How we got started

Several of us met through Scottish Country dancing. We soon realized we had even more in common as the topics of instruments and music were bantered about. Before we knew it we started jamming together, and even played a few gigs under the name of 'Mashed Neeps'.

Then many of us decided we wanted a place to learn and practice at a slow pace, thus were born our Friday sessions. Traditional celtic instruments arrive each week - piano, fiddle, pennywhistle, harp, bodhran. These are augmented with more unusual sounds from a tuba, base drum, guitars (acoustic and electric), a host of recorders and mouth pipes, cello, even a viola de gama.

Now our group includes people from all over the SF Bay area, dancers and non-dancers, classically trained, professional musicians, occasional musicians, and total novices. Everyone brings something to the group and everyone benefits from being there. If you can play the notes we choose, you can play with us.

Our practices are organized. We do rhythm exercises, practice playing by ear, practice reading music, and play each piece bar by bar until everyone is comfortable. Sometimes we break into groups of like instruments to go over a piece, then regroup and play it together.

Most nights we host from 14 to 18 musicians in a cozy house setting with good food and drink and lots of ambiance. If you're still reading, and interested, we welcome you to join our happy, growing throng.