Rating: 
Summary: How to suck the joy from Irish Music
Review: As noted in other reviews, Mr. Foy has written an acerbic and biting work, detailing his aristocratic perspectives of the Irish Music Session. Fully half of this book is devoted to deriding any musician other than one playing a fiddle or, as unlikely as it seems, a banjo. After reading the book, I had hoped that perhaps the author was writing in a tongue-in-cheek style, poking fun at the sometimes too spontaneous free-for-all that some traditional Irish Sessions become. Unfortunately, after attending several sessions led by the author, it becomes apparent that he is deadly earnest in his musical snobbery. In the opinion of this reviewer, the elitist attitude conveyed in the book is more suited to formal chamber music, not the participatory tradition of the Irish Session.Some excerpts neatly illustrate the style of writing... "Each player who starts a tune does so with a different feel and speed, and the end product is a fickle mishmash that makes listeners wonder why this seemingly antagonistic group bothered to come together in the first place." "Accompaniment: The playing of chords on one instrument to go along with the playing of a melody on another. A recent antitrust suit in the California Supreme Court charged a cartel of guitar and bouzouki manufacturers with promoting the notion that accompaniment is appropriate for Irish Traditional music. The case is still pending." "Bodhran (pronounced 'bow-ron'): Ireland's contribution to the world of percussion. A large, single-headed hand drum that no one wants to hear but everyone wants to play." "The fact that you are holding a musical instrument in your hands does not automatically entitle you to play it." In short, attend a good session, listen, learn, and forget about wasting your money on this collection of snide commentary.
Rating:
Summary: How to suck the joy from Irish Music
Review: As noted in the previous reviews, Mr. Foy has written an acerbic and biting work, detailing his aristocratic perspectives of the Irish Music Session. Fully half of this book is devoted to deriding any musician other than one playing a fiddle or, as unlikely as it seems, a banjo. After reading the book, I had hoped that perhaps the author was writing in a tongue-in-cheek style, poking fun at the sometimes too spontaneous free-for-all that some traditional Irish Sessions become. Unfortunately, after attending several sessions led by the author, it becomes apparent that he is deadly earnest in his musical snobbery. In the opinion of this reviewer, the elitist attitude conveyed in the book is more suited to formal chamber music, not the participatory tradition of the Irish Session. Some excerpts neatly illustrate the style of writing... "Each player who starts a tune does so with a different feel and speed, and the end product is a fickle mishmash that makes listeners wonder why this seemingly antagonistic group bothered to come together in the first place." "Accompaniment: The playing of chords on one instrument to go along with the playing of a melody on another. A recent antitrust suit in the California Supreme Court charged a cartel of guitar and bouzouki manufacturers with promoting the notion that accompaniment is appropriate for Irish Traditional music. The case is still pending." "Bodhran (pronounced 'bow-ron'): Ireland's contribution to the world of percussion. A large, single-headed hand drum that no one wants to hear but everyone wants to play." "The fact that you are holding a musical instrument in your hands does not automatically entitle you to play it." In short, attend a good session, listen, learn, and forget about wasting your money on this collection of snide commentary.
Rating:
Summary: How to suck the joy from Irish Music
Review: As noted in the previous reviews, Mr. Foy has written an acerbic and biting work, detailing his aristocratic perspectives of the Irish Music Session. Fully half of this book is devoted to deriding any musician other than one playing a fiddle or, as unlikely as it seems, a banjo. After reading the book, I had hoped that perhaps the author was writing in a tongue-in-cheek style, poking fun at the sometimes too spontaneous free-for-all that some traditional Irish Sessions become. Unfortunately, after attending several sessions led by the author, it becomes apparent that he is deadly earnest in his musical snobbery. In the opinion of this reviewer, the elitist attitude conveyed in the book is more suited to formal chamber music, not the participatory tradition of the Irish Session. Some excerpts neatly illustrate the style of writing... "Each player who starts a tune does so with a different feel and speed, and the end product is a fickle mishmash that makes listeners wonder why this seemingly antagonistic group bothered to come together in the first place." "Accompaniment: The playing of chords on one instrument to go along with the playing of a melody on another. A recent antitrust suit in the California Supreme Court charged a cartel of guitar and bouzouki manufacturers with promoting the notion that accompaniment is appropriate for Irish Traditional music. The case is still pending." "Bodhran (pronounced 'bow-ron'): Ireland's contribution to the world of percussion. A large, single-headed hand drum that no one wants to hear but everyone wants to play." "The fact that you are holding a musical instrument in your hands does not automatically entitle you to play it." In short, attend a good session, listen, learn, and forget about wasting your money on this collection of snide commentary.
Rating: 
Summary: SPOT ON>>>GOOD MAN, BARRY FOY!
Review: Barry Foy's Field Guide is a must read for anyone thinking about participating at a traditional irish session. Don't be discouraged by the book, but realize that it takes a lot of hard work to play "simple" Irish melodies in an authentic style on a traditional instrument. It also takes a bit of humility to realize you don't know everything and that maybe you should shutup about yourself and listen to more experienced players. The people who shout "elitist" at Barry are just the sort of people who wreck the fun of sessions through their own insensitivity and/or lack of dedication. Do whatever you want within a band or studio context, but if you don't like the traditional sound and think it needs "innovation", for crying out loud stay out of traditional sessions!
Rating:
Summary: SPOT ON>>>GOOD MAN, BARRY FOY!
Review: Barry Foy's Field Guide is a must read for anyone thinking about participating at a traditional irish session. Don't be discouraged by the book, but realize that it takes a lot of hard work to play "simple" Irish melodies in an authentic style on a traditional instrument. It also takes a bit of humility to realize you don't know everything and that maybe you should shutup about yourself and listen to more experienced players. The people who shout "elitist" at Barry are just the sort of people who wreck the fun of sessions through their own insensitivity and/or lack of dedication. Do whatever you want within a band or studio context, but if you don't like the traditional sound and think it needs "innovation", for crying out loud stay out of traditional sessions!
Rating:
Summary: SPOT ON>>>GOOD MAN, BARRY FOY!
Review: Barry Foy's Field Guide is a must read for anyone thinking about participating at a traditional irish session. Don't be discouraged by the book, but realize that it takes a lot of hard work to play "simple" Irish melodies in an authentic style on a traditional instrument. It also takes a bit of humility to realize you don't know everything and that maybe you should shutup about yourself and listen to more experienced players. The people who shout "elitist" at Barry are just the sort of people who wreck the fun of sessions through their own insensitivity and/or lack of dedication. Do whatever you want within a band or studio context, but if you don't like the traditional sound and think it needs "innovation", for crying out loud stay out of traditional sessions!
Rating:
Summary: Superb! Spot on accurate, absolutely hilarious. A great read
Review: My oh my, some people are sure getting themselves worked up about this book! Everyone I've shown this book to, especially those involved in the Irish music scene, have nearly died from uncontrollable laughter and have been completely unable to put this book down.
I truly think that the only people who don't find this book hilarious are those who are the worst session offenders and are in some sort of deep denial. Laugh a little! This book pokes good-natured fun at every instrument used in Irish music, and especially at those that are better used for other types of music, such as the autoharp. It pokes fun at the way a session works, and the way it doesn't work. It pokes fun at everything, and does it in a humerous and spot-on accurate way. I wish there was some way of making it mandatory for all session newcomers (and quite a few session regulars) to read this book.
So, if you're in the mood for a good laugh and want the best insight available on the workings of a traditional Irish music session, buy this book. You'll love it (unless you play the autoharp).
This book is a true gem and I recommend it 103.7%
Chris
Rating:
Summary: Great stuff!
Review: The only people I know who don't like this book are people who don't do well at Irish sessions for the very reasons Mr. Foy gives. Funny thing, that. If you want to fit in and aren't Irish (ie: didn't grow up in Ireland, and are therefore completely experienced in the intricacies of Irish society), get this book, read it, and believe it. If you don't end up using the stuff in here, great. You're gold. If you DO need it, then you'll have it. Great. You're gold. The people I know who don't like this book always call it "elitist" -- interesting, if you think about it long enough. I should also point out that Irish people think a book of something like this is ridiculous -- unless they've lived outside of Ireland and regularly suffered through a session that has been so hammered into another shape that it's really not a session anymore, and then they are ALL for this book (and you'll note Martin Hayes writes a plug for it, among others). Irish sessions are often changed beyond belief to the point where they're no longer Irish sessions (or at least, sessions of traditional Irish music). Anyway, it's called "traditional" music for a reason, and if you don't like it or all the etiquette attendant upon it, then go make your own music, just don't sully either your own music nor Irish traditional music by calling it by the wrong name. Oh, and by the way -- "etiquette" has somehow become a bad word, I'm not sure how. It's worth remembering that there's an "etiquette" to inviting your friends over for pizza and beer or hanging out at the mall -- "etiquette" isn't relegated only to weddings and formal occasions. An extremely famous Irish fiddler once told me that there are sessions where he's glad that the participants are having fun, that they're doing something better than watching TV and all, but he would rather not be there. If you don't want to be the one to make an experienced player feel that way, get the book. P.S. Oddly enough, I recognize most of the names giving reviews. This is a very small society over the globe, this society of Irish musicians.
Rating:
Summary: Read It and Weep -- and laugh a lot, too
Review: The only people I know who don't like this book are people who don't do well at Irish sessions for the very reasons Mr. Foy gives. Funny thing, that. If you want to fit in and aren't Irish (ie: didn't grow up in Ireland, and are therefore completely experienced in the intricacies of Irish society), get this book, read it, and believe it. If you don't end up using the stuff in here, great. You're gold. If you DO need it, then you'll have it. Great. You're gold. The people I know who don't like this book always call it "elitist" -- interesting, if you think about it long enough. I should also point out that Irish people think a book of something like this is ridiculous -- unless they've lived outside of Ireland and regularly suffered through a session that has been so hammered into another shape that it's really not a session anymore, and then they are ALL for this book (and you'll note Martin Hayes writes a plug for it, among others). Irish sessions are often changed beyond belief to the point where they're no longer Irish sessions (or at least, sessions of traditional Irish music). Anyway, it's called "traditional" music for a reason, and if you don't like it or all the etiquette attendant upon it, then go make your own music, just don't sully either your own music nor Irish traditional music by calling it by the wrong name. Oh, and by the way -- "etiquette" has somehow become a bad word, I'm not sure how. It's worth remembering that there's an "etiquette" to inviting your friends over for pizza and beer or hanging out at the mall -- "etiquette" isn't relegated only to weddings and formal occasions. An extremely famous Irish fiddler once told me that there are sessions where he's glad that the participants are having fun, that they're doing something better than watching TV and all, but he would rather not be there. If you don't want to be the one to make an experienced player feel that way, get the book. P.S. Oddly enough, I recognize most of the names giving reviews. This is a very small society over the globe, this society of Irish musicians.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and dead-on accurate
Review: This book is a must-read for session newbies, who will be introduced to the unspoken rules of etiquette at the typical Irish session, and for advanced players, who will probably get a kick out of Foy's amusing take on what very often goes wrong at sessions, and for those who attend public sessions but don't play, who will be interested to know what is really going on during a session. I wish that this book had been available about fifteen years ago when I first took up the Irish fiddle and cluelessly dove into sessions, probably helping to drive away some really outstanding players in the process. Thank you, Mr Foy, for putting into print what I had to figure out for myself over the years, and doing so in such a funny way.
| 
