Learn to Play the fiddle

Category: Session playing

Tips for playing in a traditional music session

  • Learn tunes from Foinn Seisiun

    I often find that fiddle players looking for tunes to learn turn to the Foinn Seisiun recordings. These are really useful resources for finding recordings of well know Irish session tunes.

    But for a fiddle player starting out with playing in sessions, they may also have their limitations, which I’ll discuss below. I hope that my tutorials listed at the bottom of the page will help.

    Foinn Seisiún (pronounced ‘fween sesh-oon’) means ‘Session Tunes’ in Irish. The recordings and accompanying books) were made by Comhaltas, a group central to the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music.

    There are three books and recordings in the series. The first was released in 2001. Then Foinn Seisiun 2 followed in 2003 and finally Foinn Seisiún 3 in 2007.

    Foinn Seisiun

    A great learning resource…

    The tunes on the Foinn Seisiun recordings are played by good musicians, at a nice even tempo. The playing on these recordings is deliberately at a ‘moderate tempo’ according to Comhaltas. (Some would say, ‘moderate to slow’!). So if you are already good at learning tunes by ear, you can probably work out the melody.

    These recordings are especially good for getting familiar with some of the most commonly played sessions tunes. Listening to the Foinn Seisiun recordings will help your ear get used the sound of different types of tune, and get the melodies in your head. This will help when you come to learn the tune by ear. As Comhaltas say about the series, they were ‘created in order to give players of Irish Traditional Music a good grounding in standard session sets.’

    The choice of tunes for the Foinn Seisiun recordings and books deliberately centres on common tunes. While there is no such thing as a ‘standard’ set of tunes in any one Irish session, certainly you won’t go far wrong with the tunes suggested on the Foinn Seisiun recordings.

    As Comhaltas say, ‘Though we’d never claim that this list of tunes and sets is authoritative, learning these will be enough for you to sit in on many sessions around the world.’

    …with some drawbacks

    However, the recordings have their drawbacks. They are a little ‘fuzzy’ — this is a recording of a session after all! There is a certain amount of background noise, and the instruments are not clearly balanced. So you maybe not be able to catch all the notes clearly. And since there are a mix of many instruments playing, that can make it harder too.

    In addition, listening to the tunes on the Foinn Seisiun recordings is unlikely to help you with with specific features of your instrument. For example, with Irish ornamentation or phrasing or bowing patterns on the fiddle.

    So, I have started to list below some of the tunes on the Foinn Seisiun recordings that I have made tutorials for. In some cases these are full length video tutorials on tunes, breaking down each phrase. In others, it is a solo fiddle playthrough of a tune, where you will be able to hear more of the features of that tune for fiddle players.

    Foinn Seisiun 1

    From Foinn Seisiún 1 I have made tutorials on the following tunes:

    My Darling Asleep

    Britches Full of Stitches

    Out on the Ocean

    Jim Ward’s jig

    The Banshee

    Foinn Seisiun 2

    Garrett Barry’s jig

    The Hunter’s House

  • Irish session at The Shakespeare, Totterdown

    I am now leading a new Irish session in Bristol, once a month at the Shakespeare Inn in Totterdown.

    This will be a fairly small session, led by a small group of top-notch players. We will be there, normally, on the 2nd the Thursday in the month. Space for the session in the pub is limited, so if you would be interested in joining this session, I’d be grateful if you would get in touch in advance.

    Let me know if you would like to join us

    The next session will be on 10th November, when I’ll be hosting the session with Sheena Vallely, Paul Kerins and Dom Henderson, for plenty of Irish tunes on fiddle, banjo, flute and pipes.

    The last session was on October 13th, 2022.

    Playing fiddle at an Irish session in Bristol
    Playing fiddle at a recent Irish session in Bristol

  • The Irish session at the Star, Fishponds, Bristol

    I lead a regular Irish session at the Star, Fishponds, Bristol. This is an excellent Irish pub, that hosts a range of music, with an enthusiastic landlord.

    The Wednesday night session at the Star was absolutely lovely, just a few players playing with wonderful pulse and lift (Bradon Smith on fiddle, and Sheena Vallely on flute). The kind of session where you don’t mind if you don’t know the tunes because the music is so lovely to listen to!

    Jeremy, founder of thesession.org

    Playing tenor banjo at the Star Irish session
    The mighty banjo picker, Paul Kerins, pictured here, is a regular at the Star session. Photo: @hensonvisuals

    This Irish session at the Star in Bristol, currently runs on Wednesday evenings, from 8.30pm. The regular session leads are me, on fiddle, Paul Kerins on tenor banjo, and Sheena Vallely on flute. The session attracts other excellent players on all instruments, but is welcoming to new players. (See what Jeremy, founder of TheSession.org had to say about our session recently.)

    The tunes played are varied and often include less well known, or rarely heard tunes, though we play many old favourites too. We don’t have a set repetoire of tunes, and enjoy new players bringing new and old tunes in to the mix. Tunes (and the occasional song) are mainly but not entirely from the Irish tradition – but it’s not exclusive!

    During the summer, the session often takes place in the covered back garden, which is a lovely venue for acoustic music.

    Joining the Star Irish session

    The Irish sessions at the Star have always been welcoming to new players of Irish traditional music. But please do get in touch with me if you think you might join us, as it is helpful to have an idea of numbers.

  • Playing fiddle in a traditional folk session

    Do you want to start playing fiddle in a traditional folk session? If you are learning to play the fiddle in a traditional style, you may be aspiring to play with other people in informal groups. And with good reason – group playing is great fun! Whether that’s Irish, Scottish, English, Scandinavian, Breton, bluegrass, klezmer or any other style.

    These events, where people gather to play tunes together in a relaxed environment are often called ‘sessions’. The information below is about playing fiddle in a traditional Irish session, but much the same applies to other types of session too.

    Some tips for playing fiddle in a session

    Playing fiddle in a traditional Irish folk session
    A traditional Irish session (yes, that’s me on the right there!). Photo: @hensonvisuals

    Before you jump right in and join a session, it’s important to understand a little more about how they work, and the etiquette that goes along with playing in one. All sessions have slightly different unwritten rules, but the following will help.

    The first to understand is that playing in a session is not the same as a jam. There is improvisation, but on a micro level – at an important level, the players are all playing the same tune. This means in most sessions, you should only play a tune if you know the tune and can confidently play along with it at the speed it is being played. Anything else will ‘muddy’ the sound of the session. (There are ‘beginner’ sessions where you can learn or work out tunes as they are played, but these are slightly different).

    So, if you want to join a session, sit and listen for a while first. Do you know any of the tunes? What sort of standard are the other players?

    Joining a traditional folk session

    All sessions have slightly different cultures and rules. Many sessions are extremely welcoming of new players! But if you want to join, for example, a traditional irish session, don’t just sit down with your instrument and expect to play along. First, ask someone who is already playing if it would be alright to join in. The musicians you are joining may have played together for years, or even decades, so sometimes they are wary of new people who may not know the ropes.

    If you are invited to join the session, wait until a tune comes along that you know before playing – this will help to show the other musicians you understand the etiquette. If you think you of a similar standard to the other players – great! But if you less confident than the other players, listen to what they are doing, play quietly, don’t dominate the session by playing loudly. When other people are playing sets of tunes, listen to them – you will learn more about the music like this way than in any other way. Don’t, whatever you do, continue a loud conversation over the top the music when you are not playing.

    Playing in a session

    If you play a rhythm instrument (especially guitar, or bodhrán), you may need to take turns with any other rhythm players in the session. Too many rhythm players in a session can overwhelm the melody, which is the core of the session. In a small or medium session (anything up to 6 or 7 players) one rhythm instrument is normally ideal. So if there is already someone else playing guitar, wait until they go to the bar to join in, or take turns with them.

    You may be asked to ‘lead a set’, in other words to start a group of tunes which others will join in with. But if you are not invited to, continue to join in with the tunes you already know. If you keep coming back to a session you will very likely be invited to lead a set of tunes. When you are, start the tunes at a speed you know you can maintain – playing slowly is better than rushing or stumbling.

    Above all, until you are a regular, realise that you are joining someone else’s session – so be polite and friendly!

    How do you find a traditional Irish folk session to join?

    So maybe you are ready to start playing fiddle in a traditional Irish session, but how do you find one you can join? If you have a fiddle teacher, they should be able to tell you where your local sessions are. Maybe your teacher even runs some local sessions.

    Otherwise, you can look on TheSession to see whether there are any session listed locally to you. These listings aren’t always kept up to date, but it is a good place to start.

  • Traditional Irish sessions (seisiún) in Bristol

    Playing fiddle in a traditional Irish folk session
    A traditional Irish session (yes, that’s me on the right there!). Photo: @hensonvisuals

    There are many good traditional music sessions in Bristol where you can play the fiddle. Many, but not all of them, are traditional Irish music sessions. I currently run two traditional Irish sessions in Bristol – details below. I will post a list here soon of some of the other sessions that I have played in.

    Irish sessions I run in Bristol

    The Star Inn, Fishponds – 1st and 3rd Wednesdays in the month, 8.30pm. This session is very long-running and probably one of the best known traditional Irish sessions in Bristol. Pre-Covid this was often a very large session, and it still often attracts a crowd, though we try to keep the number of players manageable now.

    The Red Lion, St George – 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month, 8pm.

    The Red Monkey, Chandos Road – 1st Sunday of the month, 2-4pm. A lovely session run by me, Dominic Henderson and Marick Baxter, with special guests.

    Both of these sessions attract players of very good standard, but are welcoming to new players. If you are interested in coming along to play at either of these traditional Irish sessions in Bristol, please do get in touch.

    Other Irish sessions in Bristol

    There are a number of other traditional music sessions and folk clubs in Bristol. I have played in the past at Irish sessions at The Three Tuns, The Hare on the Hill, and The Merchants Arms, though I don’t know if all of these are still running. There is apparently a nice new session at Friendly Records in Bedminster, but I’ve not been able to get down there yet – I hope to soon…

    There is a very nice session at The Greenbank pub, every other Tuesday (contact them to find out which week). This is a mixed session, where you’ll here English, Scottish and Irish tunes played, and perhaps more besides.

    Irish sessions in Bath

    I have also played in and run some of the very good traditional Irish sessions in Bath. The session at The Royal Oak on a Wednesday night has run for a number of years, and is a good session. There is also a good session at The Grapes, in the centre of Bath.