Jamming at Folklife
After reading some gripes on the Seattle Old-Time mailing list last summer about the decline of jamming at Folklife, I contacted the organization to offer whatever help I could to encourage jamming at the festival. Because why not? Omnes mundum facimus, right? I met with Kelli and Caitlin at the Folklife offices early last month, and they were enthusiastic about wanting to help foster more jamming. We talked about a few ideas, and they were going to send out feelers to the community as it got closer to the festival and people started thinking about it.
It looks like they’ve started doing this: there’s a post on the Folklife facebook page asking people where they would put a jamming spot, if they could put it anywhere on the festival grounds. If you’re not on Facebook, I thought I’d provide a space here where you could leave comments that I could pass along to them. And also a space for other ideas — what would encourage you to bring an instrument and jam at the Folklife festival?
Here are some ideas I had (or that Kelli or Caitlin had, that I’m misremembering as mine) to start things off:
- Having a low-cost instrument check, so you didn’t have to carry your instrument around the whole day. They might do this, actually, but I couldn’t find anything about it in last year’s program. I know they used to offer that service, but maybe it was just for performers and volunteers.
- Better enforcement of the busker noise level cap — maybe I’m misjudging how loud they are, but the marimba orchestras and bagpipers who set up across the path from the Boeing Green jam space seem really, really loud to me.
- Bring back the band scrambles. I know this was something that John Ross organized; sadly, he passed away a few years ago. But maybe there’s someone else who would like to take up the mantle?
- Maybe I’m just getting old and grousing about the decibels, but it sure seems like the amplification has been turned up a notch on some stages.
- Posting signs in the performers’ lounge area encouraging them to come out and jam with the public sometimes, rather than hanging out in the lounge exclusively.
- Maybe a note in the program saying that if you volunteer, you get access to the performers’ lounge, where a lot of jamming happens, so volunteer to sell buttons for a few hours if you want to jam.
- I was going to suggest something in the program to emphasize all the workshops and jams that are happening on any given day, so you could see at a glance reasons to bring an instrument, but looking at last year’s program I see that they already did that, and I just didn’t notice. Hrm.
- Either Kelli or Caitlin suggested using the area in front of a stage (probably the Fisher Green stage) for quick jams between sets.
- If a space other than the Boeing Green is set aside as a jam space, some kind of obvious signage saying so.
What would make you want to bring an instrument so you could jam? Since this is the Slower Than Dirt site, I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who might not already be seasoned jammers, but that’s just me — I’ll pass along comments from anyone, beginner or pro. And just because this site is about an old-time jam, don’t think that you should limit your suggestions to that — what would you like to see to support cajun jams, or klezmer jams, or impromptu song circles, or any other kind of community music-making?
Oh! And there’s a whole other question to ask: if you’re a performer who would mainly be jamming inside the performer’s lounge, what might encourage you to take your jam outside so non-performers could at least listen in, if not play along? What if there were some clear way to indicate the difference between an open jam and a more intimate jam that you didn’t mind people listening to but not joining without being invited?
If you have a suggestion that you want to make but don’t want it to be visible in the comments here, feel free to use the contact form. NB: This isn’t something I’m doing in any official capacity with NW Folklife. I’m just collecting information to pass along. I’ll be volunteering at the festival, but this here is something I’m doing on my own.
(A whimsical suggestion: build big metronomes to leave running at jamming spots. They might each have a given tempo or be adjustable. They might click, or just give a visual cue. They could look like animatronic conductors, or dematerializing police boxes, or plain old metronomes. Either way, they would suggest and facilitate rather than mandate and direct. If you’d rather suggest a key than a tone, you could put up a pipe tuned to a given pitch in wind or when struck. If you wanted extreme collaboration, you could build a wrestling-ring-style loud stompy floor and get people to stomp on it.)
Maybe some kind of marker on the ground to indicate preferred jamming spots would be useful. Like the red music notes they have to indicate busking zones at the Pike Place Market. Not sure how you could do that on the grass — maybe spray chalk and a stencil?
Hey Josh,
I just stumbled upon your website whilst checking out the Folklife schedule. I’m very glad to see your and Cam’s dedication to getting more beginners involved in playing old time music. This will be my second year hosting the open Irish session at NWF. Like you and many others, I had been lamenting the dearth of opportunities for people who were not scheduled performers to play traditional music on the festival grounds. There used to be an open Irish session most years, but then there came a gap of about 4 years with nuthin. I finally realized it was probably because no one was volunteering to organize/host it. So I presented my credentials as the leader of a bona fide twice monthly Irish session in Seattle, and was accepted. I submitted video of my regular session as my “audition” tape, and this year submitted video of last year’s Irish session at Folklife for this year’s application.
I play clawhammer banjo also, a little faster than dirt, so will probably try to make one or two of your jams. As I recall, most of the spontaneous old time jamming at Folklife happens in the area immediately outside the participants’ Hospitality Room, so anyone can join in, though I know it’s kind of intimidating for beginners to try to edge into a circle of people already intently sawing and picking away. Inside the Hospitality Room proper, it’s really too noisy to jam much. There’s usually a whole bunch of contradance musicians gathered around the piano so between them and all the conversation it would be hard for people in a little old time jam to hear each other.
Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you for getting the Slower Than Dirt sessions going, and for getting something going at Folklife as well. Hope to see you around!
Ming
Great to hear from you! I was literally just now mentioning your session at Couth Buzzard to someone new in town who contacted us for ideas; what a coincidence.
That’s good to know about the hospitality room; I wasn’t actually sure how things worked there, and it looked like maybe the outside jamming area was still fenced away from the public. But it looks like this year they’re going to have five designated “jamming hotspots” for open jams, with a bulletin board for letting people self-organize non-scheduled jams. I’m looking forward to seeing how that works out.
I haven’t made it out to any of your Irish sessions yet because I find Irish music a little intimidating, but I should at least come out and listen; I do love the music. I’ll definitely try to make it over to your session at Folklife — is it the one on Monday at 1pm? We’d love to see you at any of our jams, on banjo or flute or anything else. I remember thinking that your flute really added a lot to an old-time jam at Folklife either last year or the year before.
Thanks for the kind words!
Heh, you must have run into me at the totally unformatted “open” jam the first year they had the Jam Tent on the Boeing Green. That was…interesting. Definitely met some cool people there, though.
There is a small fenced in and partially tented area just outside the Hospitality Room that is for “participants” only, where a fair amount of jamming does occur, but there are almost always several old time jams going on outside that fence and as far out as the south side of Key Arena.
Thanks for helping get the word out about the Couth Buzzard session. It’s been growing steadily. Yesterday we were up to 20 musicians at one point. Most of the musicians are intermediate to advanced but we welcome beginners too! Perhaps you might want to consider holding some of your jams there as well. It’s a great setting for acoustic music, not at all echoey. There’s coffee, wine, beer and eats available and the staff love having live music going. The performance and jam space is in the back of the store, so we don’t bother the shoppers. More than one of our session regulars found us because they just happened to be in the store shopping and heard the music!
Ming