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 (except during the summer) we meet from 10-12 AM at Green Acres School for a tune teaching session.   The planned tunes for 2009-2010 can be found on our Tune Teaching page.

Questions: For more details, contact Mike Schaeffer.

Additional Information

Join our Email List: Our email list is used to communicate information and news about the session. If you would like to be added, please send your request by email to Mike Shaeffer

CCE: Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is the largest, single, non-profit group involved in the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music and culture.  The O’Neill Malcom Branch primarily serves the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and sponsors this session.   More information about CCE and the O’Neill Malcom Branch can be found here.

Location: Address and directions to Green Acres School and the Auld Shebeen Pub.

Session Gear: Buy session tee-shirts and more from Cafe Press.

Playlist: A list of tunes commonly played at this session and at the Auld Shebeen.

Ceili Setlist: Tune sets when we're asked to play for ceilis.

Sheet Music:  This link contains sheet music to the repetoire of  The Bog Wanderers, the Céilí band for the O'Neill-Malcom Branch of the CCE.  Another good source of tunes is The Session.

Other Tunes: Sheet music and sound files for some of the less common tunes we play.

Photos: View photos from our session.

Places to Play: Other sessions in the Northern Virginia area.

Flutini:  Flutini is a free program for tuning flutes. (It is mostly of interest to flute builders.)