Help

Everyone is free to browse around The Session, look at tunes and read comments. However, if you’re a member, you'll also be able to contribute tune settings and post your own comments.

Best of all, members can select tunes they like and add them to their own personal tunebook. You can then download an ABC file of all the tunes in your tunebook. This is a lot easier than downloading tunes individually and then cutting and pasting them into a larger ABC file.

When you sign up to become a member, you will be asked to give your name and email address, and choose a password.

You can then use the combination of your name and password to sign in to The Session and begin submitting tune settings, posting comments and adding tunes to your tunebook. You can change your name, email and password at any time.

To have a password reset link sent to you, go to the log-in page and click on the forgotten your password? link. Enter the email address you used to sign up with.

Yes.

Your email address will NOT be displayed anywhere on The Session.

Your email address will NOT be given or sold to any third party.

Your email address WILL be used to block you from The Session if you break the rules while you’re here.

Sure. You can log in and go to your member profile. You will see options there for changing any of your details.

If you provide your location, it will be much easier to find sessions, events, and other members in your area.

You can be as precise or as vague as you want when you’re setting your location.

First of all, make sure that the tune isn’t already listed by doing a search. If the tune is already listed, you can log in and add your setting to the existing listing.

If the tune isn’t yet listed, log in and click on the Add a tune button in the tunes section. Then follow the on-screen instructions. You’ll need to submit the tune in ABC notation.

ABC is a great way of passing on tunes by writing the notes out in plain text.

It's very straightforward and easy to learn. You can find out more on the ABC notation site.

You should test your ABC notation before submitting a tune setting. Here’s an ABC editor you can use to see how your notation will look as sheet music (and you can download the ABC file too).

Yes. Log in. Go to the tune and click on the “Add a setting” button.

When you submit a tune, the tune type determines the time signature: jigs are in 6/8, polkas are in 2/4, etc.

Because slow airs come in a variety of time signatures (3/4,6/8, etc.), there can be no category for “slow airs” just as there can be no category for “speedy tunes” or “really great ones”.

Besides, transcribing slow airs is notoriously difficult and frankly beyond the scope of this website. For that reason, The Session is “limited” to dance tunes.

Well... The Session isn’t really intended for that. If you do post one of your own compositions, then you must do your “penance”, so to speak, by balancing each original composition with about five trad tune settings.

The focus of The Session is traditional Irish music. The occassional non-Irish tune is okay, if it’s played at an Irish session. But as with submitting self-penned compositions, you should balance every non-Irish tune submission with four or five trad tune settings.

The Session allows you to collect tunes and add them to a virtual tunebook. The tunebook is really just a list of tunes that you have selected. You can download the entire tunebook as a single ABC file.

To add a tune to your tunebook, log in, go to the tune in question and click on the “Add to tunebook” button.

Every member of The Session can edit the details of sessions, events, recordings and tunes, regardless of who first submitted it. If you see an inaccurate or incomplete listing, go ahead and edit it. You’ll need to log in first.

You don’t. Instead, log in and add a comment explaining that the session is no longer active. Also, update the schedule so that no days are selected.

It is far, far more useful for people to be able to find information on a defunct session than to find no information at all.

Yes, you can install The Session on your mobile phone.

The Session is a progressive web app that works on Android and iPhone.

There are two things you can do.

You can ask your question in the Discussions section of the site. Other members of The Session can then answer your question. This is probably the best place to post questions about the music or ABC problems.

You can also write to me (Jeremy). If you have a technical question about the website itself, that’s the best option.