This has also gone by several other titles including: "Jam Session Etiquette", "Ensemble Skills", and "Slow Jam". I've given it at Port Fairy Folk Festival and Illawarra Folk Festival in Australia, Minstrel Show/Folk Project Festival, NY Pinewoods at Camp Freeman, and the Park Slope Jamboree.
Suitable for different instruments and abilities, this workshop discusses techniques for making music with others whose songs are unfamiliar. Depending on the level and number of attendees, it has ranged anywhere from a facilitated jam (sort of like group occupational therapy) to a spontaneous Folk Orchestra with sections composed of different voices or instrument families.
One of traditional American
music's most recognizable components is the three part close vocal harmony
associated with bluegrass, gospel, and pop music. This workshop starts with
basic techniques for singers (repetoire and key selection) and progresses to
duets and trios, with an emphasis on how best to structure parts for different
combinations of genders and ranges.
Music theory may seem a world away from those musics which spring
spontaneously from people and communities, but theory can be very helpful in
communicating with other players and in solving thorny problems like "what chord
should I play?" or "what note should I sing?". This workshop is intended to
provide some vocabulary for practical application in everyday music making.
Mandolin-great Jethro Burns said "I've had some training, but
not enough to hurt my playing any"
