Part 2: Volume, session guidelines and giving feedback kindly
00:00 Introduction and Overview of Session Etiquette
01:36 Understanding Instrument Volume and Positioning
05:50 Creating an Inclusive Session Environment
07:48 Establishing Session Guidelines for Musicians
10:22 Navigating Different Types of Sessions
14:49 Communicating Effectively in Sessions
18:58 Building Confidence and Community Among Musicians
26:13 The Role of Hosts in Sessions
32:27 Finding Support and Building Connections
46:11 Advocating for Respect and Inclusivity in Music
52:31 Conclusion and Future Directions
Conversational Transcript (part 1)
*[This is an edited conversational transcript, lightly shaped for readability while keeping the spirit of the original conversation]
Volume, placement and the bodhrán’s role in the sound
Tara:
On the SessionEtiquette.com website, which is the website for this podcast, I have a questionnaire. We were looking at some of the questions earlier that might feed into similar categories to what one of your survey participants mentioned as a bodhrán player.
One question was: when the session gets bigger, what volume do I play at, or should I play at? If I play louder, am I annoying the players near me? And if I do not play loud, no one will hear me. I do ask sometimes, but I am not sure I get the right answer.
Aimée:
We need to start with the construction of the instrument itself, because some instruments are quieter than others.
The instruments that I play are quite quiet compared to other instruments. So this person might have a loud bodhrán. It could be to do with the tuning. They might need to adjust the tuning to make it a little quieter or louder, depending.
That comes back to what I said earlier about having awareness of your own instrument. Understanding that before you step into a session is important.
The bodhrán is an accompaniment instrument. You are accompanying the melody. So you should always hear the melody over the accompaniment. That is important.
If I am going to a session, I try to figure out the best position for me in terms of where I am going to sit. In certain positions, the sound could get lost. Whereas if you are in a little corner or an alcove, the sound can bounce and project out.
So ask yourself: are you in a place where the sound is getting lost, or are you in a place where it is louder than what is needed?
From my point of view, the bodhrán should be a support underneath. I am not trying to be louder than anyone.
It is a bit like a choir. In a choir, you do not hear one voice, you hear the choir. The session should be a wall of sound, and the bodhrán is part of that.
You should notice when the bodhrán is gone, but you should not necessarily really notice the bodhrán when it is there.
So I would look at the instrument, the tuning, where you are sitting, and then chat to people around you.
If they are not sure they are getting the right answer, they could change the tuning and ask someone beside them, or someone who is there regularly, “Does my bodhrán sound nicer like this? Does it fit the music better?”
If they are new to the instrument, or new to that particular bodhrán, they might not yet have that awareness.
Think about the bodhrán as part of the music, not on top of the music.
I always remember hearing Johnny Ringo McDonagh playing in a session. If you were outside the pub and walking in, you could hear that pulse. But when you went into the pub, you heard the wall of sound. You could not necessarily hear the bodhrán sitting on top of it.
Then when he stepped out to go to the toilet or get a drink, there was something missing.
That is a perfect example. The bodhrán should be part of the sound, but not all of the sound.
I do not think the session is the place for the bodhrán to sit on top of the music. You can have duets, or you can have the bodhrán as a prominent figure in the music, but I do not believe that should be the session.
Being accepted without being noticed
Tara:
Maybe if the bodhrán is doing that, where you do not really notice it but you notice when it is missing, that might contribute to why some people feel ignored.
Maybe sometimes not being noticed is a good thing. It might mean you are being accepted. If you were offending people, someone might say, “That is a bit loud.” So maybe if people are not drawing attention to you, that is a level of acceptance.
Aimée:
Yes. It is part of the sound.
If you are hosting or leading a session, I think you have a responsibility. If you are being paid to do that, or you have that privilege, you have a responsibility to make sure the environment is safe and inclusive for people.
If I were hosting a session, I would make sure everyone feels okay. But I would also make sure that musicians do not have a guitar, cajon, spoons or anything else really loud in their ear.
I might communicate that in a positive, informative way. I am not going to pull someone aside and give out to them, and I am not going to do it in front of the group.
I would have a conversation. Maybe their knowledge of music is not vast. Maybe their knowledge of sessions is limited.
Having a conversation with people and helping them out can be transformative for someone’s development.
Keeping a session inclusive without losing the music
Tara:
That feeds into someone else’s question.
They said: I aim to have inclusive sessions where anyone of all ages and abilities can join. However, once spoons, bodhrán or cajon start joining and taking over the session as a regular event, it can go downhill, with melody musicians not wanting to come back. How can I be inclusive while keeping the integrity of the session?
Aimée:
That is a great question.
In the Trad Drum Community, we have done a lot of work on session guidelines. This is something I was not really aware of in Ireland, but some of the community are from outside Ireland and they have experienced this.
We thought guidelines were a good idea for instances like this, because sometimes even if you have a conversation with people, they still do not really get the message. Or they do not think it applies to them.
So we came up with a list of session guidelines.
Part of our guidelines is that bones, spoons and playing on the rim of the bodhrán should be used sparingly.
I have been in sessions where there is a bones player and it feels like they are there from morning to night with no let-up. You have to understand that this is a very specific timbre.
It can lift the session in some instances, but it can impede on the overall sound over the course of a whole session.
I would never play on the rim for a whole tune, or half a tune. I would use the rim extremely sparingly. It is the same with bones. I play bones, but I would not play a whole session of bones.
So if you are hosting a session, it could be useful to have session guidelines and share them with people.
We also included a repertoire list. Sometimes if we take these things as black and white, we can go down a dodgy avenue, because the session should not be completely set. But a repertoire list can be useful for people who want to join and do not know where to start.
They can ask the host for a few sets of tunes, and over time they can build on that repertoire.
We worked a lot on those session guidelines, taking inspiration from many different sessions we had been to, and from guidelines that had been set in other countries.
It is important to remember that there are lots of different types of sessions. Not all sessions are open. Not all sessions are accessible. Some are listening sessions. Some are invite-only. Some are paid sessions. Some are mic’d sessions.
Those are not necessarily going to be inclusive by nature.
So if it says “session” on the billing, you cannot automatically rock up with your instrument and join, no matter what you play.
You have to do a bit of research before heading into a session.
Festival sessions are different too. If you go to the Fleadh or to festivals, you may find multiples of certain instruments. At a bodhrán festival, you are obviously going to find more bodhráns. At a fiddle festival, you will have more fiddles.
That is not necessarily a regular representation of a session.
So do a little bit of homework. Scout out the session first. Go and listen. Grab a drink. Chat to people. Get to know people. Build relationships and connections. That will stand to you later on.
A breath of fresh air, not a gust of wind
Tara:
You mentioned playing on the rim of the bodhrán. Another saying comes to mind. Someone once said to me, “I prefer to be a breath of fresh air than a gust of wind.”
A breath of fresh air happens every now and again. But if you do it all the time, it becomes a gust of wind, which is not as appealing.
Aimée:
Not as appealing.
When you are playing an accompaniment instrument, I always try to look at variety and diversity in playing.
You are looking at dynamics. You are looking at phrasing. You are looking at spreading out your rhythmic development so that you are not going gung-ho with the rhythm for the whole set of tunes.
That is not pleasing to the ear for you or for the musicians you are playing with.
I like to think of sets of tunes as one big expression of music. You may have three tunes in a set, or however many tunes depending on where you are and who you are playing with, but you are not going to start that musical experience the same way you end it.
If you are playing bones, spoons or rim for all of that, it becomes tedious.
The same goes for syncopation.
My sister plays bodhrán as well, and years ago at a session I was playing whistle and she was playing bodhrán. I had to stop because the amount of syncopation was driving me crazy.
She said, “I am not really doing that much syncopation.”
I said, “You are. There is so much syncopation and it is driving me mental.”
I had never thought about it in that way until I was playing the tune and listening to the bodhrán. From then on, I thought about using syncopation sparingly.
Before that, I might have thought I was adding something great to the music. But now I think, no, that can interrupt the flow of the tune or the flow of the musician.
It goes back to supporting the musician.
If the musician is adding a lot of syncopation, they might not mind syncopation from the bodhrán. But I have played with amazing musicians who add lots of syncopation themselves and do not want that from the bodhrán. They just want pulse.
That can feel limiting, because you want to go off on the tangent with them. But they do not want that from you.
It is about understanding what is needed in the moment.
How to speak to someone without humiliating them
Tara:
For the person who has a session like that, would you advise session guidelines, or would you advise having a quiet word in a very respectful way? What would you actually say?
Aimée:
I would start a conversation with them and gain awareness of their musical knowledge.
If someone is coming in and the accompaniment is derailing the session, I would try to figure out their background and what level of knowledge they have in Irish traditional music and in their instrument.
They might play their instrument really well, but they might not be knowledgeable about the structure or harmonic structure of Irish music.
I have played with guitarists where I did not know what they were accompanying, but it was not what I was listening to. They might have been fabulous guitarists, but not aware of the harmonic structure and phrasing of Irish music.
So I would have a conversation and maybe suggest players to listen to.
“Have you ever listened to this player? I really like the way they play these chords.”
I have done that with piano players who were not from the trad world. You might send them examples, make a little playlist, say, “Have a listen to this.”
Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of musical research.
For bodhrán players, the structure of Irish music is very simple in one sense. We are dealing with folk music. There is a lot of repetition. Once your ear is tuned to the phrasing, it becomes easier to follow.
But some people learn a jig rhythm and think they are sorted. They learn a reel rhythm and think they are in the session.
Then they do not know the differences within 4/4, such as a barndance, a hornpipe and a reel. Or they may be playing in jig time and not know the difference between a jig and a slip jig.
I worked with someone at a festival who asked to play a slide. We put on a slide, and they played a slip jig rhythm. Then when they were talking about it, they described the jig they were playing to.
There were three different things going on.
Having awareness of a little bit is sometimes not enough to get yourself into the session.
So I would share information with them. I might say, “There are different types of tunes. Here are the different time signatures we are playing.”
Have a conversation like that. Not in a negative way. No passive aggression, which happens a lot in Irish music.
Be clear and helpful.
If you help that person out now, they may be thankful to you years later when they are doing great things with their instrument or joining lots of different sessions.
You will also see them develop.
As a teacher, that is gold. When you help someone and they are able to shine later, that is brilliant.
Why passive aggression does not fix the problem
Tara:
Maybe passive aggression happens because musicians think they may never see that musician again.
Aimée:
Yes, or because they do not know how to have a conversation.
We have mentioned before that a lot of musicians are creative, introverted or shy, so they might not know how to have that conversation.
Sometimes they are people pleasers, but that can be to the detriment of what is going on.
I have heard people say, “Just buy them a drink at the bar and that will sort it out.”
Well, it is not going to sort it out the next time. They will still go to another session and be unaware that they made a mistake or were impeding on the session.
I have been in instances where the bodhrán was not welcome, or where people made a huge effort to exclude the bodhrán. That is not nice.
We are all there for the same goal. We are there to experience music together and play music together. So we have to work together.
If you are inviting people in to play, or if you are having an open session, you are going to come across instances like this and you have to be able to deal with it.
If you do not think you are able to have positive interactions with people, then you probably should not be hosting an open session. You might be better hosting a closed session or a listening session.
There are fabulous musicians I would never go to a session with because of how they treat people and how they speak to people.
A lot of people hosting sessions are music-orientated, but not people-orientated.
Useful words for giving feedback
Tara:
A lot of us are people pleasers and quite shy. It is hard to find the words to say, “I am not sure what you are doing and what I am doing is working well together.”
What are the actual words I would say to someone if I needed them to do something different?
Aimée:
If you are hosting or leading the session, you could say, “I play really well when the bodhrán does this.”
Or, “I love when the bodhrán does this. That really works for my playing. Would you be able to do that? Do you know how to do that?”
If they are playing on the rim, you could say, “Actually, I love when the bodhrán plays on the skin. That really works for my playing. That is magic.”
You are not dwelling on the fact that they are playing on the rim. You are pointing them towards what would work.
You could say, “A bodhrán player was here before and used bass notes and pulse, and that worked a treat.”
Or, “Sometimes when syncopation is used, it can put people off. It puts me off sometimes.”
There is nothing negative there. You are just asking for what would work in the session.
If you were on the receiving end, what would you like said to you?
Think about it like that.
Asking someone not to play in a particular set
Tara:
Say for me, I do not love when bodhráns play with highlands. I think it can interfere with the rhythm slightly.
How would I say, “I would prefer if the bodhrán was not played in this set,” without sounding negative?
Aimée:
I have been in instances where I am accompanying a song and I really like what is happening, then someone else joins in. It might be guitar, another bodhrán or a melody instrument noodling around when they do not really know the song.
You feel that this is a special moment between you and the other musician. It might not be ruined, but it would be better without the extra part.
You could say, “Would you mind if just the melody players play this one, and then you join us for the reels?”
Or, “We are going to finish this set, and will you give us an intro into the reels?”
You give them somewhere to go. You are not just saying no.
I have been at talks about sessions where the person hosting said it was okay to stand up, point your finger down at someone and say no. Basically, to chastise them in front of the whole session.
No. There is no space for that in Irish music.
There is no space for disrespect.
We are coming together to play. If you want to play in a very fixed way, play by yourself at home or play a paid gig by yourself.
Everyone should be able to work together. But people also need to do their homework.
Sometimes accompaniment instruments come in and they are listening to the time signature and tempo, but not the groove, the feel, the characteristics of the tune or the characteristics of the musicians.
That is all part of accompanying.
It is not enough to know the time signature and feel the tempo. That is the bare minimum.
You have to work on many more things to get the full picture of the music you are accompanying.
Where learner sessions fit
Aimée:
We need inclusivity and respect in Irish music. But if you are going into a session, you also have responsibility to learn what you need to learn.
There are sessions for you if you are only learning. There are learner sessions and slow sessions.
That is where the host should feel free to help people and give advice. It is a teachable moment.
You can say, “When you played the rim for the whole tune, that was a little bit too much.”
A slow session or beginner session is the time and place for mistakes to happen.
And if you are hosting that kind of session, it is your responsibility to share information. Otherwise, that person may go into a regular session and not realise they are doing anything wrong.
Teachers also have responsibility. They should help people know when they are ready to go into a session.
I was once hosting a session with Joanie Madden. Everyone wanted to play with Joanie and listen to her. Someone took up a really important seat in the session, and they only had one set of tunes.
The place was jam-packed. There were people standing and playing all night.
That person wanted to be in a session with Joanie Madden, and I understand that. But that probably was not the best session for them. They may have been better in a learner session.
So the host has responsibility. Teachers have responsibility. People joining the session have responsibility.
If we are all working together socially and musically, the session can be a joyous experience.
But people do have responsibility to get up to standard for the session they are joining.
Starting your own beginner session
Tara:
So maybe a learner session is a good place for people to start. And if they have jumped into more advanced sessions, maybe it is no harm to go to a few learner sessions where they can feel safe and supported.
Aimée:
Dip your toe in the water. Do not just jump in if you cannot swim.
If there is not a slow or beginner session in your area, set one up.
I was teaching weekly adult classes, and they wanted to dip their toe in the water. There were other instruments learning too, so they decided to host their own session.
Every week, they had a session in a different house. They were all learning, and it became a gorgeous environment for them. They made great friends from that.
If you are starting off, slow to build repertoire, or have no session experience, do not jump straight into an advanced session or a regular session.
Start a beginner session. Find out who is learning in your area. Be the person who brings people together.
Feeling alone as a bodhrán player
Tara:
Another questionnaire response says:
“I am a bodhrán player who does not know many other bodhrán players. The ones I do know play other instruments and just see it as a side thing. My aim is to get to a level where I can really add to the tune, albeit subtly, while still holding down the rhythm and not overplaying. I am never sure if bodhrán players are appreciated or not.”
Aimée:
I have heard that a lot.
Some people are almost suffering in silence because they are alone. They are not part of a community of other musicians.
I would definitely say, get in touch with me. Depending on where you are, I can connect you with people in your area, or people who are supportive and can help you in that stage of development.
It takes time, but it takes longer if you are doing it by yourself.
If you have good education, good tips, good knowledge from a teacher, or formal learning, that helps. If you are doing it alone through YouTube videos, it is going to take a long time.
I have had people come to me for lessons who have a vast amount of experience with rhythms and technique, but they have never been able to apply it to music.
Their teacher may have focused on technique but not on how to use it.
So I would always suggest connecting with other bodhrán players. Contact me. If there are not players in your area, there are lots of online people who are great at supporting that stage.
As for whether the bodhrán is appreciated, everyone is different.
Some people I have gone to for music lessons would not appreciate a bodhrán coming into their session. That is personal preference.
If you surround yourself with people you resonate with, good people who enjoy playing with you, and if you build those connections, everything else falls into place.
When you have relationships built, you can have open conversations.
Tara:
Maybe if they went to something like a bodhrán festival or Bodhrán on the Boyne, they would meet more bodhrán players and have a community.
Aimée:
Totally.
In the Trad Drum Community, we have things online and in person, so people can connect with us no matter where they are in the world. We have people joining weekly from Canada, the US and Ireland.
I am sure there are equivalents for other instruments too.
I am thankful for the community that has been built over the last few years. It really stemmed from Covid times, because I wanted to check in on musicians I was teaching in person or seeing at festivals.
That community has helped people through illness, natural disasters and family bereavements. We have supported each other in more ways than just music.
I stay away from music forums where there is negativity. I set up this environment so we could have support and positive interaction.
So yes, I would definitely hook up with other people.
Why negativity does not teach
Tara:
That is one of the reasons I started this podcast about session etiquette. A lot of online conversation can be negative, and you do not learn from negativity. You shut off.
I wanted to look at the positive things we can do to impact and help people.
Aimée:
Fair play to you. It is a brilliant idea.
If you only looked at online forums, you would never play music. You would put down the instrument and say, “That is it.”
Tara:
All of us would. I can only imagine what people who are learning might think.
Aimée:
Exactly.
Sometimes people say things and have no right to say them because they are in the same boat themselves.
I have seen young teenagers not go back to music because of a throwaway comment someone made at a session or workshop.
We either help each other, or we do not open our mouths.
If you have nothing good to say, do not say it.
When you go into a session with a bodhrán, you can expect a joke about the bodhrán. But it is so tedious now.
Someone sits down beside you and says, “Do you know what Séamus Ennis said about that?”
And you think, “My God, I know what he said.”
It is yesterday’s joke.
People might think they are being funny, but if you have nothing good to say, do not say it.
I have a hard case for travelling, so when I walk into a session with it, people do not know it is a bodhrán. Sometimes that is actually useful. They say, “Do you want to join the session?” Then I pull out the bodhrán and they say, “God, no.”
You develop a thick skin.
I have more confidence now to stand up for myself in situations like that. But the things that were said to me when I was younger were things you should not say to anyone.
Everyone has feelings.
You might not think your comment is hurtful, but you do not know what the other person has been through. You do not know their journey.
I taught someone who had been learning bodhrán for a long time before coming to me. Their confidence was on the floor because of terrible experiences at workshops and sessions.
We worked hard on rebuilding confidence and musical confidence. Now, when I see that person playing in a session, it would bring a tear to your eye. They are feeling the music. They are part of the music.
We want everyone to feel that. Do not be the person who becomes a barrier to that.
How many bodhráns in a session?
Tara:
Do you have an ideal session number? Or a number of bodhráns, since we are talking about bodhráns?
Aimée:
In terms of bodhrán, we have to be mindful of the situation and context.
If you are at a bodhrán festival or bodhrán event, you are probably going to have more bodhráns than melody instruments. That is okay in that instance.
But it is not okay in a regular session.
I would not have more accompaniment than melody.
I do not mind having more than one bodhrán in a regular session as long as the bodhráns work together.
I have worked with bodhrán players at a professional level who do not listen. They are professionals, but they are not listening. It is like, “You follow me or that is it.”
That is not musicianship. You are not working together.
If there are two bodhráns playing, I would always have a chat with the other bodhrán player.
Some sessions advise you to take shifts. One person stops and the other continues. I have heard someone say, “I will take the jigs and you take the reels.” That is hilarious to me.
But have a conversation.
Depending on your bodhrán and your style, one person could offer a bass bodhrán sound and one could offer a mid to high bodhrán sound. One person could offer the pulse and someone else could offer decorative elements on top.
There are lots of ways to approach the music together.
Look at it as a challenge: let’s produce something here.
Do not compete with each other.
I have been in sessions where there is a regular bodhrán player and they will not look at you, or they give you daggers all night. That is not what it should be about.
There are opportunities to work together. The bodhráns just have to listen to each other.
How do you know if a session is open?
Tara:
You mentioned an open session. One of the questionnaire questions was: how can people tell if it is an open session or not?
Aimée:
You ask.
You go over and ask, “Is this an open session? Are musicians welcome to join?”
They will say yes or no.
A few years ago, that would have been my nightmare. But that is what you do.
If you are having an open session, it is your responsibility to be ready for anything and everything.
If you want guidelines, that is a good opportunity. When someone asks, “Is this an open session?” you can say, “Why don’t you listen tonight and come back to us? Are you here again? Have a listen and see what we play like. When you are ready, take out your instrument or come back next week.”
Or you can say, “Here are some of our session guidelines. This is what we go by.”
That is a good opportunity for the host to set the tone.
If the host does not make their intentions known at that point, it is difficult to backtrack later. You cannot say it was an open session, then later say, “I did not mean open for bodhrán.”
You have to be clear.
Some people are paid to host sessions and feel they do not have control, but they do. You can set guidelines that work for the environment.
Not all musical situations fit every environment. You might have a small pub, a noisy pub or a quiet space. If a million musicians rock in, it may not work.
So set standards for your session. Set standards for behaviour too.
Take the lead in speaking well to people, communicating well, and not tolerating exclusion.
If we are advocates for our instruments and advocates for Irish traditional music, then we should help people get involved.
Music is of the people.
People say the melody is king, and that is true. Accompaniment is nothing without melody.
But the melody player has to be open to what we are doing as well. We have to work together.
It is not one size fits all.
When you go into a session, you cannot necessarily approach it the same way you approached the last session. These are different people, a different night, a different environment and a different experience.
Giving constructive feedback kindly
Tara:
I have one last question. I have stolen a tradition from other podcasts where I ask the previous guest to leave a question for the next guest.
Their question for you is: what is a kind and effective way to give constructive feedback?
Aimée:
That is a lovely question.
Open up the conversation. Look at the positives in the person. Give them a chance.
Some people are very nervous when they join a session. They might not be playing to the best of their ability because their nerves are at them.
Give them the benefit of the doubt.
Speak to them in a lovely way. Look at what they are doing well.
You could say, “I really like what you are doing there. That is fantastic. In this session, what would work really well is if you could do this a little more, or focus on this, or maybe do a little less of that because it interferes with some things we are doing here.”
You can also say, “That might work in a different setting.”
For example, if I were playing bodhrán or melody and another bodhrán sat down tuned really high, that would irritate my ears. It has nothing to do with the instrument. It is the tuning.
I might say, “Is there any chance you could tune your bodhrán a little lower? It is interfering with this session, but I am sure it would work really well in another instance.”
Be kind. Be mindful of who you are speaking to. You could say something that impacts someone so negatively that they might not come back.
Some people might want them not to come back, but that person might hold that experience forever. They might not come back to music.
If they are outside Ireland, you might also be their representation of an Irish musician. We are representatives of the music, and of Ireland.
Some people forget that when they go abroad or are leading sessions. There can be an air of arrogance or elitism.
We have to remember that we all started somewhere.
Some people had the advantage of being brought up in an environment where Irish music was around them. I was not. I learned in primary school. I had music at home, but not Irish music. I had no idea who other bodhrán players were. I had no idea who Martin Hayes was until I was a teenager.
You might be speaking to someone who has no awareness outside their own experience.
If they are playing fiddle, they might not know who Martin Hayes or Liz Carroll are. You can be the person who introduces them.
We often pick on accompaniment instruments because they can derail the session in a lot of ways. But it does not have to be accompaniment. I have been in sessions where a piano accordion derailed the session because there was no listening.
You do not know where someone is coming from.
Have a chat. Get a sense of their background. Suggest players to listen to. If it is a piano player, say, “Have a listen to this player. I love what they do in this track. If you were able to do something like that at the session, I would love it. I think it would suit this session brilliantly.”
There are ways to speak to people.
The Big Bodhrán Survey and where to find it
Tara:
You mentioned the Big Bodhrán Survey. Where can people find that?
Aimée:
It is online on my socials, or people can contact me and I can give them the link.
It is called the Big Bodhrán Survey. My socials are Trad Drum or Aimée Farrell Courtney.
I encourage any bodhrán players to take it because we are looking at getting a snapshot of the bodhrán right now in 2025.
We have not had anything like this before, where we analyse where the bodhrán is being played.
One interesting thing is that we looked at professional bodhrán players who took the survey and the countries they were in. Very few of them were in Ireland.
There are a lot of people outside Ireland playing the bodhrán professionally or semi-professionally.
Insights like that are incredible. We need this information.
We need to look at where the instrument is now. That will give us a cue for where we need to go.
We looked at where people are learning, how often they are playing, the opportunities they are getting, and their experiences.
Changing the narrative around the instrument is really important. We cannot do that without knowledge, awareness and quality education.
Tara:
Aimée, thank you so much. You have been amazing.
Aimée:
Thank you. Thanks so much for the invite. It has been a pleasure.
Part 2 of this conversation with Aimée Farrell Courtney moves from the question of whether the bodhrán belongs in the session to the harder question of how it can belong well.
The answer is not simply “play quieter” or “play less.”
It is more precise than that.
A bodhrán player needs to understand their instrument, their tuning, their placement in the room, the melody, the phrasing, the pulse, the other musicians and the overall sound of the session.
A host also has responsibility. If a session is open, the host needs to know what that means and communicate it clearly. Guidelines can help. So can repertoire lists. So can kind, direct conversations.
The hard truth is this: inclusion without musical care can damage the session. But musical standards without kindness can damage people.
Good session etiquette sits between those two dangers.
Aimée’s advice is practical and generous: do your homework, listen deeply, ask before joining, know the type of session you are entering, and speak to people in a way that helps them improve rather than humiliating them.
The bodhrán, played well, does not sit on top of the music.
It becomes part of the lift.
And when it disappears, you feel what is missing.
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