🎻 Bridging the gap between Irish music and dance

Hi Reader!

Session scenes are familiar to me. I'm perfectly comfortable walking into a room, seeing a group of Irish musicians playing tunes in an open session environment, and asking to join in (or sitting in my usual spot for the two local ones I attend each week).

But if you put me in the room at a Feis (Irish dance competition), even if there are familiar tunes playing in the background, I will feel like a fish out of water.

Despite being slightly more familiar with Feises than sessions since childhood (one of my best friends regularly competed), it was never a scene I got into!

It was particularly because of this that I was so excited to sit down and have a chat with my friend, Claire Shirey, on the Find Your Lilt podcast!

Claire has made it her mission to to bring more awareness to the connection between the dance and music sides of the Irish traditional scene, being incredibly skilled on both fiddle + concertina as well as competing at a high level in Irish step dance.

She's also a great teacher and started the Nashville Irish Music School six years ago, where she's been able to combine interest for both music and dance under the Middle Tennessee Irish Music and Dance program.

One of my favorite things we chatted about in the podcast was how she has students of the Nashville Irish Music School leading a slow session for learners of all ages.

• The students get to build leadership skills and potentially develop new sessions of their own.
• The adults get to play a session that is a comfortable pace for them with where they're at in the music, and get more experience playing more tunes they know.

Why do I think this is so valuable?

On the students behalf, I know that something that motivated me as a child (and honestly still does) is getting to have more leadership and responsibility. Performing is a lot of fun too, but so is organizing and leading Irish music related events and community opportunities!

It's why I don't just wait around to get hired by a summer camp or festival, and run my own online music business year-round.

On the adults behalf, inclusivity is so important in sessions to help keep all age groups motivated to play!

I'm in a season right now where I like fast-paced tunes and being in a room where I don't know all the tunes played. But there have also been seasons where it was more about getting people out playing and getting used to playing a familiar set of tunes in a group setting.

Both types of sessions are essential in a community. You want ones that are geared towards learners of all levels and helping them develop skills -- and those skills are different for each level of learning.

Speaking of dance and sessions... we had a Sean-nós dancer join us at our session this past Wednesday, which really heightened the energy in the room! I love watching the steps and playing around with melody and rhythm in these cases -- just as if I were playing with a bodhran player!

I highly recommend diving deeper into these topics in Claire's episode of the Find Your Lilt podcast! You get a bonus insight into our shared habit of naming our pets for all things Irish at the end of it. 😉

Happy playing!

~Hannah