Irish Sesiun Music

I was introduced to Irish Sesiun Music one Sunday night in 2002 when David and Suzanne Rhees came in to Keegans and asked if we ever have sesiuns. I had no idea what they were talking about but invited them to have a seat and play, if they wished. They did and it was wonderful. The next week they brought a few fellow musicians and our Sunday night sesiun has grown and prospered ever since. By the way, "Sesiun" is Irish for "Session"

An Irish sesiun is a gathering of musicians who play TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC. You won't hear Danny Boy or McNamara's Band. The tunes - not songs - are all learned by ear and passed on from musician to musician and generation to generation. It is not at all uncommon for the musicians who play at Keegans to travel around the country and around the world playing in sesiuns wherever they go and picking up new tunes.

The instruments usually found at a sesiun are the fiddle, button box, flute, guitar, tin whistle, and bodhran (a drum-like hand-held instrument). Other instruments, like the Celtic Harp, are occasionally present.

A true traditional Irish sesion is self-governed by unwritten rules many of which I have learned just by observing:

1. No sheet music is allowed
2. Only one bodhran should play at a time
3. Nobody should play too loud
4. The lead is passed around the sesiun from player to player
5. Players always defer preferred seating and the lead to a "known" or senior player when he or she arrives
6. Tunes are led by a player in a "set" consisting of three tunes each played through three times

There are many more "rules" I have not yet identified because I have never played in a sesiun.

The Twin Cities is blessed with a large number of very talented Irish musicians who play at the pubs on various nights of the week. We also have The Center For Irish Music in St. Paul which fosters learning of Irish Music for all ages and skill levels.

Go to the following link for a sample of a recent sesiun at Keegan's Pubhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7suN-9bIfxY