Several of us Fife Mojo people arrived at the F&D just after 1 p.m. yesterday to find that Lance and Stewart had done most of the setting-up for us already—bless their well-organized hearts—and all we had to do was cart in our sodas and coolers (which I brought thinking to save CW the trouble, even though CW had already got sodas, cups, and ice), and munchies, and lay them out—chips, brownies, cookies, cubed cheeses, and some little ham sandwiches (that disappeared really fast).
Lance suggested that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get the jam started by picking out ten fairly basic tunes and making a few photocopies to hand around. So we did that, only it took a few minutes longer than it should have—though hopefully people weren’t standing around *too* long waiting for things to start. Lance gave a lovely welcome, encouraged everyone to mingle, make new friends, and learn new tunes.
We had large contingents attending from Tryon Palace F&D (New Bern, NC), John Marshall Fifes and Drums (Huntington, WV), and Liberty Hall F&D (Newport News, VA). Attendance was slim from other corps—all of Fife Mojo attended, but we’re a slim corps anyway!—though there were representatives from Colonial Williamsburg, the CW Alumni, The Old Guard, and one person from Yorktown. There were also several individuals who don’t play in a particular corps, and that was gratifying. Attendance was between 50 and 60 (my guess, though it could have been higher—I counted more than 50 knowing there were a handful or more outside at census time). Some of these corps were so new that their members had never attended a jam session before and weren’t sure what to expect! But by all accounts, everyone had a good time.
One thing we did was make sure everyone had a chance to play along with everything. We went around the room taking turns to call tunes. This helped ensure that the beginners got to play what they knew, and it was self-regulated in the sense that people made an effort to call new tunes rather than repeat them. If the tune was obscure—or even if one or two corps just didn’t know it—we found the music for them before starting the tune. This didn’t preclude a handful of more difficult tunes from being played, but it did mean there were sometimes lengthy pauses between tunes. The most remarkable thing, for a jam that lasted six hours, is that only about four or five tunes were played more than once–and in each case, played only twice. The only exception to this was Downfall of Paris, which it will probably not surprise you to know that we played three times.
The following is my best recollection of what tunes were played.
Ah! Ca Ira
Arkansas Traveller
Barren Rocks of Eden
The Black Pearl
Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine/Three Little Drummers
Bonnie Blue Flag
Brandywine
British Grenadiers
Cincinnati Hornpipe
Corn Cob Clog
Crown Point
Devil’s Dream (I think)
Devil’s Flute
Dixie
Downfall of Paris
Downshire
Drums and Guns
Old 1812
Empty Pockets
First of September
Fifty Cents
Finnegan’s Wake
Fisher’s Hornpipe
Frog in the Well
Garryowen
Girl I Left Behind Me
Governor’s Island Quickstep
Grandfather’s Clock
Green Cockade
Hanover Hornpipe (I think—maybe not)
Harem Scarem
Hell on the Wabash
Hey! Johnny Cope, Are Ye Wauken Yet?
Huntington
Jaybird/Fireman’s Q.S.
Jefferson & Liberty
Kingdom Coming (maybe not)
Korn Likker
La Marguretta
Lighthorse March (one of my favorite CW tunes ever!)
L’Oiseau Royale (a.k.a. Royal Bird) and Count Brown’s March
Marionettes
Mathew’s Hornpipe
Newport
New Tatterjack
Norman Toy
Old Dan Tucker
Old Saybrook
Pleasures of Spa
Paddy on a Handcar
Rakes of Marlow
Road to Boston
Rose Tree
Sailor’s Hornpipe
Seven Stars
Soldier’s Joy
Some Distance from Prussia/Prussia Variation (which was a train wreck, but a fun one!)
Stillman’s Reel
Strange Jig
Welcome Here Again
White Cockade
Whup Jamboree
York Fusiliers
Yorktown
When it came time to clean up and say goodnight, everyone pitched in without being asked—though nobody wanted to say goodnight! It was a great time, and a wonderful way to pass a winter Saturday afternoon. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves, learned something, made some new friends, and is thinking about coming back next year for another one. Hopefully we’ll be able to arrange a parade or a concert—and what I’d really like to do is offer classes, such as:
Beginner/Intermediate Fifing
Advanced Fifing
Beginner/Intermediate Drumming
Advanced Drumming
How to Finance a Corps
How to Arrange Music…
And perhaps a concert at the end of the day (at the Kimball Theatre? or the DeWitt Wallace?), with a jam to follow. Sounds like a fun time! It will take us the rest of the year to plan, though, and more than likely there will have to be a registration fee to ensure we can get the best instructors available. Suggestions are welcome—remember the best place to offer them is here, by commenting on these posts. We could get a real dialogue going.
Dates for upcoming jams are looking like they’ll be the second Saturday of each month, but I’m awaiting confirmation.
Thanks again to everyone who made this Jam such a success—and that includes everyone who attended it!