How to find an Irish music session you can actually join
Plenty of session listings online are out of date. This is how I'd find one that's still running and suits how you play.
By Wiktor · Updated
Treat every listing as a rumour
Start with The Session's session directory, then local Comhaltas branches, trad clubs, music schools and venue calendars. Search for "trad session" or "Irish music session" with your town's name. "Live Irish music" mostly turns up bands playing gigs.
Pubs change hands and music nights move, and nobody updates the old page. Look for a recent comment or post, then message the venue or organiser before you travel.
Open, slow, learner or gig
These words mean different things, and organisers don't always use them the same way. An open session welcomes visiting players, but open doesn't mean slow. A slow session plays at an easier tempo and may still expect you to know the tunes. A learner session stops to teach phrases, while an ordinary session keeps going whatever happens.
A band booked to play in a pub is a gig. Don't get your instrument out next to the stage. Ask the band or the bar whether there's a session on another night.
Send a specific message
Something like: "Hi, I play whistle and I'm learning Irish trad. Is the Tuesday session still on, and are learners welcome to sit in? I can play a few jigs steadily at a moderate speed. Is there a tune list, or a better night for a first visit?"
"Are beginners welcome?" gets you "yes, come along", which tells you nothing. Saying what you play and what you can manage gets you a real answer. Ask about access, age limits or room for a case if those matter to you. If the level turns out to be above yours, go and listen anyway.
Learn that session's tunes
Once you've found a session, listen for the tunes that come back every week and ask for two names at the break. Record only with permission, and keep a note of the version they play, because the first score you find online is often a different setting.
Lists of popular tunes, mine included, are a place to start. Your local players decide what's useful at their session. Keep a small tunebook for that session and add to it slowly. Twenty tunes they actually play will get you further than two hundred titles you've skimmed.
If there's nothing nearby
Ask music teachers and regional trad organisations. Plenty of good gatherings never get listed anywhere. Festivals often run learner sessions, so check the programme before you travel.
Or start one. Find two or three people, agree a short shared tune list and a pace, and meet somewhere regular. If you'll be stopping to teach phrases, call it a learner session so nobody turns up expecting something else.
Keep learning
Pick your next tunes from my 20 tunes for your first session, then look at the sets players save together. Every session plays its own versions, so check with the people you play with.
To look for a session, start with The Session's session directory and confirm the details with the organiser.