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Jordan Gardner

Lynn Brown

MUSC 1040

30 July 2017

Jam Session Reflective Essay

A jam session was attended by a student of Salt Lake Community college for an

American music and culture class. The jam session took place on the campus of Weber State

University in the Shepherd Union Building Lair Lounge. The group is part of Utah Old Time

Fiddlers and serves the greater Ogden area, regularly held on the first and third Saturdays of each

month from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Since the event was indeed a jam session, the hosting group welcomes musicians to come

and go as is desired, without cost or obligation. The musicians are encouraged to bring fiddle

compatible instruments such as the guitar, banjo, harmonica, mandolin, dulcimer, and others.

The website where this information is found states that you may join in if you like, or just sit

and enjoy. There was one student in addition to the SLCC student who were listeners, and one

older woman with a banjo left the jam session before the group had finished. There was also

another dulcimer player who left the group when he decided he was finished.

When attending this jam session, there are few regulars, many of whom are new

musicians. Since the musicians are new to their instruments, this jam session provides an

excellent outlet for them to be immersed in the music and improve skills by working with other

sounds and parts of songs. Since some musicians are new, though, many require sheet music,

which is not something the group likes to use, as jam sessions are meant to be more focused on

improvisation.
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There are ways to help ensure that the jam session goes smoothly. One such way this

group has decided to do is to sit in a circle so that all the musicians can see each other. They also

take turns going around the circle to choose songs that everyone will play. The musician whose

turn it is to choose the song also asks the others in the session if they know the song. If not, and

most of the members who dont know or dont have sheet music will request that the person

choosing select a new song.

There are a variety of musicians and instruments which are found in this jam session. The

dulcimer player, as mentioned above, said that he works as a full-time musician with the opera in

Logan, Utah. The violinist/fiddler is also a professional musician with experience playing the

violin, fiddle, guitar, penny whistle, and more. No other musician mentioned if he was

professional or not, but more than one indicated that he was new to his instrument. The dulcimer

and penny whistle, as told by the group members, are not common to the old, folk style genre

that the jam session typically caters to.

This particular jam session has a long history. The Utah Old Time Fiddlers was a music

club made in 1974 for people who wanted to play old time music as a hobby. This group has met

regularly for jam sessions ever since, making this tradition over 40 years old. Although the jam

session attended recently only had about eight musicians, one said that this number is typically

doubled on other days. He also said that there are about 50 families in the area who participate in

the jam sessions this group organizes.

The jam session is not like a concert. Since the group was so small and many were new to

their instruments, there were some inconsistencies seen in the performances. This report is not to

evaluate their skill nor how well each song was composed musically. An observer would note

that many songs had abrupt endings that lacked resolutions. He would also note that if the group
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was struggling to syncopate and get the feel of the music, the song would soon diminish off into

nothingness and it would then be the next persons turn. This jam session also was quite

informal. There were many passerbys who only gave limited attention to the music, and several

times the group would talk amongst each other between songs. One would also notice a

significant amount of tuning their instruments between songs, a habit typically unseen in formal

performances. Many of the songs were less-known to people who would be listening; only a few

recognizable, or popular songs were played.

When asked about advice for potential jam session attendees, multiple musicians

emphatically replied to jump right in. It seems that there is a great expectation of setting aside

any reservations and joining, no matter what ones musicality level is. This would certainly be a

conducive environment to improving instrumental skills.

Folk music has a variety of sounds. The classs course readings include Lorenzo

Candelaria & Daniel Kingmans American Music, which includes the following description for

fiddle tunes. The fiddle and its tunes provided music for dancing, and the fiddle was long the

dominant instrument in rural America. There is probably no form of rural homespun music so

indelibly associated in the popular mind with the American folk scene as the familiar hoedown.

While there were some songs played by the group which fit this description of dancing music,

the majority of the music was very relaxed. The sounds were reminiscent of rocking in a chair on

an old Southern house porch, watching the sun set. This was an extremely nostalgic and relaxing

feel produced by the musicians of the jam session.

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Works Cited

Pioneer-Ogden. Utah Old Time Fiddlers, utaholdtimefiddlers.net/dedicated-to-the-promotion-

perpetuation-and-enjoyment-of-old-time-music/ogden-and-surrounding-areas/. Accessed

31 July 2017.

Candelaria, Lorenzo F., and Daniel Kingman. American music: a panorama. Stamford, CT,

Cengage Learning, 2015. Page 12