Quote Originally Posted by Gusten View Post
I would love to add anything that might be heard elsewhere in the world. Do you have any examples?
You probably want to keep the focus, all styles have their own language and what makes traditional music so enjoyable is their style, not just playing the notes on a page. It takes a while to get the style - the notes are easy, it is all about style that are not on the written music (details in the rhythm, phrasing, ornaments,...). So if you start an ITM session and add Mexican polkas, Swedish whatever that might be, Klezmer tunes, Greek, etc. and mix it all up without proficiency or knowledge of a style, it risks becoming superficial "playing notes".

That being said, there are some natural extensions that are a good fit. Donegal - or Northern Ireland more general - shares a lot of repertoire and stylistic features with Scotland or Cape Breton that can be a bit outside "mainstream" ITM, such as strathspeys. Or halfway between Ireland and where you are, Shetland tunes (generally considered part of the Scottish tradition) are terrific. Lots of reels that sound like you have heard them a thousand times before and easy to learn, very rewarding for beginners. You can pull any of them out at an ITM session and they always work because people can catch on the second time through (either that or people know them, but I've tried them at sessions 1000 miles apart without fail). Sets I would recommend to beginners:
Jack broke the prison door/Donald Blue/Sleep sound in the morning
Far from home/Spootiskerry/Willafjord
Here is a website that has the sheetmusic and slow audio versions of those (played on mandolin no less)
http://web.me.com/kathleenbawn/SFLA_...ore_Tunes.html

The same group also has a members only page with more tunes,
http://web.me.com/kathleenbawn/SFLA_...rces_Home.html
Can't tell you when the webmaster changes the password, but this year you can access it with username/password:
sleepy
maggie