Session sketches

I went to an Irish music session at the Tranzac last night. It was the first I've attended since before last summer. When the session started again last fall, Urban Tapestry prep for our Atlanta concert took up too much of my time to keep up whistle practice as well, plus I was wary of aggravating my tendinitis.

Last night I opted to just listen, to see what tunes the group was playing these days, but mostly because I missed hearing the live music. It seems like ages since I ventured into my first session, not knowing anyone. I'm still far from competent; learning new tunes and keeping them memorized takes time, and I already have so much going on in my life. But I love the music; you may not know it to look at me, but there must be a bit of Irish in my blood somewhere.

:-)



As I listened, I also did a few quick sketches. It's a challenge, since people are always moving. It's good practice, especially when I'm drawing someone from a perspective that's somewhat unusual (especially the fiddlers!). I decided to use pen instead of pencil so I wouldn't be wussy in my drawing (y'know...draw a bit, erase a bit, draw a bit, erase a bit, etc.), not to be afraid to make mistakes.

Most of my sketches turned out horribly, but I've posted a few here that I didn't mind so much. I might take one or two and work them up in Corel Painter in the next while.


Anyway, it was good to be back. I'm going to try to attend these regularly from now on, even if I don't always play. Last night, there were mostly fiddles at first, with a couple of Irish flutes, a guitar, an accordion, and a concertina. Some occasionally pulled out a whistle and played that instead.

The slow session (which is meant for beginners or those who want practice playing tunes slower than normal) went from 7 pm through to 8:30 pm, at which point the intermediate and advanced playing began and the music picked up, toes started tapping.

If you'd like to find out more about the Tranzac sessions, please do check the Web site, maintained by yours truly.

Eva and Crystal have posted their report from GAfilk!

Below: Part of a story that my sister wrote and illustrated for the Jan/Feb issue of Chirp magazine.





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