What we’re about
The aim of this group is to play traditional Tunes and songs in a pub setting in Dublin 6/8.
If you can play any of the following instruments, you are welcome to join us:
Fiddle, Flute, Whistle, Uilleann pipes, Bouzouki, Button Accordion, Piano Accordion, Concertina, Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar, Singer.
What music we play –
* Irish traditional instrumental tunes
* Mixed in with singing songs
WHO IS THIS SUITABLE FOR:
Tune players
Absolute beginners – We’ve learnt from experience that this meetup doesn’t work well for absolute beginners ☹ If you don’t have at least 5 Irish Tunes that you can play confidently than this is not the place for you. I think you need somewhere where there is a music teacher to help you along, which we don’t have. These are organised in other places in Dublin – search for things like ‘slow session’, ‘beginner session’ and you’ll find these. You’ll have to pay a little at these for the teacher though.
Improver players – If you played Irish music as a kid and want to get back into it. Or if you’ve picked it up as an adult and have now learnt how to play tunes at a reasonable pace and have learnt the different rhythms needed for jigs, hornpipes, etc. Then, this meetup will probably work well for you. We play some of the tunes quite slowly and we repeat a lot of the tunes each month. We play some fast tunes too which you will probably have to sit through but that’s ok.
Experienced players – Experienced players are very much appreciated as you tend to help the whole meetup work better. So we try to prioritise you – you get priority on the waiting list, and we let you choose a bulk of the tunes. It’s not a total free rein mind though. The aim of this meetup is to be an inclusive gathering so if you try to rush the tunes which we intended to be played at a moderate pace, we’ll slow you down. Or if you want to be overly bossy in how things are run, we’ll ask you to rein it back. Granted, we never have had an experienced player who has behaved like this though.
Note for singers:
Singers are very much appreciated. We like to have a mixture of tunes and songs as we find this is more pleasant for both the musicians and the listeners.
Songs don’t need to be Irish – they can be from anywhere or of any genre.
Well known songs tend to work better than obscure ones, as then others can join in to sing with you, add harmonies, add chords or add instrumentals.
Bluegrass songs tend to work well for some reason.
GUIDELINES:
Waiting list – We always tend to have a waiting list for each meetup. We can’t let the meetup become too big as it becomes unmanageable and there seems to be quite a bit of demand. We prioritise experienced players and players who have been coming for a while on the wait list.
It’s not first come served however we do consider that. We appreciate this can be annoying for the improver players who have to wait a while to come. However, we will commit to not keeping anyone on the wait list for more than 2 months in a row.
Sheet music – If it’s your first time, send us a message and we can send you the sheet music of some of the tunes we play. However, we discourage you to bring the sheet music along as it makes it look more like a classroom than a pub. So you got to learn it off or rely on your ear. You may notice we make exceptions to this guideline for some of the players who have been playing with us for a while…. no one’s perfect! 😉
Inclusivity – We want to make this friendly so we all sit in a circle with your back to no one. We greet everyone when they arrive.
Hassle free – We don’t want people to be criticising stuff – not other players, not the organisation, not the musical choices – either in the pub or online. It’s not our vibe.
Overall Aim – We do have a few guidelines as written above. However, the aim of these is that the etiquette is clear to all, so that the meetup is then easy going and hassle free. And, that is how it seems to work out 😊
Cost – It’s free man! There’s no financial element to this. You don’t pay to attend. Nor does the bar pay us in any way to play there.
* Here are some of tunes we play
[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv9xfU0Hh4_m_5064RyXfcTMVuszZxQ_M](https://clicktime.symantec.com/15t5ej8WGS5YbZ811w58o?h=J0nam85g4czepyXcKSmDkiGt1eTPnFKl-4qDb4u8usk=&u=https://youtube.com/playlist?list%3DPLv9xfU0Hh4_m_5064RyXfcTMVuszZxQ_M)
* Here are some of the songs we sing
[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv9xfU0Hh4_kRD7Jj7ByfC839kfcsFsLV](https://clicktime.symantec.com/15t5ZtwDopPxBcJ5UNfzB?h=Oy7pnKcejHd8RR69BFetCw0zr9yPp5SxJiE-cxZFv78=&u=https://youtube.com/playlist?list%3DPLv9xfU0Hh4_kRD7Jj7ByfC839kfcsFsLV)
