How to Read the Room

In this episode of In Tune with Tradition, Tara chats with harper Janet Harbison at the Donegal Harp Summer School in Dungloe. Janet has spent a lifetime around the Irish harp, but this conversation is as much about belonging as it is about the belonging of the instrument. Tara and Janet talk about sessions as social life and practice, the difference between a harper and a harpist, learning the core session repertoire and why Janet now describes herself as a teacher of social musicianship. Along the way, Janet traces a musical life through Dublin, Belfast and Donegal, and reflects on the musicians, teachers, students and sessions that shaped how she thinks about traditional music. “Where there was traditional music, there was my tribe.” Mentioned in this episode: Patrick MacGill Festival Visit www.patrickmacgillfestival.ie for more details.

This episode Éamon Ó Ciosáin talks with Tara about nerves, listening and the things musicians gradually learn by actually spending time in Irish music sessions. Éamon speaks openly about going blank when asked to start a tune, playing slightly above your comfort level and why nerves do not necessarily disappear with experience.

This episode of In Tune with Tradition was recorded in person in Miltown Malbay during Willie Clancy Week 2025, (shortly after the podcast was officially launched), where Clare fiddle player, teacher and broadcaster Joan Hanrahan joins Tara Connaghan for a warm, reflective conversation about what Irish traditional music sessions really are: shared spaces built on listening, trust, and people first. They talk through session etiquette, intergenerational learning, the role of repetition and repertoire, and why music can feel healing in moments of grief, joy, and everything in between.

Fiddle player and teacher Jacqui Martin joins Tara Connaghan to talk about friendship, slow sessions, rhythm, seating, safe places to play and why Irish music sessions can feel like strange social experiments where anyone can walk in and change the whole evening.

This episode explores how music can regulate the nervous system, build belonging, and help people feel safe in communal playing spaces. Tara Connaghan is joined by Louise Kelly, a consultant music therapist from the North of Ireland, TEDx speaker, and co-founder of Resilient Rhythms, whose perspective connects traditional music with anxiety, confidence, and connection. We discuss why some players sit on the periphery, why others play loudly or keep leaving and returning, and how those behaviours can be understood through fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses rather than judgment.