morningstar

[Dick Glasgow]

WELCOME

Hello morningstar & welcome to the Dulcimer Player's Forum.

We are all delighted that you are now a member and we look forward to your contributions to the discussions here.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your music & your Dulcimers.

Cheers
'Ptarmigan'

[Dick Glasgow]

morningstar posted this at 'Where are you' on June 11th

Hi Ptarmigan!
I lead an Irish jam every Sunday (at Fado in Seattle) on hammer dulcimer.
Unfortunately the Irish jams around here do not welcome my main instrument (I've had to give up the fiddle & whistle for now because of a hand injury).
Maybe I'll move Michigan some day (see above)!
You've done a great job with creating this website - it's beautiful!
Cheers
Morning Star

[Dick Glasgow]

morningstar wrote:

I lead an Irish jam every Sunday (at Fado in Seattle) on hammer dulcimer.
Unfortunately the Irish jams around here do not welcome my main instrument

Hello morningstar, yes I know what your saying.
Over on thesession.org I wrote one time about an experience 3 H-D players suffered in a local Irish Session Pub:

So, is Ireland truly the land of ‘CEAD MILLE FAULTE’?
Well, to help you decide, here's a tale which 'should' make you curl your toes with embarrassment!
To start with, here’s a quote from a webpage on “Notes On Jams And Jam Etiquette”:
From: www.s-w-b-a.com/pickerscorner/etiquette.htm
“GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO BE WELCOMING AND HELPFUL TO NEW COMERS"
Or as this page puts it: www.nighteaglecafe.org/shows/irishsession_etiquette.html
“THERE ARE RULES OF COURTESY”
So how many of you nod approval at these sentiments, when reading them - but in practice, throw these principals right out the window in real life & just resort to your every day bad manners & selfish, self-centred approach to life?
OK - While you are thinking about your answer, here’s the story:
At a session here, this week, I witnessed some ITMs do just that!
Two passing through musicians, one from North Carolina & ‘tother from Lancashire arrived early at our session, in the heart of rural Ulster, but when these four generous spirits arrived, instead of giving these musicians the ‘CEAD MILLE FAULTE’ treatment, they instead, decided to give these visitors a wide berth & started another session in another part of the pub.
Now, I can hear you all shake your heads in disgust, but to qualify the story a little, I have to admit that the two strangers were playing Hammered Dulcimers, [ I know - not ‘the’ most popular of instruments in Ireland it has to be said ] but I like to think that, were I faced with the same scene on arrival, I would have been a big enough person to have treated the strangers with, even just a little, respect & courtesy.
Surely we should treat other musicians the way we would hope to be treated ourselves, when we arrived ourselves, at a strange session, in a strange town?
I like to think that, had I even walked in and found two strange Harp players, or two strange Banjo players, or even {dare I say it?}......two strange Bodhran players, I would still have joined them, introduced myself & played music with them.
This sad tale reminds me of that old adage, (perhaps it’s from the Bible?):

“TO BREAK BREAD WITH STRANGERS AND LEAVE THE TABLE WITH FRIEND”
Unfortunately, our Dulcimer players in this story left this particular table with no new friends.
So, my question is this - (& be honest – please) how many folks here would have done likewise & burned off the HD players, & started up elsewhere?
On the other hand, how many people here find this attitude totally unacceptable & believe that this type of ill-mannered behaviour only serves to give ITM a bad name & does nothing to encourage the desired reputation which the rest of us strive each week to give our beloved ITM?
I used to think this type of unfortunate type of behaviour was only to be found in our impersonal big city sessions, & just put it down to ‘them poor ignorant city folk who are - ‘more to be pitied than scolded’’, but this bad attitude, it appears, is creeping into, what were formerly, warm, friendly country town sessions in Ireland, too!
We’re DOOMED, we’re ALL DOOMED!
In a review of this very session, carried out by MacSpy a few years ago, he ended the article with:
“I would say that anyone coming across Mr Glasgow & friends would certainly get the proper welcome & encouragement which should be afforded to all who travel with tunes in their heart. Well done lads....”
Sadly, I think MacSpy would need to edit that quote now, in the light of last week’s display, to read “Mr Glasgow '& some of his friends'”
Someone once described our session as - "the best wee session in Ireland" - but sadly, we have a long way to go, & a lot of work to do, before we can even think of printing that particular T Shirt for ourselves!
So is Ireland truly the land of ‘CEAD MILLE FAULTE’? – sadly, I think, not yet!

You can read the whole thread, including a very mixed bag of replies, many against my view too!

So, is Ireland truly the land of ‘CEAD MILLE FAULTE’?