Seisiún: How to Find a Session in Your Area

This post presumes you know what a session is. If not, read this brief history of the Irish Session and this description of sessions today.

There are already many articles on and directories for finding a session in your area, so this post would seem at first to be redundant. But they all omit what I think is a fairly critical detail, so maybe this will help someone. Many of these directories have been online for years, and the sessions have stopped, moved, or changed times or skill levels. It's important to confirm the information before attending. Here's the process I followed:

1. I used the links above and some other sites to come up with a list of possible sessions.
2. Then I sent email to the organizers listed, asking whether or not the listing was current and how appropriate it would be for someone just getting started playing the tin whistle.
3. I picked the most appropriate session still happening, and received updated information as to its time and skill level. The players in this session had improved since the information was posted several years ago!

Of course, I read up on session etiquette before attending. This is somewhat difficult to avoid, at least for anyone who reads about this stuff online. Indeed, it is difficult to find a description of what happens at a session which doesn't consist mostly of long descriptions of what not to do.

So I'll close this post by focusing on the positive: It is nice to find a group of more or less random people coming together to make music and have fun. A drum circle might qualify, too, but I like the Irish tunes better!