Allen Jabour, nationally known fiddle player, musicologist, and down-home gentleman came to Flagstaff and gave a concert and a

Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music

Young Jammers – A Program in Playing

By Lloyd Holdeman

Allen Jabbour, nationally known fiddle player, musicologist, and down-home gentleman came to Flagstaff and gave a concert and a workshop. In the workshop one of fiddlers asked him if the people in his Appalacian homeland were taught their stock at workshops such as his. “No”, he said thoughtfully “ the folks in Appalachia are more into learning, than into teaching and being taught”. He went on to describe the process where the young players would listen at every opportunity to the music that was being played around them, and they would imitate the music, add to it, play among themselves, and that a remarkable transference of culture and skills would take place on a continuing basis.

We are thinking that there are young folks in Flagstaff who would like to have the opportunity to learn how to play a stringed instrument. We want to round up some of the available instruments in town, and get them into the hands of those young players.

There is nothing easy about learning to play a guitar, banjo or fiddle, but it becomes rewarding before too long, and those rewards continue to grow. There is a tendency to think that playing music is for the professionals that we hear on television and CD’s. But any musician will tell you that folk music (music played by folks) which includes County, Blues, Rock, Gospel, Bluegrass, Old Timey and on and on… is based on very understandable chord progressions and melody lines. Regular folks can learn these structures and melodies, and develop the skills to play them. Add some rhythm, put two or more people together, and they are jamming. The Young Jammers Program is designed to teach young folks how to learn to play the music that they like.

Multi-instrumentalist Frank Daley compared learning to play an instrument with getting on an escalator. You get on when you begin to learn. With the time devoted and the intelligence of the learning process, the escalator takes you up. The higher you go, the better you play and the more fun you have in the playing. If you stop playing, that is the floor on which you get off of the escalator. When you begin playing again, even if it is years later, that is where you get back on. Anybody can get on the music escalator at any time in his or her life. But we all start at the same place.

We are looking for young folks around the ages of 11-14 who have a desire to learn how to play a stringed instrument. We know that there are a lot of stray instruments – banjos, fiddles, acoustic guitars, mandolins, dulcimers and thumpin’ basses, both within our club and within the community, that aren’t getting used and could be put to good use. Musicians are a kindly lot, and we’re asking that you give them to us – the Young Jammers Program, sponsored by the Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music. Let’s find these young folks and have them sign up for an instrument. In conjunction with the Coconino Center for the Arts, we will display the instruments, get them to the players, and then conduct monthly workshops designed to assist the Young Jammers in their learning process. There is nothing to pay for the participants except maybe some sore fingers until they get their calluses going. If a young person tries it out and decides strings aren’t the thing for them – no problem – bring the instrument back and we’ll pass it on to the next person.

The Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music is hosting its annual Benefit Concert for the Coconino Center for the Arts on January 30^th. We want to collect the instruments (and cases) by Dec 13^th so we can get them in playing shape. They can be dropped off at Coconino Center for the Arts (along with your name and phone number for proper thank-you’s and any story you may have about the history of the instrument). The instruments will be displayed at CCA two weeks prior to the concert. Potential Young Jammers can fill out a short application form and apply for the instrument of their choice. Shortly after the Benefit Concert – featuring The Burnett Family Band, 4-Wheels Down, and Desperate Measures – a drawing will be held on Barry Harrison’s “Saturday Morning Folk” show. Instruments will be passed out and the program will be underway. Join us! Let’s get the young folks and the instruments together. Another thing any musician will tell you – the sooner you get on the escalator, the higher you go.