“Jammin’ on the Journey”
I’m very excited about BuxMont’s upcoming “Jammin’ on the Journey” on Sunday evening, September 19, at 7:00 p.m. It should be fun for everyone from those who play instruments to singers to people who just like the wonderful music from our “teal hymnal,” Singing the Journey. We’ll be preselecting several songs so that those who want to look over the music ahead of time can do so, and we’ll also choose some as the spirit moves us that night.
Singing the Journey has chord notations and interesting arrangements which can provide musical ideas. The songs draw from pop, jazz, folk, spiritual, and chant traditions—all of which can be enhanced by musicians sharing their ideas while playing together—“jamming.” I think of Singing the Journey as the Unitarian Universalist answer to contemporary Christian Praise Band Music. It uses contemporary music forms and ideas which are deeply rooted in our wonderfully diverse spiritual pathways.
In a “jam” musicians trade turns covering the melody—or a variation of it—and covering the other musical parts of the song from rhythm to harmony to counter-melodies. This collaborative approach is exciting to participate in, even if you’re just listening and tapping your foot to help keep the beat. It allows us to explore the songs in ways that complement and contrast with each other. Rock, jazz, folk, gospel, and pop musicians all have variations of the basic jamming idea.
So “Jammin’ the Journey” will be a musical party. We’ll bring our instruments, our voices, and our ears and join together in taking the songs we know from Sunday services into a new format. There will be room for every skill level to join in. We need folks who can comfortably carry the lead and improvise on it. But we also need folks who can give a simple rhythm with a shaker, play a few chords on a guitar, or just sing the song when it seems time to sing along with the instruments.
The music will start at 7 p.m., but we’ll open up the sanctuary by 6:30 p.m. to give folks time to set up. Acoustic and electronic instruments of all types are welcome (bring your own amps and extension chords). We’ll use a “440 A,” so if you can tune your instruments to an electronic tuner before 7 p.m. that will save time.
John
Hook, Music Director