Jams ! ! !
Thursday Night Jams are a chance for musicians, song writers, and singers to get together with others in an informal atmosphere. The structure of the nights are expected to evolve as we journey into this territory together. In the beginning, we will gather to sing some songs, play some music, and let the process grow from there.
Creativity is a gift from God and one of our key ways to express the gifts we've been given. Music (and the arts in general) are the language of Spirit in the world. Because of that, these sessions will be modeled along fairly loose 'jam session' lines - we are not rehearsing for a show, we are not doing training and critique, we are playing music from the heart.
There will be plenty of opportunities to develop our craft, to learn and teach favorite songs, and to share music we may be working on ourselves, but the atmosphere will be safe, non-competitive, and not performance oriented. There are plenty of other opportunities around for that. These jam sessions are not limited to folks who attend one or another of the churches or venue that host the Jams. If you know someone who you think would enjoy this, invite them.
In the beginning, the group will simply meet and play music. Later, we may open the circle wider to include writing and other spoken word, video, drama, comedy, etc. Initially, we will favor acoustic instruments, amplified instruments must defer volume level to acoustic. This is intended to keep the sessions open to a wider community.
Discrete songs are less important than the opportunity to learn our instruments, so songs may ramble and drift, improvisation will be encouraged, chord progressions will be kept simple.
We will have a preference for beginning to intermediate level participants. Nobody should avoid coming to these sessions because they feel they "aren't ready". If anything, this is the place to "get ready" to do other things. We want this to be a fun, supportive, and rich environment for growth.
There will be a few boundaries around the music. This isn't a political forum, a healing service, or a heavy-metal incubator. It isn't quite "prayer mass", but we're here to have fun and learn about our craft in a safe environment. We can always go out afterwards and talk politics and hermeneutics if we want to.
A typical agenda might be something like this:
- start with some simple 1 4 5 strumming in the key of G (G to C to D). Singers might just improvise a melody, musicians can solo a bit
- check in, say hello
- play some more songs
- ask if anyone has anything they want to play
- discuss future plans, questions about music, instruments, scales, bands, etc.
- play a closing song. So far, we've been using Mama Don't Allow no Guitar Playin' Round Here.
As we get a few of these sessions behind us, the agenda will probably change.
We may dedicate a certain night to folk, or blues, or jazz. Maybe not. We'll see.