How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?

Subject: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: wilco
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 06:03 PM

I have made so many friends, and learned so much, when I started organizing "slow speed jams." This allowed those of us with limited experience to get to play along, in a less intimidating setting. Has anyone else had experience with running these.
      Locally, we have a large "old-time" music community, but our local Folk Music Association is absolutely dead-in-the-water. My guess is thata weekly slow-jam would really get the membership up? Any input?
    The local community colege has asked me to run a "slow jam" class, and I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks!!!!!

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: NicoleC
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 06:15 PM

Wish I had one here! I went to class Sunday that was absolutely miserable. I was supposed to be a basic class -- you know how to play an instrument, but not necessarily that well. 2/3 of the people had taken the class before and knew all the tunes... which were scribbled by hand and mostly illegible even if I COULD sight read well enough to play at tempo the first time through. There's playing catch-up, and then there's being totally dismissed. I was told I'd have to go home and memorize the tunes... what's the point of a jam class if you memorize stuff on your own? I wasn't the only new student who thought the situation was rude and intimidating and went home and dropped the class. I was PISSED.

If it's a new class, maybe they can give you an article or display ad in the class schedule they mail out to the community. If your local community college allows high school students, you could get some students there. I would think that older learners would be likely to be interested, too, and it might be good to put up a sign at the local senior centers. And there's always students taking private lessons who'd want to try a slow group session -- maybe some members of your folk music association that are teachers could refer students to the class.

Good luck! We need more of that stuff around!

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 06:46 PM

I bet a bucket of picks if you'd make little ads and post them in the Music Stores you would get lots of replies. Venues should not be a problem unless you have an unterior motive - ie money - in which case a Bar or Pub would be nice, course I hardly need remind you to first dicker with the owner for your cut.

Typical come on 'we are a bunch of beer quafting amateur Tubaists and would love to fill your empty Bar on Xday when I notice it always empty'...

Unfortunately where I now live the standards are so high, my flavor of jamfolk, that we will probably have to do the slow session as well...typical nights one sees not one or two but several cases not opened while a few semipro fiddlers dominate the evening. I enjoy it but would also love to share with the beginners as well.

In anycase from here I would prefer doing slow jams in a member's home

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: Bobert
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 06:54 PM

We have a "slow jam" at Blues Week (Augusta Heritage Foundation) at Davis and Elkins College very summer and it works real well *but* it takes the right person to lead it and not let it get into that run-away-train mode.

Yeah, newbees want to play as fast as they can. Speed has a way of covering mistakes. But a good facilitator should be the one to control the tempo, not the students...

Sounds like your teacher let the inmates run the jail, Nicole.

Print this entire thread, cross out names if you must, and give a copy to the teacher....

Bobert

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: GUEST,Kozak
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 07:51 PM

Don't forget that non-playing punters could get a little pissed off with people 'learning' in a situation like a pub etc. Hold your learning sessions at home and advertise yourself as a SLOW or HALF-PACE session, and try and get some reasonable players to give it occassional life.

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: NicoleC
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 08:19 PM

'Fraid not Bobert. He was most certainly driving the boat, counting off and then playing along. Most of the returning students had the grace to look embarrassed and tried to make encouraging comments to the rest of us. I think he just didn't get it. Even when I told him why I was dropping the class he just looked confused.

Oh well. I went home and sombody had left me a message about looking for a practice buddy -- maybe this one'll actually show up!

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: alison
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 09:07 PM

firends of mine run an excellent one in Sydney every week....... it is as part of a proper session, but they designate the first hour to be a "slow" jam where things are played slowly, a new tune is introduced every few weeks, and gradually people get to know them......

Celtic music slow jam at Hornsby

works really well, and the tunes are incorporated into the "faster session"...... great for building up people's repertoires and confidence

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: harpmaker
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 09:34 PM

This is an exelent idea, I will be talking to people in my area about this. It should cirtainly get more people involved.

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: Gypsy
Date: 27 Jan 03 - 11:17 PM

Nicole, you gotta start your own session. Handsome mando player and i are tolerable players, but got weary of going to sessions where only the hot players could play. Started our own. It is a benevolent dictatorship..........everyone gets a turn, from the greenest of the green, to the hotshots. And all MUST follow the person who picked the tune/song.Works for us..........small circle, we have a floor limit of 10. Small house. And keeps everyone involved. No "tweeners" or talk allowed during session

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 01:22 AM

Where, and how, you get the word out that you're holding a Slow Jam will depend on what kind of people you want to attract. Rather than speculating about what/how you should do it, I'll just suggest you think on it before you start "hanging flyers." If you're doing it as a "class" for an "established institution" then you may not have too much choice about who shows up, but you should be prepared to "theme" things from the beginning.

It helps to have a "style" in mind. It does matter whether you're doing an Irish, Country, Rock, etc. session. You don't necessarily need to be too selective about letting in people with other interests, but it will greatly improve your odds of getting a group formed if you let people know that you intend to concentrate on a particular kind of music.

Specializing on a particular instrument can sometimes be a help in attracting a core group of beginning to intermediate players. Our local "Dulcimer Alliance" has been having monthly "slow jam" sessions, with a fair turnout of mostly regular participants, for several years now. The idea of a Slow Jam is for people to learn something, and it can be helpful if everyone is working on the same (or at least similar) things.

You should pick a couple of pieces in advance to introduce for each session and have sufficient copies LEGIBLY printed for handouts. You may have people who don't, or won't, read dots. Don't press them too much, but make them take a copy anyway, so they'll remember what pieces have been "studied."

Hopefully, you'll have someone who can play the "new" piece(s) respectably, but at a speed that doesn't dazzle the "students," and who is willing, if needed, to play them over and over and over and over....

If you get things going, you should keep track of the songs that have been introduced and always try to go back and play the "new" stuff from the previous session or two. It can give people a real feeling of accomplishment just to recognize something they saw for the first time recently, even if they still don't feel confident about their playing.

If you find a song that nearly everyone can play, and enjoys, consider making it a "theme song" - perhaps for the closing number, so that everyone gets a chance to do well at least once per session.

If you're in charge, you may have to be cold-hearted cut-'em-down drag-'em-out CRUEL, if someone gets too far out of line. On the other hand, if your rules get broken, but everyone seems to be having fun - toss the rules.

Most people won't come back if it hurts. (Applies to those you want, and those you want to get rid of.)

John

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 07:55 AM

At some of the music sessions which I've been to the players seem to try and play everything as fast as possible. This tends to happen more in the Irish sessions than in the ones playing English Country Dance Band music. The problem is not keeping up with the speed (I play guitar) it's the fact that every note becomes as short as possible. This means that there is very little variation in note values and therefor all the rhythm gets lost. The thing that really annoys me is hearing tunes like the O'Carolan walzes being played at such high speed that all the beauty is lost. Perhaps the reason that English Country Dance Band music tends to be played at more realistic tempi is that many of the musicians in such sessions do play for dancing and have a better idea of the right speed.

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: jonm
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 08:04 AM

I used to be a regular at a warp-five session where a lot of players were leaving instruments in their cases and the fast-Irish nucleus held sway. We talked to a local landlord and booked his back room on a quiet night and started another session, focusing on beginners.

We put together a set of standard session tunes in dots form and on cassette and invited anyone to bring their own stuff to learn/share too. It started slowly, but grew into an excellent slow session where so many of the regulars came from the original session that it folded. You'll need a strong leader to keep the tempo down, encourage everyone to have a go and keep the prima donnas in check.

Some of the standard tunes work wonderfully slowly, with the least experienced musicians playing the tune and the rest adding countermelodies and harmonies, while the rhythm is rock-solid and never lost in the rush. Much better to listen to than a warp-five session, but less ego-massaging for the speed merchants.

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 08:53 AM

As Dave Bryant says, this music is meant to be played at a dancing speed. This can be quite fast, if you are dealing with Irish set-dancers for example, but not stupidly fast.

In fact playing tunes relatively slowly is harder much of the time, because it's more difficult to fake the tricky bits.

Beginners' sessions could be useful I suppose, but talking in terms of "slow jams" puts an emphasis on the wrong things, and feeds into the nonsensical notion that expertise in the music is learning to play it at excessive speed. That's no truer of music than it is of driving.

But one of the most enjoyable and important things about open sessions is the way that musicians of very different levels can play together in a way that brings out the best in them all. The best in musical terms, and the best in the way of courtesy and friendship. So there's a cost to be paid if we split each other up according to musical skill - and playing with more skilled musicians who aren't just showing off all the time can enable people to learn amazingly quickly sometimes.

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 10:14 AM

There is a very important, simple, but hard-to-grasp concept that your folks will need to absorb as quick as they can-- and that is that leading a tune is not about how well they can play it-- once the tune begins, the other players are NOT listening to the leader and the leader's skills! They're listening to themselves and working on their own skills! So taking turns leading the tune is really about giving everyone the excuse and opportunity to play along and work on their skills. Unless you can help your participants learn this, they will lean on your leadership forever and you will be, in fact, providing a group lesson or a workshop; and you know what, that gets old pretty quick unless you have a faster jam YOU get to participate in, separately, where you get to be the learner and follower sometimes too.

As to how to get it promoted, see "Growing a Folk Community From Seed" threads 1 & 2. As for songlists, see the old threads on 2 and 3-chord songs, or just pick easy ones from the Fiddler's Fakebook if you are doing that type of music. Ed Hetzler's site has MIDIs of many of these to play and play along with, plus simple free sofftware that lets people slow the tune down. We have even gone so far as to MIDI-play these AT the jam so people can hear them before we launch in.

For a more vocal-music plan, as a beginner's songbook, the Mel Bay Jerry Silveman books are great-- chords in each verse, usually, so people can work on them at home and get more confidence. Tapes are also available to go with them. A good one is KIDSONGS.

You will need to take the lead in the importance of blending the note-reading skill with the ear-learning skill. You will get both types of players and they will insist they can only learn in that one way. But time will prove them wrong, if you point out the value of having both skills.

New players can make a lot of progress by droning the chord root note till they catch how the melody goes, and also by playing just the accent-beat notes of each measure to learn the tune's skeleton, then they can start to fill in the teeny-tiny notes between them as they learn how the tune sounds and how the timing is interpreted. You'll need to let the note-readers know that that as tunes are transcribed, the rhythmic interpretations are not always accurate to how it would actually be played-- that a lot of notes are played dotted/halved to swing the tune and bounce it into a lively groove. If their background is classical/violin, they will tend to insist on using the Fakebook as a score instead of as a starting point.

For your strummers, you will need to teach them about watching the other players' hand positions to catch the chords.

~Susan

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: wilco
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 01:07 PM

They will all be "strummers," except an aoccasional harmonica player.
I foresee guitars, banjos, fiddles, basses, and mandolines. We might get a dobro too. My agenda would be learning to play along with one another on simple two or three chord songs, at slow speeds. here is what I have for community college setting:

1. Beginning old-time music jam for acoustic insturments, emphasizing
   jamming ettiquette and keeping time, chord changes, key structures
2. Emphasizing playing by ear. All will have vocal leads.
3. Play list of common songs (USA - South east: Amazing grace, You
   are my sunshine, I'll Fly Away, I am a Pilgrim, Keep on the Sunny
   side, Worried man blues.
4. Furnishing "guitar" music for above songs, with chord s and
   verses. If at community college, cost would be included in fee of
   $25.00 for five classes.
5. Let class run for five weeks, once a week, with all invited to
   free jams thereafter. Encourgae to join and play in local folk
   music association.
6. Jams after class would be slow speed, and would be with people
   sitting in a circle, with each getting a turn. Run about an hour.
   Encourage all to find other simple 2 or 3 chord songs.
7. Local community colleges will all run this through their mailings
   to all local homes, publicising it at their costs. Classes in the
   evenings.

Missing anything??

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: GUEST,Claymore
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 11:07 PM

WYSIWYG has basically got the right information, as I see it, with a few additional notes.

As I mentioned in other threads, we've had a slow jam at O'Hurleys General Store, in Shepherdstown, WV for some 22 years now, on Thursday nights. Several years ago, we saw the need for another jam at a train station in Martinsburg, which transmuted into a jam at an Irish bar in Fredrick, Md. on Tues nights.

Each jam has it's own unwritten rules, which vary in style and purpose, but which have almost the same effects.

The jams have a musical style. One has a mixture of Old Time and Irish on a single night, the other alternates styles (OT/Irish every other week.

The revolve around a given series of music books. One uses The Fidders Fake Book, the Waltz Books, and Rough Water collection, while the other uses a series of "100 Irish Session Tunes, etc. as well as Fiddlers Fake. Although neither has a great deal of singing, they both use Sing Out for follow along.

Each group has new songs/music introduced, but you must bring legible copies for everyone, and for several weeks there after, if you really want to have the song become part of the group memory.

Both involve musicians sitting a a circle, and the pick is passed around, with the person making the choice having three choices. He can call out a tune or a series of tunes (ala contra dance) and the number of repeats, he can sing a song himself, or he can ask another to sing a song or lead a tune (excellent for beginners to practice on a tune they want to learn).

THERE ARE RULES that must be obeyed, or the group WILL dissolve, and there must be a Jam Master to enforce them by group acceptance (which may involve a quiet comment at the end of the jam, up to a direct intervention).

No talking by others during the tune unless you're in a pub, etc.

Rythmn is not left to beginners, though the person who is learning can start a tune out at his speed, and expect that before it is over, someone will call out "At Speed", and the "normal" speed will take over.

All are expected to pick a song, so be prepared to pick at least ten tunes that evening, being prepared to change your pick if someone picks it before you. (It is better so say "Pass" than fumble around).

Learn the names of the tunes and bring a recorder if you can't write.

Very few of the songs or tunes we do require rythmn, so drums of any kind are usually not welcome unless you play another instrument.

"Strummers" must understand the concept of following the lead, and that they are not driving the tune but allowing others to move with the tempo, so that all are together. The worst kind of jam has a hundred strummers and one lead. You have three delicate pick-up notes and suddenly the place sounds like a Polish Flamenco dance, with each "strummer" (ie "parlor player") trying to play at frantic or loud, unlearned or undisciplined pace. This is OK for songs like "You Are My Sunshine" but death on a waltz or a jig.

Children are welcome, but must be under control and not allowed to run wild (there are expensive instruments, and on occasion I point out that "My Martin is worth more than the life of your child").

I could go on but the essential concept is to create an environment in which the good players will keep coming back, so that the novice players can learn from them and the experience of playing in a group setting.

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: Gypsy
Date: 28 Jan 03 - 11:12 PM

I would encourage some bare bones melody, as well. Yer gonna have people who can learn that more easily than the rhythm.

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: HonkytonkSue
Date: 29 Jan 03 - 12:31 AM

I've been running 'Slow Pitch'jams for the Pacific Bluegrass and Heritage Society in Vancouver BC for about 10 years; ditto for the BC Bluegrass Workshop, a week-long camp in the summer. I have developed a very structured system of teaching (it really functions as a workshop) that seems to work very well.

This arose out of frustration from beginner bluegrass players, who just couldn't keep up with the lightning speed of most bluegrass, but are dying to jam.

I practice pretty much all the elements mentioned in previous messages, with a couple of important additions.

1. We have people arranged in groups according to instruments; then all the instruments take breaks together during the song. Since bluegrass is very focussed on instrumental solos, everyone wants to develop that skill, but that takes a long time. So beginners are able to 'solo' as a group. Those who are only able to play chords do that, and those that are starting to play melodies or improvise can do that too. It works amazingly well. It does require a lot of direction from me, but is well worth it. We have an average of 50 people in our monthly Slow Pitch jams; usually 50% guitarists. We often have 2 or 3 stand-up basses, usually about 6 mandolins, banjos and fiddles and a couple of dobros.

2. I teach the Nashville Number System right from the beginning. It makes life very easy. I provide handouts of the songs we're working on each time, with only the numbers I, IV, V etc. I usually have two assistants who use hand signals for the numbers, as well as demonstrating things like instrumental intros, turnarounds, fills and backup. As we go along, we play in lots of different keys, and those who are regulars can now transpose on the fly and join in jams more easily.

3. I have produced two books with SLOW play-along CDs. Most of my students have them and they provide a good basic bluegrass repertoire of standard songs with easy changes.

Lots more info on this topic plus how to order the books at: www.rhythmroundup.com/slowpitch.

I will be doing 4 workshops at Wintergrass (Feb. 23 weekend) in Tacoma WA. Room 1200 in the Sheraton will be designated Slow Pitch Jam room for the whole weekend. This will be my 4th year at Wintergrass, and organizers have told lme that the Slow Pitch Jam is a permanent fixture now; so many people appreciate the opportunity to get started with jamming.

cheers,
Sue

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Jan 03 - 05:54 AM

"All will have vocal leads."

Why? That rules out an awful lot of great tunes which they'd love to play.

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 29 Jan 03 - 06:37 PM

I have taught folk ensemble classes for many years. I have taught at community colleges, private schools, rec centers and in my own home.

Here's my advice.

1. Start with just a few people first. Build up the confidence level in the group. The goal is in my view training the participant to function musically in a group. This can be done with different levels of playing skill.

2. Basic rhythm players can start with strummning the chords to the tune on the beat. More advance players can work with bass runs on the guitar, counter-lines on the banjo and basic chords or single string harmony notes on the mandolin, and melody played slowly on the fiddle.

3. When singing, encourage everyone (including the best players to play simply and show their skills by using fill-ins between the melody notes of the song.

4. Every player has something to learn at a slower tempo. They can work on technique that can be later applied to a faster tempo. ie: bar chords, inversions of chords up the neck, complex picking patterns for the right hand if kept in time and blended into an accompaniment.

5.   When singing, the lyrics and voice are the thing. Everything else is subservient to it. This is true when there is a solo instrumentalist taking the lead. This solo can be traded off amoung the more advanced players.

6.   The unison style applied in Irish sessiuns or the Round Peak style of Old Time playing obviously requires most of the musicians to play the tune at the same time. Even so, an appropriate rhythm or bass accompaniment can enhance it. Not everyone has to play the tune.
If you have more than one fiddle or another melodic style instrument, a slow descant or counter-melody line can enhance the lead soloists.

7.   If you play Irish or Old Time it is essential to be aware that this has been traditionally dance music. Much of it is required to be faster to accomodate the dancers. This is a great goal. If you can play this music in time and folks can dance to it, you have somewhat mastered it in my view.

8.   The "slow jam" is a great idea whose time has come. It's the best way to ensure that people will "own" the music and feel a part of the folk music process again as they did in the early fifties.
We predicated the emergence of the Chicago Old Town School of Folk Music on that principle....anyone can learn to play and sing together...when we founded it in 1957.

9.    As soon as possible, all written materials should be ditched. The music can be internalized if the player or singer doesn't have a nose in the book. A good solution has been suggested, tape the class and practice with the tape at home. Better to practice with the class rather than a single player taping an example because that's the "real world"...learning to play in a group.

Frank

Subject: RE: How to set-up 'slow' jams: Advise?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 30 Jan 03 - 06:53 PM

if you're a learner, try playing for dancers.

Me [rhythm guitar & melodeon] & Dixie[piano accordian & b/c button accordion]play for a bunch of clog/morris dancers for 2 hours once a week.

The dancers, some of whom are beginners too, or if they're all learning a new dance; require both normal speed & also SLOW-er renditions of Marches,Reels,Polkas, & Jigs.

For our little band, it can be quite hard to play familiar stuff
S-L-O-W-L-Y but from time to time we've another novice button box player joining in, & she reports the slower pace/tempo/rythym is good for her to pick out the individual notes & basses/accompaniment- also from a bloke from Oswestry learning Anglo concertina who's sometimes come along to play when they're dancing out! [not practicing]