Jam Bands

Get together, make music, explore ideas and inspire each other. Wall2Wall music have partnered up with Music Generation Mayo to create an Easter project for young musicians. So what is Jam Bands?

Welcome to Jam Bands Easter Camp! A musical project for young musicians to explore music, inspire each other and to jam together. To give a taster of what it means to be a musician and useful skills to help achieve that. Plus have lot of fun! Now, as a musician I’ve found that it’s a strange job, one that doesn’t quite make sense to call ‘a job.’ It’s more of a lifestyle! A deep love and dedication to that thrilling noise we call music, and the wonderful experiences you get from it. It’s an amazing privilege to pass on music in workshops like these, to hand over useful skills that can make it possible to follow your passions and to get fulfilment, joy and opportunities from music.

Some of my own best musical experiences have been playing in orchestras, choirs, quartets and bands. Playing music with people. The best friends you make, the adrenaline rush from performing, the feelings that music stirs up in you that you cherish and connect with your band mates over! Those opportunities to play and perform with people are so important in music education, because its a hint at what its like to be a real life musician. Jam bands is all about passing that experience on and giving young people the tools to create music together!

The music industry and what it means to be a musician has changed so much in this millennium that it is unrecognisable to what it was before. There are new rules when it comes to recording, releasing and promoting music. There are positives and negatives to that and we want to pass on skills and knowledge that allow budding musicians to succeed as ‘21st century musicians.’ This includes looking at recording, marketing, gigging and understanding the landscape of the music industry today. We will explore some of these throughout the project in our ‘How To Be a Musician 101!’ Watch out for more blogs on that later in the week and check out our Facebook to see live updates.

Although these rules and pathways to success are changing all of the time, what remains constant is musicians creating, exploring sound worlds, bouncing off of each other, making something out of nothing. One thing that will always be needed is new music and new performances. That is the core of music, and in my opinion the most fun and rewarding part of it! That joy of creating, the tingling of nerves, excitement, focus and adrenaline. That is the main focus of Jam Bands and something we’re going to have loads of fun exploring together!

Now, improvising can be scary to even the most seasoned musicians. When we ‘jam’ together, we communicate, we hear notes and rhythms that aren’t there and play them which can seem daunting! The only way to get better at it is experience. It’s the same with writing, creating and performing –  there’s no way to learn that from a book. You’ve got to try it once, do it again, try out different things, make mistakes, and do it again and again and eventually find your unique voice. After a while you realise –  actually, I’m pretty good at this now!

Check out a previous group of young musicians we have worked with perform a big group improvisation live on stage. Proof that a bit of experience gives you so much creative confidence!

So we will spend time in Jam Bands Mayo in big groups and small groups, jamming together, deciding on the  best ideas and shaping them into a pieces and songs. At the end of the week we will perform the  groups own unique and exciting creations for family and friends at the live performance and even some with the world online. These are invaluable experiences to any musician, it helps you grow as a creative. We can’t wait to make music with these young people, engaging with their unique talents and hearing what comes out of it. It’s going to be magical!

Course will take place in Ballinrobe Community School from Wed March 30th – Sunday April 3rd 2016, 9.30am – 4.30pm daily. For more information on how to get involved click here

Blog by Cheylene Murphy from Beauty Sleep