About CelticTradHub

I heard my first Irish trad session on a trip to Ireland in 2018. I have no idea what tunes were played — I just remember sitting in the pub, completely mesmerized. At the time, I never imagined that I might end up playing in real sessions, myself. My husband already played bagpipes and was dabbling in the Irish Whistle. I always had a tinge of jealousy of his musical talents. I knew I wanted to get into playing something but I just didn't know what. I had a musical background of piano lessons as a kid, and playing in high school band, but I hadn't really touched an instrument in close to 20 years.

I thought the concertina was the coolest looking intstument of them all - and it's not something commonly seen back home. Shortly after returing home from our wonderful 2018 trip, I bought my first concertina. In the first couple of years, I managed to learn where a few of the notes were, and could slowly make my way through a couple of tunes. But didn't really have a reason to practice. I learned that I needed a reason or I wasn't going to become a better player.

A few years later we noticed something that was lacking in Nanaimo: an Irish trad session. A couple of social media posts and a website later, and we had a real live trad session up and running. I loved everything about it. The music was energizing and the people we met were wonderful. I loved the feeling of walking out of a session having played just a few more notes than I had the week before. I started out as an absolute beginner and I knew firsthand: if you're new it's very easy to feel like you don't belong yet.

That's the whole reason slow sessions exist - to give a comfortable and safe place to learn. Nobody cares if you don't quite get all the notes or if you make mistakes. The whole reason for a slow session is to give beginners (you) a place where they can learn together. But not everyone lives near a slow session. And not every slow session is truly beginner-friendly.

I built CelticTradHub to allow musicians from around the world to be able to build confidence playing Irish session tunes in a safe and comfortable place: my online slow session room.

I'm not Irish. I grew up in Canada with no particular connection to Celtic music. But after hearing what I did in the pubs in Ireland, I knew I needed to be involved. And after experiencing being an absolute beginner trying to learn the music, I knew I wanted to help and inspire others to get involved too.

I hope you'll join me!

— Christine