Jam Session Tips 2
In-person and online
Part of this post was published a year and a half ago, but it’s now been updated to include tips — see italicized sections — about joining a session online as well as in person.
This is timely, because this month (June), I’m hosting 3 online Sunday sessions as an experiment. If you’re in striking distance of Portland Maine, you’re welcome to come to the live session (followed by dancing or playing with me for the dancing), but if not, you’re invited to join us online! The details for both online and in-person participants are at fiddle-online.com.
One of the main pleasures of playing an instrument is playing it with others in a session, whether part of a house party, a pub session, or at an organized camp or festival. Or online — in this updated article, we’ll include ideas about how to participate in a hybrid session, where a live in-person jam session is broadcast for online participants to join in at home.
Keep in mind that a session is intended for participation, not performance, so, depending on the etiquette of the session (see below), plan to join in!
Sessions also make for good listening, so feel free to sit back and enjoy listening sometimes, especially on tunes you don’t know. Very few players know all the tunes, and there’s always a wide range of abilities. At some sessions, the leader will mix things up by inviting a solo musician or singer to play or sing one for everyone.
Be (a little) prepared
It’s not necessary to plan anything before coming to a session, but it can be nice to be prepared to start a tune or two. Remember, people are there to play, and are open to suggestions for the next tune — by hearing it. Nobody’s there to sit around discussing what to play. They just want to hear someone start a tune and try to join in. But don’t be shy — if you do start a tune, it’s not a performance, it’s just a suggestion, and after the first measure or two, others will jump and join you.
You might want to have at least two tunes at your fingertips. That way, if one of them was recently played already, you can start another one. Start it at a tempo you like — since you’re starting the tune, you should be able to play it at the speed you prefer. Let the others adjust to you, just as you’ll have to adjust to others when they start a tune.
For the fiddle-online sessions, I’ll always indicate an idea of some of the tunes that will be included. The first few sessions this month will include tunes from Tune Group 1, which you can work with if you wish to learn or review any of those 12 tunes in advance. At least one free tune is offered online for you to learn or review, with fiddle-online’s unique interactive sheet music, where the phrases are marked with colored boxes and there’s self-repeating audio for each phrase. This Sunday, that tune is the Cape Breton reel “Put Me In A Box,” with variation.
Starting a Tune
The most important trick to starting a tune at a session is to make its rhythm clear. Even if people know the tune, they can’t join in with you until they recognize the tune you’re playing, and to do this they have to be able to hear what kind of tune it is (e.g., jig, reel, strathspey, air, waltz). Regardless of your level as a player, you can always choose a few tunes you’re comfortable with — and to get the group started, you only need to be good at the first phrase (2 bars).
These few tunes can be your personal session tunes! Be sure to know the beat notes and what type of tune it is, as well as (optional but helpful) the key and the title. It can help accompanists if you call out the key, and some may ask you the name of the tune later if they like it.
In an online session, such as the ones hosted by me on fiddle-online.com, you’re invited to make requests of tunes in the chat or when, between tunes, online players are asked if they have any requests or would even like to start a tune. You can also send your requests in advance.
To start a tune with good rhythm, be aware of the four beat notes of the first phrase. Make sure the first beat is strong, especially if the tune has a pickup note or two before the first beat — downplay the pickup notes and give the first real beat a good pulse. But that’s only the start of it — it’s actually the *second* beat that defines the type of tune you’re playing. If you play a tune like Swallowtail Jig, for example, the first note is the beat note (assuming no pickup notes in front) and combined with the following two notes, you have a triplet, the first beat of the tune, since each beat in a jig is a triplet of three eighth notes (or the equivalent, such as a dotted quarter or a quarter + eighth).
The next note, the fourth eighth note, is the *second strong beat* of the tune, and reassures everyone about what kind of tune you’re playing. Even if the notes are familiar, the lack of beat will throw them off, at least temporarily (enough for you to play solo for a bit!). Sometimes I’ve been confused by someone at a session trying to start a tune without a clear beat, even though I knew the tune well. This can happen to any tune if the player focuses more on the notes than the timing. Try playing “Happy Birthday” as a reel instead of a waltz, and nobody will know what the tune is!
If you’re online and start a tune for everyone, be sure you have Original Sound on so people can hear you, If you’re not sure about using Original Sound, click this link.
Rhythm is at the heart of a session. Someone who plays in time can play with anyone, even if they miss lots of notes. Someone who plays every note perfectly, but skips beats or changes tempo, is very hard to keep up with.
Staying with the others
Always watch the others as you play, especially the person who started the tune being played, and if it’s a big session, keep an eye on musicians across the way from you. This helps you stay in time with them and keep the group together. You’ll also pick up signals you may not expect or hear on your own, such as a sense that the group is ready to end a tune and/or start a new one. In some sessions people shout “hup” to indicate they’ll be moving on to a new tune, or they’ll stick out a foot to indicate that the tune is ending, but these signals are not necessary most of the time. If you’re paying attention to the person leading a tune, you can tell when they’re ready to stop or when they’re moving to a new tune. Then you can stop and listen, and see if you can join in with the new tune.
Sometimes folks will play a tune you know well, or a player will repeat one part of a tune but not another. Just go with the flow. In music, it’s better to be together than to be correct!
If you’re on Zoom, you have a lot of options, because you can mute yourself (if not already muted by the session leader) while listening to and playing along with the group. When you’re muted, you are not in anyone’s way, and can try out a phrase here and there, or experiment with playing open strings to find which one sounds best with the tune, or you can listen some and play some.
One very important suggestion for playing online is to use earphones or earbuds, at least in one ear, so that you don’t drown out your computer speakers with your own playing. This way you practice listening as you play with others, rather than go your own way (even if, being muted, it won’t bother anyone), which you could do without being in the session at all! Use the session as a chance to practice tuning into others. Make sure you can always hear the others!
Effects of different instruments
Be aware of the impact of your instrument. Fiddle, flute, or guitar generally blend in with the others. Pennywhistle, accordion, pipes, drum/bodhran, bass and piano are instruments which can have a big individual impact on the group. If you play one of these, you need to concentrate mightily on keeping a good beat with everyone else. When in doubt, feel free to take breaks, play when you can, and always tune in to what the others are playing. It can take just one drummer or pianist to throw everyone off, whereas one fiddler messing up usually won’t make much difference.
Online, of course, it doesn’t matter what instrument you play because you can be muted!
If you don’t know a tune…
If you don’t know a tune, it’s okay to try to pick up bits and pieces as you go, such as the first phrase or the ending as mentioned above. But it’s not a good idea to scratch away randomly, hoping to pick up a note or two. People can actually hear if someone is consistently off the tempo or tune. Those who do know the tune are usually tolerant of others learning to play it, but only to a point — they also want to enjoy playing and hearing their tunes, so be sensitive to that.
Online, yes, you can scratch away off tempo, but that won’t help you much! Listen carefully, as mentioned above — use earbuds or earphones to be sure you always hear the group even as you play along at home.
What do you do if you want to play along but don’t know some of the tunes? You have a few choices. One is to listen and enjoy the music. Another is to record some of the tunes you like best and try to work on them at home if you plan to come back. Many sessions play a lot of the same tunes each time they meet. It’s part of the fun. Another option if you don’t know a tune is to listen for the phrases — often there’s a first phrase, second phrase, first phrase again, and an ending in each part of the tune. By trying to work out the first few notes of the first phrase, you can try to jump in when that phrase comes back, even for a few notes. Then, like building bridges, you can venture out to add a few notes to the ones you know. Sometimes an ending phrase is repeated in both (or all 3 or 4) parts of the tune. It’s always nice to end with everyone — you’ll look like you know what you’re doing!
Chording
Some people try to play chords or drones with a tune, but that’s harder than it may seem. You have to get used to hearing the harmonic patterns and know how to find them on your instrument. On the fiddle, many of the necessary chords can often be played just using some combination of open strings and one finger (see the earlier article about one-finger chords!), so that’s not hard in itself, but since rhythm is the heart of session music, you have to support the rhythm of the tune, change bows with the beats and parts, and not get so wrapped up in finding a chord that you lose the beat. Better to play in time even if you play the wrong chord or note, rather than to play the correct chord or note but out of time.
Chording is another thing you can easily experiment with if you’re online and muted — but the trick is to always prioritize the beat of the group. Again, be sure you can hear the group at all times, by using earphones or earbuds.
Session Etiquette
Every session has its etiquette. Some are inclusive; others not so much. For one reason or other, it might not be appropriate for you to start a tune. It’s best to watch a session for a little while to see what kinds of tunes are being played, whether they are all started by a leader, or whether players in the group are starting various tunes. Is it a session devoted to one kind of music, such as, for example, Irish? Then it’s best to pitch in with an Irish tune that fits the bill. Is it an eclectic session? Try to play something you think others may know. If nobody knows your tune, it’s nice to play it through at least once. Some may try to pick up on it; in any case, people are there for the music and would like to hear the tune you selected (remember, it’s more about the music than about yourself!).
Some pubs will hire a lead musician to make sure there's a critical mass of musicians, and quality music for the pub's patrons to enjoy. Often the leader of a session will invite people to start a tune, though sometimes they know what they want to play, or collect suggestions from others, and start the tunes themselves. Some session leaders favor the regulars, and are particularly conscious of presenting good quality music to the listeners (especially if the lead musician is being paid by the pub). Most groups, though, welcome newcomers and a wide variety in levels of players.
There are sessions without specified leaders, but even they are likely to have some regulars who know the routines. People show up because they like to be with friends, have a pint (sometimes given free to musicians), share favorite tunes, and challenge themselves by learning new tunes on the fly.
A social time
Part of the magic of a session is to see how connected the musicians are to each other. How do they know when to move on to a new tune, or stop at the same time? In some ways they have a sixth sense about these things. Often there are visual or audible signals, but at times it is amazing how everyone seems to know what’s about to happen!
A session is never a test. It’s for fun. And it’s not primarily a performance. Starting a tune is a musical suggestion that you are making to people who are dying to play a tune — any tune! If you come to a session regularly, you’ll get to know the repertoire and the others will get to know yours. It becomes a community. Enjoy it — you’ll make friends and learn lots of tunes before you know it!