Music is essential to most of the human population. It’s an outlet we can place our energy into for any kind of need we as people may accumulate. Jamming, however, is something a little different. A jam session is where a group of musicians come together and play freely. They are not restricted by writing music or playing covers. Some may choose to work within a specific genre of music; I studied blues jams. Playing in a jam requires a certain controlled freedom. As a musician in this atmosphere, you have an endless abundance of open-ended artistic freedom, though it must follow a few general rules in order to be considered a ‘jam’. With this understanding, I am going to share my analysis of this organized chaos through my experiences from…show more content… I wondered how approaches may differ based on the situation. I found a little restaurant and bar in North Beach called Tupelo. Every Monday night, the house band comes in and performs about an hour of blues jams. Once Casey and I arrived, we were held back by a man named Lucas who was carding at the door, despite my prior phone call with the bartender who led us to believe we could be inside until the kitchen closed at 10:00 pm, being that we were under twenty-one. After about twenty minutes of casual discourse and laughter, however, Lucas laid out a deal to let us in until 9:59 pm with a promise to not order any alcohol. We gladly took the offer and walked into the bar with a sense of excitement. The room was buzzing with laughter and the band was just starting their set. We found a table in the back and listened intently. The way these musicians approached the music was much different than the folks at the campus jam. The performative aspect of the situation altered the delivery of their music greatly. They didn’t play off of a song, but rather a set of predetermined chord progressions. Then, each member of the band took turns soloing by what seemed to be a set of rehearsed cues. They made little contact with one another, while still adhering to every musical decision each of them made individually. I think my experience at the restaurant in its entirety can say something about blues jams. You don’t know what to expect and it might be a little uncomfortable or strange. It is loud, wild and carefree. Anyone can do, say, and be what they want. The jam sessions I had experienced on campus were definitely more timid and structured than the one at the bar, but musically, they followed a lot of the same general
