Calling all youth musicians who play guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and bass! You’re invited to jam with other young musicians in the area who enjoy playing the same types of music you do!
This jam will include some skill building while learning a featured song at the beginning of the jam, while leaving plenty of time for jamming together on a variety of other songs, too (sample list below). The featured song for this month will be “High On A Mountain,” a song written by Ola Belle Reed from Lansing, NC, and also performed more recently by the Del McCoury Band.
The song will be introduced and played in the key of G. This song uses a similar chord structure to the “one, four, five” chord songs that the group has been learning, except it adds one extra chord, the flat seven chord. So in the key of G, the one, four, and five are G, C, and D, and the flat seven is an F chord. See if you can pick out the chord changes on the Del McCoury video version. If you want to take it one step further, try to pick out a break along with them following the melody by ear. The lyrics are to the right, below the video. Participants will spend some time digging more into this at the beginning of the jam.
Participants are also encouraged to bring a prepared song to sing and/or play with the group, but this is not required for participation.
Participants may also spend some time working on some songs that some youth council members will play at the Fest in the West on Saturday, May 21. If you are a student interested in participating, or if you are a parent who has a student interested in participating in this May 21 opportunity, please contact Jamie Katz Court in PineCone’s office to learn more or sign up – Jamie can be contacted by phone at 919-664-8333 x103, or by e-mail at communications@pinecone.org.
Songs played at past youth jams have included:
Instrumentals:
- Angeline the Baker (D)
- Arkansas Traveler (D)
- Soldiers Joy (D)
- Whiskey Before Breakfast (D)
- Liberty (D)
- Old Joe Clark (A)
- Cripple Creek (A)
- Salt Creek (A)
- Cherokee Shuffle (A)
- Blackberry Blossom (G)
- Billy in the Lowground (C)
Songs with Lyrics:
- Bury Me Beneath the Willow
- Nine Pound Hammer
- Long Journey Home
- I’ll Fly Away
- My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains
- In the Pines
Newer songs the group has worked:
- Meet Me By the Moonlight (featured song in March 2016) – Key of G, Key of E
- (A) Worried Man Blues (featured song in February 2016)
- (D) Swallowtail Jig
- (G) June Apple
- (G) Long Journey Home ($2 Bill)
- (G) Red Clay Halo
- (C) Molly Malone
- (G) Dooley (featured song in January 2016)
- (D) Pig Ankle Rag
For kids who don’t play an instrument yet, Marbles will have an area set up where you can make your own instrument out of recycled materials.
