Saturday, August 9 is our next Fife Mojo Jam, before which we will have a “business” meeting to discuss—and I hate for it to sound this portentous— “the future of Fife Mojo.” Seems our little group has had some success, and that breeds encouragement, and now we’ve got some enthusiastic (as well as experienced) musicians who are wanting to take a crack at paid gigs, unpaid gigs, uniforms, or not, or any gigs at all. Basically people want to play more fife and drum—wahoo! Fife Mojo’s gitt’n’ ‘er done!
That’s about all I wanted to say, but I guess I could explain a little. Here’s portions of a message I sent out to the JamList (to which you can easily subscribe by clicking on the link at right and entering your email address). Consider it an “agenda” of sorts.
I’m thrilled that there’s this much excitement and energy about fife and drum among people who were heretofore not in any organized corps. This is awesome. Keep up the good work, folks!
This corps (did you see that?! I called Fife Mojo a “corps”!) has a mission statement (posted on the website) and several activities it’s been engaged in for the past two years (anniversary in September!). The monthly jams have not achieved critical mass yet. There have been several occasions (not many, but enough) when nobody (but me) showed up. This is disheartening, as well as unnecessary, given the level of enthusiasm that’s being displayed by our members and attendees who do come.
The January Jam, on the other hand, was an unqualified hit, and several corps have already expressed interest in or committed to attending in 2009. Moreover, the “annual jam” was a baby step toward having a Freezer-Jam-like event including master classes and a public performance or performances. I’m sure you all remember how much work it took to set up the 2008 jam (and thank you all one more time!). Well, the 2009 jam is also going to take some muscle, organization, and focus. Now that the DRAM is behind us, preparation for the annual jam has to begin. (Famous last words: “We have six whole months. How hard can it be?”) And then as soon as that’s behind us, preparation for DRAM (or another muster) has to begin.
There are groups around here that do paid gigs on a regular basis—several people pointed out and offered useful information about them. There are performers in Fife Mojo who do paid gigs with a variety of groups. I’m not opposed to any of this—it’s all fife and drum, it’s all good!—and the lure of money for playing is a siren song. Anyone who wants to start *anything* fife and drum is more than welcome! I’ll happily participate if invited. Whatever happens, I hope that participation with Fife Mojo and Fife Mojo-sponsored activities will continue, however, especially considering that we have not yet had a monthly jam with more than 14 attendees (and that was 18 months ago), and we *never* had a full rehearsal with all the performing members in attendance.
Fife Mojo has a mission and has struggled for a while to achieve it. Performing at the Deep River muster was one step. It wasn’t the first step—it was a big deal that we pulled it off—but it sure ain’t the last step either.
What *are* the next logical steps?
1. Regular, productive rehearsals with regular attendance. This sounds simple but we haven’t been able to achieve it yet, so that’s top priority. We all have tons of stuff going on, but there needs to be a set, regular schedule of rehearsals, and people who want to play will have to make it a priority to get to them. (I include myself in this!) Complicating scheduling is the high proportion of members who play with other corps (which is actually a really good thing!). Fife Mojo does not intend to take away from anyone else, and won’t be actively “competing” (whatever that means) with anyone else’s corps. But at the same time, we can’t get anything done without committed people.
2. Parades, festivals, and other low-stress events (by “low-stress” I mean those that don’t require elaborate uniforms, money, insurance, or a business manager), that (a) hone our ensemble performing skills (which frankly need some honing—anyone seen the videos on YouTube?) and (b) raise awareness of our existence in the surrounding communities to boost attendance and membership. Because public advertising of the monthly jams is not permitted, I don’t think anyone really knows we exist.
3. Continue planning for the January Jam, which attracted more than 60 musicians from seven corps in three states in 2008, and map out an achievable “expansion” plan. This will have to include fundraising, as we can’t have master-class teachers without paying their travel expenses to get here (even if they offer to do it without an honorarium).
These are doable things. They are within reach for a focused group of individuals who want to perform—even for a focused group of individuals who have a million other hobbies, jobs, families, and a life outside of F&D. We can do this, all of us, no matter how busy we are. I know that because we already did all of it once!
Fife Mojo is a modern corps that’s all about having fun. Anything that furthers that mission, I’m behind 100%. I reiterate my support for anyone who wants to organize any F&D events!
I hope to see many of you at the meeting or Jam—preferably both—on Saturday. Play loud!
