Irish session jams

Every Sunday night at 6:30 p.m., the Tremont Tavern at 1203 Hixson Pike features a gathering of local Celtic folk musicians, offering students the opportunity to listen to traditional Irish pub music and even join in on the session.The core of the group is centered around Robby Hilliard and Ken Harrison on fiddle, Mark Pitner on bouzouki, mandolin and guitar and Ken Doyle on the flute, tin whistles, bodhrán and lead vocals.

"The Irish session tradition is old and very common in Ireland," Hilliard said. "It's more common in the American northeast than any other part of our country. An Irish session is simply musicians getting together in a pub to play the music."

Doyle and Pitner are a traditional Irish group called Pay the Reckoning, named after a traditional Irish jig, whose former name was Ealaionta, which is Gaelic for "artistic."

Doyle said the band has played numerous Irish pubs around the Southeastern U.S., and performed at Rock City on St. Patrick's Day.

Pitner said they have participated in traditional Celtic music sessions at the Tremont Tavern for a year, and at Durty Nelly's for two and a half years before that. Hilliard said the Chattanooga sessions have been going on for about eight years.

"Their music is really unique," Katie Christie, an Oakland, Tenn., junior, said. "It's not something you can hear just anywhere. And [the musicians] are all really good at the instruments they play."

"I think it's pretty excellent that I can come and listen to them play each week," Heather Fregoe, a Nashville junior, said.

Doyle said he has performed music in numerous countries including Ireland, England, Germany and France, and is a UTC graduate of engineering, who performed in the tuba ensemble under the direction of Dr. Bill Lee.

"Dr. Lee presented me and the tuba ensemble with some amazing opportunities performing overseas, which really broadened my horizons," Doyle said.

Pitner also studied at UTC at the Cadek Conservatory of Music.

Doyle said students are welcome to join in on the Irish sessions, as numerous musicians stop in and play each week, some on the same instruments.

Hilliard said some of the other instruments featured have been the harp, hammered dulcimer and bagpipes.

"If you know the music you can come and play," Pitner said. Pitner said they have learned a few tunes from other musicians who have joined in on the sessions as well. Hilliard said he also holds slow sessions for musicians to learn the traditional songs they perform at the Sunday session.

"Slow sessions are basically sessions designed for folks to learn new tunes," Hilliard said. "You literally play [tunes] slower and more times in a row. Many folk musicians don't read music, but even for those that do, it is very traditional to teach and learn by ear."

Another participant in the session, Christie Burns, plays the hammered dulcimer, fiddle and guitar and studied music in Ireland for three years.

She said another great opportunity for students to learn traditional folk music is through the Mountain Music Folk School, where she teaches a class on world music. Hilliard also teaches fiddle at the school, which is taking place Sept. 28 through Nov. 20 at the Bluegrass Grill, Area 61 and Green|Spaces, all on Main Street.

Hilliard said he is also teaching a one-day workshop on Irish fiddle during the semester, where he will teach bowing techniques and some of the Irish jigs and reels performed at the Sunday sessions.

"[The school is] such a big opportunity to learn music," Burns said. "Most people know traditional music in their hearts.