The Montpelier Senior Center will host a Community Jam on the first and third Thursdays of the month from 6:15 PM to 8 PM. There will be a jam on 3/17. The purpose of Jam is to get the players to have fun playing with other musicians, playing songs by ear and learning the jam protocols associated with traditional and Celtic music.

The session will start with a short instruction on Jam formats, if new people are present, followed by playing familiar tunes at a slower than normal tempo and focus on playing by ear once the key of the song is announced. The second part of the session will focus on a Jam session at moderate speed. All acoustic string instruments are welcome (no amplification please). Accordions, concertinas, etc. would be welcome as well. Unfortunately, because of Covid protocols, wind instruments will not be able to participate at this time. We must also limit percussion instruments. If you would like to bring that type of instrument, please send a note first and we will discuss this with you. Jacob Stone, Greta Stone and Susan Reid are the musicians who are leading the group. All ages and levels of playing are welcome to participate. We would welcome experienced players to attend to help lead the group at times. These sessions are meant for beginning and intermediate level players with some basic familiarity with their instruments and will not include in-depth instrument instruction. This is a drop-in group, please feel free to come to any session.

If you have a bluegrass, old-time or Celtic tune that you'd like to bring to the group we would welcome your ideas, and we'll do our best to add it to our playlist. This sort of sharing is the most rewarding way to teach and learn new tunes

There is a suggested $5 donation requested at each session. We will be wearing masks and plan to be socially distanced during this time at the Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre St., Montpelier. If you are interested send a note to Bob Barrett, 223-1856, barrettsvt@gmail.com to be added to the email list.

Dec 20, 2024, 8 to 11 PM

Dec 21, 2024, 10 AM to 1 PM

Dec 26, 2024, 4:15 to 8 PM