What is a session, and what is good session etiquette?
A session is what happens when you get a group of people making music together primarily for their own, rather than any audience’s, pleasure and edification. Sessions may be public, eg held in a public place such as a bar, where there will be a core of ‘regulars’ but newcomers are welcome, or they may be private, eg held in a private place such as someone’s house and participants are invited. Any event in which admission is charged for the pleasure of being a member of the audience is a performance, not a session, and similarly any event in which a succession of solo or group performers take it in pre-organised turns to perform pre-rehearsed pieces is also a performance, not a session. Sessions may be all-instrumental, all-singing, or a varyingly proportioned mixture of both. The question of session etiquette has been addressed in several documents available online, notably the humorous-but-valuable ‘Ten Commandments of Jamming’ at http://www.geocities.com/flyinfiddler/jam.html (and se
A session is what happens when you get a group of people making music together primarily for their own, rather than any audience’s, pleasure and edification. Sessions may be public, eg held in a public place such as a bar, where there will be a core of ‘regulars’ but newcomers are welcome, or they may be private, eg held in a private place such as someone’s house and participants are invited. Any event in which admission is charged for the pleasure of being a member of the audience is a performance, not a session, and similarly any event in which a succession of solo or group performers take it in pre-organised turns to perform pre-rehearsed pieces is also a performance, not a session. Sessions may be all-instrumental, all-singing, or a varyingly proportioned mixture of both.
