The pic is of us playing away in Hearth last Christmas. There’s some Hearth regulars - we call ourselves the ‘Hearthlings’! - there…from left to right: Trevor Stewart (pipes), Lachlan McKibbin (pipes), Michael Gaffney (guitar), Patrick McClean (bodhran), me (pipes on knee and phone in hand), Jack Duddy (fiddle), Irwin Lyttle (flute), Amy McAlister (harp), Nigel Black (accordion), and Laura Henderson (fiddle, and getting into the vibe).

I’d plucked up the courage to step into the Garrick with my pipes on a bustling Friday evening. The Garrick’s a wonderful old Belfast bar with a great reputation for serious, quality, high-end trad. I’m serious about the pipes but I’m not quality or high-end. I was overwhelmed with imposter syndrome!

I was waved in by Gary Duffy, a brilliant trad flute player, who was leading the session. I didn’t know him then but he’s a good friend now. I sat down and tentatively got the pipes out. The tunes were flying - energetic, pacy and tight - as good as any trad you’ll get anywhere. I managed to play along where I could; sweat lashing off me; dropping notes and squeaks all over the place!

”Right, time for one last set of tunes” said Gary at the end of the night. I started putting my pipes away as I was expecting a super-quick, high-end finale from the elite players. Wrong! “David, why don’t you lead us? It’s our last set, so everyone’s playin’, off you go!” he said. So I rattled out a wee set of simple tunes at a modest pace, and everyone joined in. Great night. I cycled home ‘like two men and a wee lad’ (as they say round here), feelin’ a million dollars.

I don’t want to over-egg it, but Gary’s invitation to me at the end of that session was fundamentally an act of openness, kindness and, most importantly, inclusion. He didn’t have to offer me the last set. But he knew I was, forgive me, the lowest common musical denominator. Fair play to him. We’ve since got to know each other and become good friends.

I’ve tried to pull these principles into the way we run the Hearth session. “Everyone’s welcome”, and “It’s everyone’s music” are our straplines. We try to maintain a solid, high quality spine, but we’ve all abilities and demeanours wrapped around that. I’ve a “do no harm” principle, i.e. no one is allowed to play the wrong thing, dominate, or spoil the session vibe for others. And as long as this principle’s adhered to, it’s all good, and everyone’s welcome to join in play along.

The video is of my pipes teacher and pipes mentor / therapist, Lachlan McKibbin from Newtownards (he’s the one wearing a yellow T-shirt). He started the Hearth session with me back in the day, and I’m delighted to say he’s currently the all-Ireland uilleann piping champion. That’s him leading the charge with a brilliant tune called Drummond Castle.

More to come next week. It’s all about the music. It’s everyone’s music.

Join us at The Hearth session each Thursday evening 8pm - 10pm for a tune or sit back and enjoy - it's everyone's music

Everyone's music #3 - C’mon in, the water’s lovely