Los Alamos Irish Music Session

⛪ Sundays, 15:00 - 18:00 at the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, Classroom #3

🏠 Thursdays, 18:30 - 21:00 at our house: email us for directions.

🍺 4th Sunday of the month, 15:30 - 17:30 at Bathtub Row Brewing; we join the Folk Music Session.

About the Session

This is a traditional Irish session. There’s a lot of talking, and a lot of listening. Nobody minds if you drop out or (quietly) stumble your way through, and it’s expected you’ll get lost occasionally.

At the start of each session, someone will teach a tune by ear, and we’ll play slower sets and single tunes. The speed will gradually increase, but everyone is encouraged to stay and listen; and maybe make a recording of a tune you’d like to learn and try out next week.

Whether you’ve been playing for years, or you’re just dipping your toe into Irish traditional music, you are very welcome here.

Etiquette

There are dozens of detailed studies of session etiquette, and even more opinions. We’re big fans of Tara Connaghan’s Session Etiquette Podcast, which explores this complex and varying topic.

Sometimes we play slowly, and sometimes we play quickly. If you can’t keep up or don’t know the tune, it’s your opportunity to listen. Listening is the best way to get a tune stuck in your head, and getting a tune stuck in your head is the best way to learn.

If you can keep up and do know the tune, it’s still expected that you’ll listen. The session isn’t giving a speech on a soapbox, it’s having a conversation. Sometimes that means people whoop when someone says something really cool, and you’ll only know when that happened if you’re listening.

Other Sites of Interest

Folk Session
4th Sunday of the month, 3:30PM, we join the Folk session at Bathtub Row Brewing. This is a different session, with different customs, instruments, and tunes, but Irish tunes do get played.
Musicians Social Hour
Last Saturday of the month, 4:00PM, at Bathtub Row Brewing
Foinn Seisiún 1
Session Music 1 is a good collection of “standard” session tunes. CD, YouTube, Book, PDF
Foinn Seisiún 2
Session Music 2 has more session tunes. CD, YouTube, Book, PDF
Foinn Seisiún 3
Session Music 3 has even more session tunes! CD, YouTube, Book, PDF