Friday 25th May 2006

Hard to believe that it's a week already since the last post. Not The Last Post - bugles or never seeing the postman again, just the last post to this blog. Well we've had a few sessions since then, all very enjoyable. The Irish session keeps changing its dynamics and at the moment it's very enjoyable. I've started taking a louder banjo and I must say, being able to hear myself better has made a big difference.

Nice to see players like Chris the concertina at the mixed lumpy session and praise be, two weeks without bangs and twangs of any kind. It does make a difference. Our fearless leader had too much daddy juice on Wednesday and was still suffering last night so the tunes had a more relaxed feel. I disagree fundamentally with him that 'it doesn't matter what you play as long as it's loud and fast'. I know that listeners prefer tunes that still have a shape to them. It's the old one about pace and tempo. Correctly emphasising the beat and giving a 'pulse' to the music is much better than upping the tempo.

Next week will see one of the annual Barn Dances at Painters Forstall. Real barn, concrete floor. Must be hell on the dancers. Sunday will be a special session for some visiting Americans in Simple Simons in Canterbury.

Thursday 18th May 2006

The Irish session this week certainly had more of a buzz about it. The piper and the banjo player with all the tunes were both back but we'd lost the accordianist. It's hard to fathom what makes a session tick, but by recording it each week, it might help me to sort it out. Sometimes you can have the same players in the same venue (even in the same chairs) and it will sound different each time. It could be the weather of course, or the emotional state of the players or possibly the quality of the drinks. Our session has a predeliction for diet coke but the other favourite tipples are shandy, a pot of tea, cups of coffee, lime and water and bitter. Oh, and an occassional Guinness or Jameson's. Some very nice sets (well that makes a difference of course) but I'm thinking principally banjo players tunes, which is fine by me.

Well, the itinerant lumpy mixed players are back from Belgium so they'll be regaling us with stories tonight. More on that next time. I wonder if the thumpy-twangys will stay away tonight? I do hope so, I really do.

Friday 12th May 2006

The Wednesday Irish was still sparsley populated but enjoyable. Sometimes it's good to play the old standards and remember all those old sets.

The Thursday suffered the double whammy again, but it wasn't too troublesome. Nice to be joined by Katie Bradley who sang some fabulous songs for us. The Brussels trip is this weekend so there was a sense of practising what's going to be played in Ypres.

Bit of gossip - sounds as if Faversham Hops Festival want to favour 'local' music (who you can listen to any time if you live down hear) and think that Kadril are not the right sort of band to have... allegedly... so I have heard.

Sunday 7th May 2006

The Sunday Irish at Rosencrantz (The Rose and Crown) was very sparse. A few stalwarts put on a brave show to a small but appreciative audience who thought it fabulous that traditional music was being kept alive. An out of the ordinary repertoire meant that the full ensemble couldn't play on most of the tunes, but a great opportunity to learn. After a latecomer arrived with a new Saltarelle, the evening devolved to French tunes. And then there were two ...

Thursday 4th May 2006

The Thursday session had its good points and its bad points. On the plus side, Martin the fiddle joined us and we had some very good tunes. On the bad side there were not one but two out-of-tune and out-of-rhythm (not to mention out-of-key) 'basses' and the reappearance of the staccato machine-gun percussion section. A more relaxed session generally with more people getting a chance to play early on, but singing appeared too early and there was a definite hogger. Still, the audience liked it.

Wednesday Session 3rd May 2006

The Irish session had only a small but select contingent with two appreciative audience. I've said before how the people affect the dynamics and the session definitely had a different feel to normal. It achieved critical mass and some good tunes were played.