Top ten classic Irish folk songs.

My  Irish music favorites,

1. Dirty old town-Dubliners
2. Fields of Athenry-Paddy Reilly
3. Rocky Road to Dublin-Young Dubliners
4. Fiddler’s Green-Wolfe tones
5. Come out you Black and Tans-Wolfe tones
6. Raglan Road-Luke Kelly
7. Finnegan’s Wake-Clancy bros.
8. Whiskey in the Jar-Dubliners
9. I’ll Tell Me Ma-Wolfe tones
10. Grace-Jim McCann

What are your favorite Irish music songs?

Top ten irish ballads.

My favorite irish music ballads,

1. Four green Fields-Tommy Makem
2. Carrickfergus-Jim McCann
3. The Croppy Boy-Wolfe tones
4. Spancil Hill-Dubliners
5. The Town I Loved so Well-Phil Coulter
6. The Parting Glass-Padd Reilly
7. The Bold Fenian Men-Paddy Reilly
8. Only Our Rivers Run Free-Wolfe tones
9. The Foggy Dew-Luke Kelly
10. Night Visiting Song-Luke Kelly

What are your Favorite Irish music ballads?

Singing session;

A singing session would be better known as a sing song and is less formal than a true Irish session. The sing song can be a lot of fun, just don’t confuse it with an Irish session. You might run into a group of irish golfers on a holiday in Cork and when their singing starts be ask to sing one yourself (happened to my brother Sean, he did his best rendition of Old Man River and got a good laugh out of em.). Most of us Americans assume an Irish session consists of the Irish folk tunes we hear on St. Patricks day, with a reel or jig thrown in. The Opposite is true, what we really are thinking of is a sing song. The Irish session playing is mainly for playing Irish instruments, fiddles, Irish flute, tin whistles, accordions.

Irish music  session manners;

If you are new to the Irish music session scene you might be surprised that there are un written rules to participate, so to make things easier on you I thought I’d write them down.

1. There will be someone in charge of the session, even in an impromptu session some one will be in charge. Sometimes if the session is a regular occurrence they will be paid to to run the show, or sometimes it is a very experienced or talented musician, who by being there runs the show. Either way if you are new, you follow the leader.
2. You listen to your fellow players.
3. You assist in the melody, if you do not Know the tune–do not try to play it.
4. Rhythm instruments are at a minimum. Do not overtake the melody with guitars or bodhrans, or spoons, or bouzoukis. These assist the melody and are a backdrop to the tune
5. A session is not a performance , they play for the musics sake, if the crowd is entertained that’s a side benefit. bands perform on stage to give shows to audiences, sessions perform in circles to play the tunes the right way.
6. If new, sit on the outer edge of the circle, play along with songs you know softly, make sure you are at the correct level of ability, if you respect the tunes there will be spots to play, wait for the invitation.
7. There are beginner sessions, learn the ropes and the tunes, and the rules, it can be a lot of fun.
8. If you think this is a bunch of hoooeey, let me make a comparison. You are going to play a sport. Do you start at the expert level? How frustrating is it to be playing on a team and have a new player who constantly does things wrong. If you play basketball for instance, you can have a person with athletic ability, but until they learn to dribble and pass, they can’t really be taught the 2-3 zone defense, or the pick and roll or the… Don’t frustrate your traditional irish music team mates, start slow absorb the rules and enjoy. In a few years you’ll be the one saying “can you believe that guy who step all over the session tonight , what a session killer “.