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South Bay / Santa Clara Valley Jams

Monday-Night Old-Time Jam

This is an informal mostly-old-time jam session. The nominal theme is American “old-time” music, but we often have an eclectic mix including New England contra, “Celtic crossover,” and even bluegrass, Scandinavian and French tunes, with the occasionsl song thrown in. Unlike bluegrass jams, in this style pretty much everyone plays all the time — so it's great for learning the tunes! The jam is acoustic but otherwise open to anyone who'd like to join in.

The jam is held at Fandango Pizza and Cafe Pommard in Palo Alto, California (see Location, below, for details).

The Fandango folks have been very supportive of our music. Please return the favor (and help them stay in business!) by buying something to eat and/or drink before or during the jams. Suggested amount: at least $5 per person.

Schedule: Every Monday (except certain holidays), 7:00-9:00pm
The jam starts by 7pm, occasionally a bit earlier. Several people regularly come earlier (6:15 or so?) to eat. This is highly recommended as it'll give you a chance to get to know the other musicians, and also it helps keep Fandango in business! (They have lots more besides pizzas.)
We end at 9:00 sharp. The Fandango staff have asked us to pack up quickly starting then, to give them time to clean before their 9:30 quitting time. Please help us comply by holding after-jam chats outside.
In warm weather we sometimes continue outside -- but Bay Area evenings can get chilly quickly, so bring a jacket!

Location: Fandango Pizza's new location, 3163 Middlefield Rd (at Loma Verde), Palo Alto. This location is shared with the Pommard Delicatessen and Cafe.

The jam has changed venues from time to time, in locations from Palo Alto to San Jose. Earlier locations included Cuppa Joe and Fibbar McGee's in Mountain View, then the Bean Scene in Sunnyvale, then at the Coffee Society in Cupertino, and in Palo Alto at the Cafe la Dolce Vita and at Fandango Pizza's former location. The Irish sessions that used to alternate with the old-time jam were suspended some time ago, supplanted by various other Irish and Celtic (or "mostly Celtic") jams -- see Other South Bay Area Jams below.

How it works

We typically have 12-20 people participating, with everyone playing together. Each person takes a turn naming a tune to be played, and starts it off (setting the tempo, which we're then supposed to maintain) — or may ask someone else to start it. The person who called the tune should always indicate when to stop, though, usually by raising a foot as we near the end of the last time through. (We typically play a tune 3-6 times, depending on the tune.)

Keys: See the tune list below for the common keys. Because some of the instruments must be re-tuned (or swapped) when the key changes, we strongly encourage sticking to one key for a number of tunes. If you decide to change keys when it’s your turn, please announce the change clearly, and then give those players time to adjust before starting your tune.

Tempo: We have no conductor. We rely on guitars and the occasional bass to hold us together, but it's difficult with more than a dozen or so players. If you can't hear the beat (or hear more than one!), look for feet tapping near whoever set the tempo — or for a consensus among the steadiest foot-tappers around the circle. Especially if you hear two different beats, it may help to drop out briefly. And as usual in a jam, if all you (or your neighbors) can hear is your instrument, please tone it down.

Tune Lists (PDFs)

• The Compact List has the names and keys of tunes that are played pretty regularly at the jam, on one page. The list isn't intended to be restrictive, but just to give new people an idea of what to expect — and to help the regulars remember what tunes we often play, and in what keys. We mainly use the first page, with the tunes organized by key, because it helps us stay in one key for a while (see note above).
• A Longer “Starter” List (a work in progress) lists the same titles but with the notes from the first 2-4 measures of many of the tunes added in ABC** notation. This is an experiment; I hope it will help those of us who know many of the tunes, but can't always remember how they start. For now this is only sorted by name.
• The “Other Tunes” List has some tunes that many of us don't know, but that either have been suggested as future tunes, or that we used to play but haven't lately. Also sorted by name, and a few have ABC “starters.”

** ABC is a text-based way to represent music notation that's commonly used on the Web. If you're not familiar with ABC, there are many tutorials on the Web to help you learn it — but here are a few notes on ABC notation for use with this list.

Email Notification List

We send notices about changes to a Yahoo "Old-Time Jams" group (mailing list).

You can join or see recent messages here.

You can also subscribe by sending a message to: old-time-jam-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Traffic level is normally very low. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Need more information? Email Pete Showman:
with subject: "Old-time Jam query"

Other South Bay Area Jams and Sessions

• The Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association (SCVFA) holds a large jam and open-mike stage on the first Sunday of every month, 1-5 pm usually at Hoover Middle School in San Jose. Adult admission to the jam is usually $6 for members and $8 for non-members; children to 17 are free. (Occasionally a concert is held during the jam, with a higher adult admission charge.) A slow-jam Beginners' Circle is offered for an hour or so most months, led by an experienced musician; sheet music and audio for a few typical tunes are posted on the Beginners' Page. Various youth activities are also offered at the jam from time to time, including periodic KidFiddle youth fiddle workshops and an annual Youth Fiddle Contest in November. (Note: During July, August and sometimes September this jam often moves to a nearby park -- no open mike, but admission is free. Check the website for current information.)
  
  
• District 9 of the California State Old-Time Fiddlers Association (CSOTFA) holds a monthly jam and potluck, usually on fourth-Sunday afternoons, 1:30-5:00. (The schedule is sometimes adjusted to avoid holidays, e.g. in November and December.) These events are held at a church in Castro Valley, at 19806 Wisteria St.
  
  
• Pipers' Club Slow Session: Irish tunes played slowly. Each week they pick a tune for everyone to learn; see the list on the website. A few of the tunes (especially the oldest ones) include a PDF or MP3 to learn it from.
  Schedule: Most Tuesday evenings, "around 7:30" until 9:30pm.
  Location: Stephens Green, 223 Castro St., Mountain View.
  Session Contact: See link above.
  
  
• Bluegrass Jam in Palo Alto
  Schedule: Most Wednesday evenings, about 7:00 to 9:00pm.
  Location: Fandango Pizza / Pommard Deli & Cafe in Palo Alto (see above).
  Jam Contact: (unknown)
  
  
• Irish Sessions at O'Flaherty's Irish Pub, 25 North San Pedro Street (just north of Santa Clara Street), San Jose; (408) 947-8007.
  Schedule: every Sunday, approx. 5-8pm
  • 2nd and 4th Sunday evenings usually led by Art Friedman,
  • 1st and 3rd Sunday evenings usually led by Peter Tommerup.
  • 5th-Sunday leader is determined as needed.

Links to other Bay Area sites with calendars or event lists

• The Slowplayers website has a list of (mostly) Irish sessions in the Bay Area and elsewhere, and lots of other useful information.
• The Northern California Bluegrass Society has an extensive calendar
• The South Bay Folks also have a useful calendar, and operate a regular open-mic session in San Jose.
• The San Francisco Folk Music Club has a good list of music activities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Tony Becker maintains a Calendar of Northern California traditional music (Celtic and Old-Time) sessions and concerts, under the name "AmeriCeltic". These are accessible three ways: on Facebook, on the AmeriCeltic website, and by subscribing to his weekly email list at AmeriCeltic@gmail.com

This page is maintained by Pete Showman, .

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