Acoustic Old-Time Jam
Hiawatha sponsors an Acoustic Old-Time Jam from 3 to 4:30 p.m., on the first Saturday of each month, at Grace United Methodist Church in Marquette. (corner of West Fair and Norway; one block east of Lincoln Ave.; park in lower lot; enter on that floor; signs will be posted).
The next jam will be June 7.
"Slow-to-moderate" tempo is the norm rather than the exception at these jams, and pickers can practice leads along with the group rather than as solo performances. The jams will follow an "around-the-circle" format, where folks may lead tunes/songs or pass the tune choice to the next person. The focus is on sharing, learning, preserving, and enjoying old-time music.
The Acoustic Old-Time Jam has its roots in the 2007 Hiawatha Music Co-op Youth Scholarship. After their trip to the Augusta Heritage Festival in August 2007, the recipient, Sonja Prychitko, and her father, Dave, started the sessions in a "slow jam" format, with all tunes slowed way down for maximum learning. After several months of slow jams, the sessions have now evolved into a more general old-time jam.
"We feel that the old-time focus is one to keep," said Phil Watts, Hiawatha board member and one of the organizers of the Youth Scholarship and the original Slow Jam. "The other acoustic jams in the area serve other musical genres and enable pickers to follow the folk-process of tune modification as they wish.
"We also feel it is good to have a venue where 'slow-to-moderate' tempo is the norm rather than the exception, and leads can be practiced along with the group rather than projected as solo performances," he continued. "With all of this in mind, we will try to maintain the monthly format as an Acoustic Old Time Jam. We will drop the 'slow' adjective/rule, but will not stop doing some, or even most, tunes slowly.
"The focus will be sharing, learning, preserving, and enjoying old-time music," Phil said.
The jams are free, but we'll put out a donation can at each one for voluntary donations toward the Hiawatha/Augusta Youth Scholarship program.
Photo at center: Sonja Prychitko (far right, with fiddle) leads a tune at the November 2007 Hiawatha traditional jam.
Dave Prychitko has posted YouTube clips of many of the tunes the group has worked on. You may watch and listen at YouTube. You do not need a cat to play Farewell to Whiskey, but it couldn't hurt.
Jam Review:
Warfield (G)
Waynesboro (G)
Farewell to Whiskey (G)
Possum's Tail is Bare (D)
Crow Little Rooster (A)
Newer songs introduced at the January jam:
Cluck Old Hen (A modal)
Eighth of January (D)
Here's a tune list from some earlier jams (keys in parentheses):
Warfield (G)
Waynesboro (G)
Possum's Tail is Bare (D)
Farewell to Whiskey (G)
Eighth of January (D)
(Not the 8th that everyone knows, but the lovely 8th from The Monks "Let Us Play" CD)
Crow Little Rooster (A)
Wind That Shakes the Barley (D, Irish)
Pretty Little Dog (A, modal)
Cluck Old Hen (A, modal)
SOME CHORDS from this list and previous jams:
Arkansas Traveler (Old Time)
Part A
D-G-|D---|A---|A---|D-G-|D---|D-G-|A-D-:||
Part B
D-G-|D-A-|D-G-|E-A-|D-G-|D-A-|D-G-|A-D-:||
Possum's Tail is Bare (Old Time)
Part A
D-D-/G-G-/D-D-/A-A-/D-D-/G-G-/D-A-/D-D-:||
Part B
D-D-/D-D-/D-D-/G-G-/D-D-/G-G-/D-A-/D-D-:||
Farewell to Whiskey (Irish)
Part A
G---|Am---|G---|Em---|C-G-|Am-D-|G-D-|G---:||
Part B
G---|Am-D-|G---|C-G-|C-G-|Am-D-|G-D-|G---:||
Waynesboro
Part A
G---|G---|Am---|D---|G---|G---|Am---|D-G-:||
Part B - Same as Part A
Other Jam Information
Participants learn more than tunes at each jam and try to keep the following points in mind at each session:
Less talk and more music.
More repetitions of tunes, particularly unfamiliar ones.
A slower pace while learning the tunes.
A line-out of chords for each tune before playing.
Welcoming recording devices.
Photo at right: Pickers of all ages enjoyed the November 2007 Hiawatha jam. (Thanks, Steve Waller, for the photo)
For more information, please check out a great tip-sheet on "Picking Up Fiddle Tunes By Ear At Jam Sessions," written by Michigan songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joel Mabus.
You can find chords for many old-time fiddle tunes on the web as a free download at Pegram Jam Chord Charts
Also, you may listen to MIDIs and a few MP3s of many of the Acoustic Old-Time Jam tunes at the Hetzler's Fakebook website.
The jams will end around 4:30 p.m., but those who want to can often linger for open jamming, a bit of singing, trying some of the tunes up to speed, etc.
In August 2007, Sonja and Dave Prychitko spent a week at the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia, with Sonja's session partly funded by a scholarship from Hiawatha. (At left, Dave and Sonja receive the Hiawatha Scholarship check from Hiawatha board member Phil Watts.) They studied old-time fiddle with Dave Bing. On their return to Marquette, Sonja became the main facilitator of a monthly "slow jam" that has now involved into an Acoustic Old-Time Jam.
To learn more about the Hiawatha Scholarship to Augusta, please click here or click the Scholarship to Augusta link on the main menu.
