The Jamming Workshop
Each month BOTMA sponsors an instructional bluegrass Jamming Workshop, led by Heidi Olsen. Heidi has been conducting this workshop for over 20 years. She was one of the first people Pete Wernick reached out to when he was starting his Wernick Method Jam Classes. She is a charter Wernick Method instructor.
Heidi s goal is to give novice musicians a rock solid foundation on the intricacies of playing bluegrass music with other people. The Jamming Workshop is a safe place for novice pickers to come, learn and then practice the skills of playing bluegrass music competently with other people. No jamming experience is necessary to join!
There are a few requirements to participate. You must play a bluegrass friendly instrument. You must be able to tune your instrument using an electronic tuner. You must be able to change chords smoothly between G, C, D and A. Fiddlers and basses need to know which notes go with which chords. Fast playing is not expected, nor is the ability to solo. That s really it! Shocking how easy it is to join in the musical fun!
Here at BOTMA, our formal Jamming Workshop starts in September and goes through May (with the exception of December). Each month we focus on a new bluegrass standard. Someone volunteers to be the singer of that song. We all work on the song together, with the singer learning to lead the song. The rest of the group will learn the melody, chord progression and learning how to take breaks during the song.
We do all this with an explanation of the technique we are working on, then give you ample time to practice that technique with your instrument, while being a part of the group. We take it slowly at a gentle tempo, and expect that mistakes will happen. Nobody can improve without making mistakes, so expect to hear and make a lot of them.
You can expect to learn how to lead a song, how to follow along a song you ve never heard before, how to find the melody to take breaks, how to fake solos and how to sing harmony. We do all of this without looking at tab. It s exclusively through ear training that we make all of this happen, as it does in a true bluegrass jam out in the wild.
We also give you a foundation on the ground rules and etiquette that is expected at a typical jam. When you go out in the regular jamming world, you ll know what to expect and be able to blend in seamlessly.
Heidi s goal of the Jamming Workshop is to prepare pickers to be able to competently jam with other people, forge new friendships and create a circle of friends to play music with.
If you have missed all the previous sessions of the Jamming Workshop, don t be afraid to jump right into the middle. All of our instruction is designed to be easily picked up no matter what month we re in, whether it s at the beginning or the very end. You will not be lost when you join us. Heidi is very certain to make sure that no picker is left behind, and will review items needed to make everyone comfortable.
The 2022-2023 Jamming Workshop sessions have begun. More songs will be added as time moves forward. Song selection is based on participants choosing a song.
For more information on the Jamming Workshop, reach out to Heidi with your questions.
You can e-mail Heidi Olsen at heidiolsenbluegrass@gmail.com