Jambusters Concert 2012

First let me explain what Jambusters is all about.

The Strzelecki Stringbusters decided it would be a good community project to start a beginners group to help people who either wanted to start playing or had just started playing. The focus is on old-time songs played at a sedate pace. The routine is to meet on the second Wednesday of each month at the Yinnar Pub to join in with fellow learner musicians and learn a song.

The Stringbusters run a show at the pub on the last Wednesday of each month, with the last show for the year held in November.

The big-picture is to feature the Jambusters as the first act on the last show of the year to play nearly all of the songs that were learnt over the year. This is very good, practical experience for the members of Jambusters

This is the second year Jambusters have been run.

The contribution made by the Strzelecki Stringbusters, and especially John Werner to the Jambusters project cannot be underestimated. Anybody of any skill level can participate and there's NO charge. How good is that?

The classic Old-Time/Bluegrass instruments are catered for, like:

• Banjo.
• Guitar.
• Double Bass.
• Mandolin.
• Fiddle.
• Ukulele.

Every now and then a non-standard instrument appears, and the good thing is, they are not turned away. I have played Dobro and Cello there, through a small amplifier. Sure I got a few funny looks from the 'Policeman' type people, but there weren't any issues. There's a Dulcimer player who regularly attends.

Layout

The room the Jambusters rehearse in is the small room at the rear of the pub. A circle is formed, with John Werner, playing Double Bass, in the middle leading the session.

People with like instruments congregate together forming arcs/sections in the circle.

Arrangements

The usual structure is to play/sing the song, one verse, one chorus and then feature a section to solo. This goes on until all of the sections have had a chance to solo.

Behaviour

• John tries to keep some order to the night, but this proves difficult at times because of the exuberance of some of the sections.
  Each section is in a sense independent. The most experienced player usually leads a section and teaches them the solo/rhythm parts. This has some consequences, as they tend not to hear what is happening in the big-picture and John has some difficulty making himself heard at times. Keep in mind that each section is not in isolation but next to two other sections next to them. The cacophony at times is extreme.
  John at times just can't make himself heard and relies on shouting and whistling to gain their attention. I have donated a bicycle bell to John to use as a signal that he wants to recover control of the sections.
  
  
• There is a second order of control within the Jambusters under John. These are usually other members of the Strzelecki Stringbusters looking after a section.
  At times these second order leaders become a little heavy handed and overcome with importance. They forget that we all have to work together to make the Jambusters work.
  
  
• A most important aspect of the Jambusters is to give the soloing section room to breathe when they are soloing. This means that all of the other sections need to play a little softer so that the featured section can be heard.
  Some of the second order leaders fail in this regard as do other members of the sections.
  
  
• The converse of this is that some sections do not drop back to playing a rhythm part after the solo has passed. Some direction needed here by the more experienced players.
  

• Some of the sections have members that have not yet learned to solo. When their turn comes to solo all they do is keep playing chords. That will change as they become more experienced.

The Jambusters is a most important institution for learning musicians in the Latrobe Valley. Hats off the the Strzelecki Stringbusters for starting and maintaining it.

The Concert

John went to great pains to tell the Jambusters that their allotted spot was from 7:00 to 7:30. I understand that we all have commitments, but a start time is a start time. By 7:00 there would have been perhaps a third of the Jambusters in attendance. The rest arrived some time later and I would guess we started at 7:30 and finished at 8:00. This cuts into the time of the other performers, not a good thing.

There was a full house and the Jambusters went over well. As usual finding the words was the hard part. No music stands with chord charts and we all had to stand instead of sitting down.

I have moved sections from playing Double Bass lines on the Cello to playing a Mandolin. I had worked out two of the songs prior to the concert and worked out the rest on the fly. Good fun.