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As I've taught music over the last several decades, I've found that many adults study music because they want to be part of those wonderful jams that happen any time two or more musicians are gathered. It's true there's nothing more fun, and here are some pieces of knowledge you might need to engage in this activity with your favorite hammered and fretted dulcimer, guitar, mandolin, flute, piano, whistle, accordion, etc. players. I recommend getting together with some friends, eating a potluck supper, and having a JAM SESSION! Types of JamsAt the Swannanoa Gathering Dulcimer Week in 2005 I had a magnificent time jamming with players who had been playing their respective dulcimers for two days to two decades. These days, there are jamming opportunities for people of all levels. There are "slow jams" where tunes are played slowly enough times for even beginners to learn them. We have a "learning jam" here in Colorado designed to let people learn to pick up tunes by ear in a jam situation. We have beginner and advanced Irish Sessions in the local pubs. And there are song circles where most people sing and play guitars - with hammered and fretted dulcimers I've occasionally been the most popular addition to such a jam, adding fills and instrumental interest where most people strum guitar. And if all else fails, everyone enjoys being invited over to play a few tunes. Leading a Jam Session TuneMatch the tune to the players: If you're unfamiliar with the players in a given jam session, listen and play along on others' suggested tunes for a while before suggesting a tune, evaluating such issues as, "What sort of music is this group playing - Old time? Bluegrass? Gospel? Celtic? Folksongs? Beatles Tunes, Blues?" and, "How advanced are these players?" This will help you choose a tune to suggest that will fit the genre and ability of the players. If you're new to jamming, suggest a tune you can play, and ask someone to help you get it started. The purpose is to make playing available to as many of the players in the room as possible, rather than to choose a difficult and interesting tune (a purpose more appropriate in a performance situation). However, it's great not to choose a tune that is way too simple for the gathering as well. It's good to have in your mind some tunes in various genres that are easy for people to pick up - two chord songs, or ones with simple, predictable melodies, or ones that people are likely to hear in their travels through the music world. Almost everyone in the USA has heard, "This Land is Your Land" for example, and while this might be inappropriate for some groups, for others it might be a grand idea! Jam sessions are the most fun when various people suggest tunes so there is a variety, so offer up your share of ideas. Taking leadership for your tune: So from your wealth of tunes, choose a tune you know well and can lead solidly, and one that is not quirky and complicated in ways people might find difficult to follow if they don't know it as well as you do. Feel free to give such directions as what key the piece is in, how many times through, arrangement of verses and chorus, number of A and B parts, or anything else a particular tune might call for. Begin by playing the tune simply, and offer whatever sort of help the players might need to be able to play with you - maybe call out the chords the first couple of times through the tune, or invite a guitar player to sit where his/her hands can be seen. A tune works well to the extent that someone takes leadership and makes it happen, whatever is called for. Look around as you're playing to see what information people might need to join in. Watch for people doing interesting leads and invite them to take a lead next time around. Take a leadership role on the tunes you suggest. Most importantly, relate to the other musicians, smile, encourage them to step out on their instruments, and provide the solid base to which others can play. The idea in a jam session is to communicate with other players, to play music together. You and others will have much more fun on a given tune if you're not starring at your feet or dulcimer. Playing Along When You Don't Know the SongChords typically found in a piece: If you don't know a tune, the easiest thing to do is to play a chordal backup. Here's a general understanding of harmonic structure or chords. Many basic pieces have three chords - those beginning on the first, fourth, and fifth notes of the scale for the key of the piece. In the most basic cases and in major key tunes, these I, IV, and V chords will almost always be major chords. You might have a minor chord or two, and these will probably be the ii, iii, or vi chords of the key you are in. Here's an example, from our favorite key, D (but this scheme fits any key from C to Bb.) Key of D, most common chords:
Reading guitar chords: Some preparation for jams is done ahead of time by learning to read guitar players' fingers and know what chords they are playing. Many jams have a guitar player who is accompanying the group, and you can make good use of the guitar player's playing by getting where you can see the guitar player's hands and chording along on songs you don't know. Learning the melody: Listen carefully to the melody and pick out the pieces you can each time through the tune - next time you'll get some more, and soon you'll know the tune. Becoming a Regular Member of a Jam GroupEach group of people that regularly gets together to jam develops its usual repertoire, and you can learn this by attending a few times with your recording device and learning some of these tunes more completely than just chording along. Next time you'll have a few tunes in common with the group, and will have EVEN more fun! Here is an arrangement of "Westphalia Waltz" from my recent Mel Bay book, DULCIMER JAM: Favorite Jam Session Tunes for Hammered or Fretted Dulcimer. It would be appropriate for a more advanced jam where people are playing American traditional music. Listen to Bonnie Carol play "Westphalia Waltz." (Note that the A part and the B part are typically played twice each.) 
About the Author
Meanwhile, with my new dulcimer I cobbled together enough information to make some sense of modes and tunes and off I went learning to play and teach dulcimer. In those early years, beginning in 1973, I did everything dulcimer - I built dulcimers, I taught dulcimer, I made dulcimer recordings, I wrote dulcimer books, and I gave dulcimer concerts. In 1979, Dana Hamilton offered to trade me a hammered dulcimer he made for a fretted dulcimer I made, and thus began the study of new instruments for both of us. Dana won honors in various dulcimer contests at about the same time I did so with his hammered dulcimer. Fast forward to the present - I still build fretted dulcimers (I'm up to 350 now), play Zimbabwean marimba in an African music ensemble and engage in skiing, hiking and river running. Every summer for a few days, with dulcimers, guitars, saxophones, marimbas, and accordions in tow, twenty of us musicians board half a dozen rafts and kayaks and run one of the desert rivers of the West, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, eating and making music to the tune of rapids and canyon wrens. Contact Bonnie at Bonnie@BonnieCarol.com to join the fun! Bonnie Carol |
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It's me, Bonnie Carol. I began teaching dulcimer almost as soon as I learned to play it, and through those first years teaching, I came to understand my lifelong informal musical education better, and how to communicate it to others. I played piano from the time I could walk, accompanying community theater and choirs till I went to college and discovered folk music. When I was twenty-five, guitar builder Max Krimmel made a fretted dulcimer for me. He mystified me with the fact that he went to lumber yards, bought boards, and made them into musical instruments, and then he taught me to do the same.