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 2008-2009 are:

Date Teacher Tune
Nov 1 Mike Schaeffer Green Fields of Rossbeigh (Reel)
Dec 6 Maddy O'Neill-Dean Fanny Power (Waltz)
Jan 3 Howard Rhile Morpeth Rant (Rant)
Feb 7 Claudette Sikora Man of the House (Reel)
Mar 7 Terry Johnson Good Natured Man (Hornpipe)
Apr 4 Steve Wilson Christy Barry's Jig
May 2 Scott Turner Galway Hornpipe
Jun 6 Bill Johnson Foxhunter's Jig (Slip Jig)

For more information, including sheet music and recordings, see our Tune Teaching page.

Questions: For more details, contact Scott Turner.

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 Scott Turner.

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.

Photos: View photos from our session.

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

Flutini:  Flutini is a free Windows program for tuning flutes.