Yesterday began with the sun shining into my bedroom.
I slept in, which is to say I woke up just before 9 am, with a sliver of light peeking through the closed, room-darkening curtains. [Note to self: Get some room-darkening curtains when you get home.]
After breakfast and some work I needed to do, I popped across the street to a café where Dr. Christine Beckett, a music scholar visiting from Canada, asked me to participate in a study on "Jig Perception." I was asked to don some headphones, listen to some recorded jigs, and click on a key on her laptop where I felt the phrases began and ended. It was simple and kinda fun, and then we sat and talked for another half hour about music and why were in Galway and stuff that fellow tourists talk about. It ended with me giving her some of my baking soda so she didn't have to buy a whole container like I did. We traveling bakers need to stick together against the tyranny that is the half-kilo bag of baking soda.
Then I was off to lunch with Frank, a guy I met online, who ended up being a real conversationalist and font of knowledge about my temporarily-adopted city. There's nothing like a good conversation, where it just flows and you can talk about anything and everything and bounce ideas and experiences off of each other. That's oxygen for me.
After lunch we took his car up the coast, stopping here and there along the way to snap photos and walk a bit. It was strange getting in the passenger side and just generally being a passenger in a car driven on the other side of the road, but I almost got used to it by the end. We stopped for apple pie à la mode and coffee (well, we stopped for black forest cake, but they didn't have any), and then he dropped me off around 4 pm. Now I'm inspired to take some bus trips to other areas, especially since it seems to be warming up.
After a bit more work and dinner, I happened upon a TV show about Irish history which I found fascinating. Then chatted briefly with my brother, Al, who's on his penultimate day at work. Then, although I was tired, I was determined to head to the Crane Bar for one of their open sessions.
When I arrived, the session was in full swing upstairs. There were about 12 students from nearby schools who looked to be in their late teens, and maybe a few in their early twenties. And two older guys on the end. These students are carrying on the tradition very well.
At first I sat down outside the circle, but joined the circle soon enough when one of the flute players left. At first I was sort of timid, not knowing how I'd be welcomed, and I just sort of sat there with my pint and my bodhran.
Then I picked up the drum and joined in for set of reels. There was another player who also played guitar, and I was hoping he'd pick up his bodhran so I could hear how someone who'd grown up with this music played. He ended up playing kind of timidly himself, which strangely gave me resolve to play with more confidence. I decided no one wants to hear a timid drummer. And I was right.
One of the older guys, a fiddler from Wales, played a slow air that was just gorgeous, and the whole crowd quickly hushed itself to listen. I was sitting right next to him; it was magical.
Soon I began introducing myself to the other players sitting near me, and then the concertina player got a pad out and went around asking for everyone's drink order. I said I didn't want anything, and he kind of looked at me with a blank stare and said, "It's free." So I got my first free beer, because session players get free drinks. Just like gamblers in casinos. Only better.
I must have played for nearly 2 hours, and then it sort of broke up. A couple of the guys told me they're there every Tuesday night as a way of saying, "Come back again now, y'hear?" At least, that's what I heard. As I was about to leave, I realized there was another session going on in the downstairs bar. I stopped to listen for a little while...very lively set going on...and chatted up a couple from Australia who had been in Galway for a few months and were leaving soon. It turns out that session was dominated by a group from Spain who were really more performing for the crowd at that point...but they were good, and well worth the listen.
And then it was time to leave. As I walked home, I spontaneously broke into "I could have danced all night" from My Fair Lady. I could have played all night.
I slept in, which is to say I woke up just before 9 am, with a sliver of light peeking through the closed, room-darkening curtains. [Note to self: Get some room-darkening curtains when you get home.]
After breakfast and some work I needed to do, I popped across the street to a café where Dr. Christine Beckett, a music scholar visiting from Canada, asked me to participate in a study on "Jig Perception." I was asked to don some headphones, listen to some recorded jigs, and click on a key on her laptop where I felt the phrases began and ended. It was simple and kinda fun, and then we sat and talked for another half hour about music and why were in Galway and stuff that fellow tourists talk about. It ended with me giving her some of my baking soda so she didn't have to buy a whole container like I did. We traveling bakers need to stick together against the tyranny that is the half-kilo bag of baking soda.
Then I was off to lunch with Frank, a guy I met online, who ended up being a real conversationalist and font of knowledge about my temporarily-adopted city. There's nothing like a good conversation, where it just flows and you can talk about anything and everything and bounce ideas and experiences off of each other. That's oxygen for me.
After lunch we took his car up the coast, stopping here and there along the way to snap photos and walk a bit. It was strange getting in the passenger side and just generally being a passenger in a car driven on the other side of the road, but I almost got used to it by the end. We stopped for apple pie à la mode and coffee (well, we stopped for black forest cake, but they didn't have any), and then he dropped me off around 4 pm. Now I'm inspired to take some bus trips to other areas, especially since it seems to be warming up.
When I arrived, the session was in full swing upstairs. There were about 12 students from nearby schools who looked to be in their late teens, and maybe a few in their early twenties. And two older guys on the end. These students are carrying on the tradition very well.
At first I sat down outside the circle, but joined the circle soon enough when one of the flute players left. At first I was sort of timid, not knowing how I'd be welcomed, and I just sort of sat there with my pint and my bodhran.
Then I picked up the drum and joined in for set of reels. There was another player who also played guitar, and I was hoping he'd pick up his bodhran so I could hear how someone who'd grown up with this music played. He ended up playing kind of timidly himself, which strangely gave me resolve to play with more confidence. I decided no one wants to hear a timid drummer. And I was right.
One of the older guys, a fiddler from Wales, played a slow air that was just gorgeous, and the whole crowd quickly hushed itself to listen. I was sitting right next to him; it was magical.
Soon I began introducing myself to the other players sitting near me, and then the concertina player got a pad out and went around asking for everyone's drink order. I said I didn't want anything, and he kind of looked at me with a blank stare and said, "It's free." So I got my first free beer, because session players get free drinks. Just like gamblers in casinos. Only better.
I must have played for nearly 2 hours, and then it sort of broke up. A couple of the guys told me they're there every Tuesday night as a way of saying, "Come back again now, y'hear?" At least, that's what I heard. As I was about to leave, I realized there was another session going on in the downstairs bar. I stopped to listen for a little while...very lively set going on...and chatted up a couple from Australia who had been in Galway for a few months and were leaving soon. It turns out that session was dominated by a group from Spain who were really more performing for the crowd at that point...but they were good, and well worth the listen.
And then it was time to leave. As I walked home, I spontaneously broke into "I could have danced all night" from My Fair Lady. I could have played all night.
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