The Northern Virginia Irish Session
Sponsored by the O'Neill-Malcom Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
The Northern Virginia Irish Session is a place for beginner and intermediate players to build the repertoire and skills they need to start participating in traditional pub sessions. Although we have a core of experienced players, our session is very welcoming of beginners, musicians who are coming to Irish music from other genres, and people who are simply shy or overwhelmed by more advanced sessions. We encourage you to visit the session to listen, talk with us, and join in. We're always happy to see new faces!
Our session meets every Saturday from 12-2+ PM at the Auld Shebeen Pub in Fairfax. Our session is "free form" but we usually play many tunes from the session playlist. We generally discourage playing from sheet music at the Auld Shebeen sessions. If we have to cancel for any reason, or have any special opportunities (such as playing for a ceili), it is announced on our email list (see below to join).
The first Saturday of every month we also meet from 10-12 AM at Green Acres School for a tune teaching session. In this session, the leader spends the first hour teaching a common session tune phrase by phrase. To facilitate learning, we distribute a CD to everyone who comes to session with recordings of all the tunes for the year. We also provide sheet music to help people who are more visually oriented, but our goal is to play without sheet music and, if possible, learn by ear. In the second hour of the session, we go around the circle letting people pick tunes to play. We will play as slowly as desired, and this is a great time to practice tunes that you are still mastering. This session is open to anyone with basic mastery of their instrument -- including children.
Questions: For more details, contact our Web Site Co-Ordinator: Scott Turner.
2007-2008 Schedule
| Date | Leader | Location | Theme | Materials |
| 10/6/07 | The Johnsons | Green Acres | Haunted House (Jig) | |
| 11/3/07 | Steve Wilson | Green Acres | Return from Fingal (March) | |
| 12/1/07 | Howard Rhile | Green Acres | Christmas Eve (Reel) | |
| 1/5/08 | Scott Volles | Green Acres | The Tarbolton (Reel) | |
| 2/2/08 | Scott Turner | Green Acres | Denis Murphy #1 (Slide) | PDF, ABC |
| 3/1/08 | Mike Schaeffer | Green Acres | Crock of Gold (Reel) | PDF, ABC |
| 4/5/08 | Mike Schaeffer | Green Acres | Humors of Ennistymon (Jig) | PDF, ABC, MP3 |
| 5/3/08 | Howard Rhile | Green Acres | Stack of Barley (Hornpipe) | PDF, ABC |
| 6/7/08 | The Johnsons | Green Acres | Snowy Path (Slip Jig) |
