perhaps we should start another thread: Tried & True Recipes Any Shoeleather Eater Will Love….

It’s a slow air, Will, in reel time. *snicker*

zls

Hey Christine,…fibbing? Where I come from, they use stronger language, such as, “There ain’t a pitchfork big enough…”, or, “quick, spread it on the garden”, or, “hey Dad, sell the manure spreader, and we’ll hitch Scotty up to the tractor…” 🙂

I might have more of a tendency to lurk, because;
(1) I am just getting my feet wet again.
(2) I really am mellowing with age, honest….
(3) Now that I am working full-time and fiddling part-time, there just don’t seem to be as many hours in the day. I actually have to set aside time *not* to do gigs, so that I can have time to just
‘fiddle for myself’, to do my own thing with the fiddle.

BTW, greetings to Henk Bos. It is great to find you here!!!

I also see that Carl has come out of hiding. Last autumn, I posted a message about some exercises designed to encourage the use of longer bow strokes. Carl showed them to me, and they have begun to pay dividends. It really is the fastest way to the biggest improvement for most fiddlers. Thanks again, Carl.

Slainte,
Scottythefiddler

All right. I plead guilty of contributing very little to The Session. I just sometimes (and not very often) start a new thread, but I hardy ever post comments to other peoples threads.
I have two good reasons for this:

1st.- Different Time Zones.
As most of the contributors are American, the core of the comments are posted in my sleeping hours, so by the time I read the comments (i.e. the next day), everything is been already said and I have nothing else (interesting) to add.

2nd.- I work at an IT Services company, so I spend the whole day with computers, and when I get home the last thing I want to do is to switch my computer on. I try to spend the little free time I have playing ITM instead. What I’m trying to say is that I just have a quick look at the new comments posted while I’m at work, usually when I get there and just before start working, so I have no time to post anything.

Anyway, I’d like to say that I’m always there, learning a lot from your contributions, and ready to contribute when the opportunity arises.

I’ve posted a couple of times but that’s all so I think I qualify as a lurker. My name is Alastair and I live in Edinburgh, Scotland. I earn my money from law (criminal and human rights) but I get my pleasure from playing Scots, Irish and Old Time music on mandolin and flatpicked guitar.

Slainte

Alastair

I guess I, too, qualify to wear the lurker’ s badge. Since I don’t check in every day, it takes me waaay to long to digest everything at this site. I need more hours in the day. But the good news is, here in Alaska, the days are getting very long, indeed. : )
Back in the 80s, I lived in Helena, Montana. Sure wish I’d have been introduced to a good Irish session; I would have several more years of experience to draw on. As it is, I’ve been playing Irish seriously (not just noodling now and then) for about 2 years.
I have Wheatstone (for mellow sounds) and Crabb (nice and loud) concertinas. Anyone out there play them?
Charlene

Hi, I have been lurking about the session for over a year now 🙂
I have found the discussions extremely helpful particularly concerning practise techniques and the etiquette of session playing - it has been great to learn the we all go through a similar learning curve. My only wish has been for at least one other clarsach player in the Session. Believe me, having the chords as well as the melody to worry about can be a bit hairy at times.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for a great site.

Eilidh Bhan

I’ve been away for some days - not physically - but my son has occupied the computer all my time awake, so I haven’t seen what’s been going on for a while. I only had time now to read the first third of all these posts, but it seems like Kerry is calling me a lurker?!
I don’t know if I’m a lurker…maybe a half-lurker if that term exists.
I post a comment every once in a while, if I think I have something sensible to say - or if I’m in the mood for saying something anyway…I hardly ever post any tunes, cos I’m a beginner and tries hard to learn a lot of tunes that I catch up from sites like this.
But I can see on the personal info that I have posted 76 comments and started 5 discussions - not even a percent of Zina but a lot more than I thought I had contributed!
Everyday I’m connected to the Internet I take a look at the Session. I feel at home here. Most of the time I’m a “lurker” cos I have nothing sensible to say, but as soon I see an oppurtunity to contribute, I do it - cos this is a friendly site that accepts even people as unexperienced as me and respects me for my opinions

love from
lars

Hello,
I am a fairly recent lurker, but a lurker all the same.
I played the bass clarinet, baritone sax, and flute in high school jazz band. Now 24 years later, I am just picking up the keyless flute, and have started taking harp lessons. I havent posted, ’cause I haven’t learned enough to know enough to have questions enough to post anything! I like to think that I am soaking up information and inspiration, and hopefully will be able to bring forth fruit worthy of the nourishment I have received. That’s about as poetical as I get at this time of day, give me a Guiness, and a little harp practice and I might do a little better. BTW I hail from the ever-Celtic Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area, specificaly Grand Prairie.
Happy Trails
Bruce

I wasn’t calling you a lurker lars… I was cracking a joke implying this thread had become a reunion of frequent posters.

Har har.

Kerri

Hi,
My name is Dirk, and I mostly lurk,
because I’m too busy to type.
I’m obsessed with the pipes.
When I do have the time, I like to write rhymes.

But that’s enough for now.

I have had this obsession since I got
the uilleann pipes in the mail about a year and a half ago from Kirk Lynch. He is a really good pipe maker.

Also, I’ve been lurking the last few days because Zina sent me on a wild goose chase in search of a power tool that would help me pound in fence staples. Such a tool does not exist, and I ended up finishing a thousand feet of fence today- with a two-pound sledge and some fence pliers. So, now that I’m done, it’s time to post again.

I’m also lucky enough to have met Zina in person! And, maybe on Wednesday, I’ll get to meet Glauber too - I hope.

-Dirk

It does so exist! I think it was Brad who told you what it was…what was it, a crown stapler? Don’t go blaming ME if you couldn’t find it!…hehehe

Zina

Hi Everyone

I dont contribute much cause I often cant think of anything to say (combination of being real busy and other stuff) but it is great to see all the interaction and to know that there are loads of people thinking and talking about ITM.

I play the pipes and travel a lot. I am in Australia now, it was great to read something from Pat Lyons recently, I haven’t seen pat for ages, hi Pat.

I have been living in NY recently and have found tons of great people there to play with. I went to Toronto last February and met a few people who post on this site. great fun there, fantastic people and fun sessions.

I am going to Scoil Acla in Achill Island, Co Mayo in August, is anyone else going to be there?

I’ll see if I cant contribute a bit more in future,

All the best everyone,

Cheers,

Giles

I’ve been lurking for about three months, and I greatly appreciate the existence of this resource. I’m located in a provincial backwater of California, the Motherlode Sierra foothills area towards Tahoe out of Sacramento. My primary instrument is fiddle, although I have a modicum of skill on other instruments (see my user description/profile). I take great joy in being part of a local musician’s network and do a weekly church gig. I’ve been playing for about 25 years, but only semi-professionally. My schedule is rather busy, so I don’t have much time to peruse the offerings of this august resource. Nonetheless, it is nice to know it is there, if sometimes unexplored.

I wonder if anyone will read this far down the thread - I’m probably weeks out of touch.
I’m a part time lurker. I contribute the occasional ramble or rant - usually rather dry and factual in nature, so you probably won’t have much idea of what I look like. I tend to back out of the more lighthearted bits because the likes of Zina, Will, Mad(Brad?) etc. do it so much better.

My only proof that other people in The Session are real people is a meeting I had with a young banjo player, called Jonas, from Denmark, a few months ago. He may very well be be lurking as we speak. But he alone, among Session members, knows that I really exist (with the exception of myself, that is, if Descartes is to be believed).

I very nearly met with one Violadave a while ago, at a session out there in TVP-space (excuse me, I’m vegetarian). But the position of that particular session in time and space makes it impractical for me. So, never yet have the twain met.

Hey, all the better if you join into what you refer to as the “lighthearted bits” and I generally think of as massive silliness. 🙂 Then we’ll have something to slag you with when we all finally do meet, right? Heh.

Zina

Hi everyone! My name is C

Zina - My thoughts exactly.

Hah. Then you’re going to be labeled “coward” from here on out if you don’t, you know, David. *snicker* (Just joking!) Hi Cecile! Nice to know you’re still out there. Heard the new Siucra album yet?

Zina

Greetings to Fiddlerj from the Motherlode! I think I met you at the Calaveras Celtic Fair in the session tent! If Tom is the other half of your duo? Anyway, welcome out of lurkdom 😉

Giles! Fancy bumping into you here! What are you doing in Australia? How’s the glass business?

Kerri

Kerry, I’m glad you didn’t call me a lurker - though there’s nothing wrong being a lurker and most of the time I actually AM a lurker!!!
But my understanding of english isn’t always the best, cos it isn’t my native language and sometimes the subtleties and nuances get totally lost for me.
BTW I read some of this thread a little closer today and finally understood that you’d had a terrible time. I’m sorry for you
lars

Linda, there is a session in Vincennes; my flimsy memory says every third Friday, so maybe that’s not next weekend? I dunno. I’ve never been myself, but I know at least one guy up here in Bloomington goes sometimes. If you’ve got a chance to swing by Blton on Sunday, stop in at the Irish Lion anytime after 6, 7, or so, and there should be some tunes going on.

I first encountered

Hey all - I’m about to get lost inside the huge number of posts to this thread. I was surprised and delighted to find this group. I will chime in occasionally to be sure. It’s just difficult for me to contain the plethora of Hot air I have stored up about my greatest pasion. (Don’t tell my wife please she thought it was gas and wouldn’t want to know that Performing Celtic music is a bigger part of my life than she already knows.) I’ll contribute tunes sooner or later.

Great to find you all and nice to meet you.

This has been a highly enjoyable thread for me--when I posted the beginning, I worried that no one would respond, leaving my invitation flapping in the breeze. How wrong I was…and how fun it’s been hearing from new people and some folks who post intermittently, and yes, all the regulars too. I’m glad that lots of people are drawn to Jeremy’s site and are enjoying the tunes and crack…it makes it feel even more like a meatspace session, with the folks sitting along the bar there, listening but not playing or singing, and the odd stray wandering through the door now and then, and friends who come in for a set and then leave.

Now if we’re really lucky some of these unmasked lurkers will post tunes, start their own discussions, ask questions, etc. And at least we know that many of the folks who aren’t posting often are still enjoying the site….

Slainte,

Can I be the odd stray? *grin*

Zina

Hi there, my name is Paul Burns typing from Newcastle Uni, England,( should be revising for my exam tomorrow!!) i’m a self taught fiddle player with lots of bad habits!!!!!!
i must admit i have been a bit of a lurker for about 3 months but i thought it was time i said hello! i think this is a great site with great tunes and useful advice and also entertaining to read other peoples posts. I don’t know a great deal about different styles of irish fiddle playing, i.e. the different regional styles but would be grateful for any advice and information about these, is it best to stay with one paricular style or not? My style at the minute is Pauls‘ Style, (sounds like a disease!!), and i feel as though i’m hitting a very hard brick wall and gettin’ nowhere fast!!!
CHEERS

Kerri

you never know who you’ll meet. the glass is going great!! making a load of stuff for a show here and catching up with friends for tunes, not enough though, too much working. hope you’re well, hang in there,
giles

say hi to Pat S for me if you see him

Hello to all. I’m Joe from West Texas. I added a profile as per Jeremy’s decree. I found you guys
some montha ago. Although I sometimes jump to make comments, I find that if I wait a day or so,
someone else says what I would have said, but much more clearly and eloquently. Given the vastness
of the archives, it sometimes feels like all the questions have been asked and answered. Many
thanks to you regulars who have shared so much of your experience and knowledge.

I’d love to see a global map with thumbtacks for every member of thesession represented! I don’t think any of us would have to pay hotel fees again.

So I’m a flute/whistle player living in the middle of the Navajo reservation in high mesa & canyon country, Arizona, & amazingly, we have a small session out here! To me, this site provides inspiration when I’ve hit a roadblock, knowing that someday I will emerge from this geographic isolation & want to play in a some larger sessions, so thank you Jeremy & everyone for chiming in & keeping the site alive as a beacon to practice, to say nothing of the wonderful posts & camaraderie.

Emily

PS my puppies fall asleep at my feet when I play the whistle-- are they tone deaf or just inbred rez dogs? lol

Hi everyone-I am fairly new to the session still. I Play fiddle and a little bit on guitar. I guess I qualify as a lurker because I don’t have internet access at home and I am busy going to work and school (university of Wisconsin). I don’t have a whole lot to say but I appreciate everything this site has to offer-I’m learning so much! Thanks everyone

-Jessie K
(oh, Cecile-ITM stands for Irish Traditional Music) 🙂

OK,
Iv’e been lurking too much today. Actually, I got to play some tunes with my good friends Zina, George, and Janet. I also got to play some more tunes with Glauber, a good fellow. This was an unusual thing because Glauber lives in Chicago, and he was visiting in Denver. I’m glad to have met him today. I only wish I had put on some sun block.

It’s about time that I reveal the truth about Zina. People who like her really like her quite a lot, and people who don’t like her can hardly bear to be in the same room as her. *grin* In addition to that, she has been a good friend to me, and she has taught me a lot of really cool tunes. Besides, her husband Pete is really cool too.

By the way, the reason that there is no power tool for fence staples is because no rancher has 60000 feet of air compressor hose. Also, I should have noted that I asked about a machine for fence staples-not crown staples. Have you ever seen a fence staple? It’s irregular,and it wouldn’t be easy to feed on a belt or other kind of feeder. That’s what the folks at the Big “R” store led me to believe. Actually, I think they just like listening to the meadow larks instead of a compressor motor. I can’t blame them.

You’re just trying to butter up Will, Dirk, AND Pete, AND Glauber. It was grand to meet Glauber in person today, and we had a great time playing tunes out in the Rocky Mountain springtime air downtown over iced coffee. Now someone else besides me can talk about how amazing Dirk’s ability is when you consider that he’s been playing for a year and a half only.

Dirk, you got *sunburned* today? You are soooooo white. *grin*

zls

Zina, my face is no longer white at the moment… Thanks for the kind words. I feel somewhat buttered, myself. Maybe it will help the sunburn.

🙂 -Dirk

I had an hour to spare in Denver after taking care of a business trip, so these guys found out the time to come meet me downtown and show me what a roll and a crann really sound like. These 3 are great; i want to play like them, when i grow up.

And it’s true about Dirk, by the way. He must be lying about having started piping just over a year ago, because he has perfect rhythm and intonation, a really great sound and a beautiful instrument (and yes, i AM talking about the uileann pipes -- get your mind out of the gutter!).

Denver is, of course, an incredible place, with lots of little parks where you can sit and play a few sets with your friends while the natives listen politely in the background. It’s the kind of city where you can’t throw a brick downtown without hitting a couple of Starbucks.

Emily, my dog (Ana) also seems to like the flute. I think it makes a difference if they grow up listening to it. My family’s old dog in Brazil didn’t grow up hearing me play, and we used to have great howling duets, especially when i picked up the piccolo.

Speaking of piccolo (and to get even more completely off topic), mine is coming back home after spending a few weeks with Eldred Spell to be fitted with a new head. I can’t wait to hear the result!
http://www.eldredspellflutes.com/

Jeez, when you grow up, I hope you play *better* than we do, Glauber. 🙂 Either that or get some higher goals into your life. Heh. Next time, bring a pic of Katerina, fer cat’s sake. Remember to send us that link of her pics, okay?

Anyone else coming through Denver anytime soon? 🙂 I can’t think of a better way to spend a day then to take the day off work, play a gig, go downtown to play some tunes in the spring air with Glauber, and then go home and learn a new tune or two. I even got to finish off the day with some elk chili at Lyon’s restaurant that finished up in Bon Appetit’s top 20 western restaurants. Yum.

Zina

Nice timing, by the way, Glauber, it’s supposed to snow tonight! 🙂

Zina

Is it really chili made of elk meat?

Here we go: Laura’s pictures:
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/theglauber/lst?.dir=/Laura_200205&.view=t
These are the most recent pictures i have. I’m sure the geeks amongst us will figure out how to back up and see the other photo albums. Just stay away from *this* picture:
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/theglauber/vwp2?.tok=bcYuRuPBX4mMjakw&.dir=/Mostly+Glauber&.dnm=Zombie.jpg&.src=ph

And of course, there is
https://thesession.org/tunes/403
courtesy of Jorg Frose.

What a cute kid! She looks especially cute with her crown of flowers. The piccolo player looks like he needs to get some sleep, though.

Anyway, thanks for all the compliments, Glauber. However, I need to say that my rhythm and intonation are still far from perfect. Just ask Zina about the faces she makes at me when I’m really off pitch! My strugles with rhythm and intonation date back from my old days on the saxophone, and I figure I’ll have to work on them both forever.

By the way, Glauber is sounding pretty good himself. (Glass of Beer was especially good.) The Scoiltrad lessons are working for you! I need to get back to working on those myself. Those guys are really great for helping with rhythm and learning really good tune settings.

-Dirk

Yes, it really is. They have elk herds kept specially for meat, like cows and buffaloes, these days. Quite lean, very good. (Hope this isn’t totally nauseating the rabbit-food-only fans among us. Sorry.)

LK is cuter than cute!

Anyway, I don’t really make faces at Dirk, I make them at pipes that go squawk and squeak and sharp after ten minutes of playing. (Or flat.) I DO make faces at some of Dirk’s jokes, though. 🙂

Zina

That’s bad patter for you! 🙂

I told you to stay away from that picture!

My name is Ashe. I’m 18 years old and I’m from the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. I feel very lucky to be living here, as it seems I find out about new groups and oppotunities every time I turn around!

I’ve been lurking because … well, because I can! And because I’ve only been around here for the past week or two. This is my very first post. ::curtsy::

I’ve just picked up the violin this past January, learning through my high school, after a flirtation with the guitar that never went past second base. (I won’t even talk about my tin whistle. We aren’t on speaking terms.) I’ve also been Irish dancing a bit over three years now. I just bought myself my first fiddle and I’m pretty darned excited about it - I plan on playing for as long as I can.

(Unfortunately, I live in an apartment so “playing as long as I can” makes it until the neighbors hit the hay.)

I have “far too many” Irish CDs (ha! who says??) and so far I’ve learned the reel “Finnegan’s Wake”, the jig “Lannigan’s Ball”, the slip jig “The Butterfly” and am currently torturing my classmates with repeat playings of the hornpipe “King of the Fairies”. But I’ve actually taught my teacher how to play it - she got the notes, I talked to her about the style. Ha! ;) She does well now! She still tries to get me to play classical, but I tend to revolt… never liked to play the stuff.

I come from German and Scottish families, so I have no idea where my Irish obsession comes from. No one in my family is musical - well, is still musical. Three on my father’s side played the drums, but nothing Celtic. It wasn’t until I started with it that I found out my aunt and uncle were into things Celtic as well, mainly Scotland (for hopefully obvious reasons).

I’m currently considering becoming a member/student with Murphy Roche (www.murphyroche.com) but until school is done I’m content with The Session and my website, http://www.diochra.com/.

And as far as music and math/science - I plan on Mathematics being my major. Something’s going on here… And pets: I have a 15-year-old brother that hides every time the fiddle’s out. I would think he counts.

I’m an Aquarius, enjoy Renaissance Faires and long walks on the beach, and once took a Highland dancing class and nearly killed myself. Follow that up with your regular Irish dance class a half an hour later and you’re in for some hurt the next day.

And so to end I say: I’ll probably stay a lurker for awhile until I have questions. And trust me, I’d bet I’ll have a nice bunch of them! I also just might have a couple tunes to post, once I find out how to post them!

Hi there,

My name is Elizabeth, and I hail from New York City. I have been playing the violin for about 12 years now (I’m turning 30 this month -- eek!) and Irish music for about eight of those. My studies of Irish music have been a bit sporadic due to graduate school, work, and other commitments, but it is always a constant interest. I am just now starting to go to sessions regularly, when I can. This town is a ridiculously amazing resource for traditional music, and I feel that it’s high time that I took advantage of it.

Part of what has been holding me back from Irish music is stage fright and shyness in general. I started the violin late, or so everyone told me, so I’ve had all kinds of hangups about that. To help me get over it, however, I started playing in the subway, which has been really fun and has helped me immensely! I’ve had all kinds of wacky peoplewatching experiences doing the busking thing, and I’m writing a ’zine about it. It’s going to be called PLATFORM and will hopefully be done at the end of the month (this weekend I designed the logo for it, and the writing is about 2/3 of the way done, so it’s coming along). The magazine will be made up of short pieces about my adventures underground, Irish music, and the NYC subways. It is meant to be a declaration of my love for both the music and this city.

If you’re interested in getting a copy of PLATFORM when it is done, drop me a note at ebess@resentful.org.

I’m curious to know who from New York hangs out around here. Please say hello if that’s you. Or even if that’s not you -- hellos are always good. 🙂

This site is wonderful and I can’t wait to start participating in the discussions! Take care, all.

xo,
E. Bess