By: Justin Dempsey (Jam Night & Drum Instructor)
When I was a kid and first started learning how to play guitar all I wanted to do was to meet up with friends and “jam” whatever songs everyone else was learning at the time. Unfortunately we didn’t have a place like Rock City Studios at that time, but we did have a buddy with a garage full of musical equipment. That garage was heaven. I couldn’t wait until the next time we met up and I could try out that new Nirvana riff I learned. I just wanted to PLAY music with other people and that’s all I cared about. What would often happen is we would be missing a person to fill the role of a certain instrument for the song but the instrument was sitting right there so we would do a sort of musical chairs with and rotate instruments. We sucked but it was Awesome! This is eventually how I came to playing drums. Guitar was my first real instrument but we could never find a drummer - but had a drum set!
After teaching here at Music Freqs (prev. Rock City Studios) for over 10 years and witnessing how much progress the students make when put into groups/bands and live ensemble musical situations,
I wanted to create something that was available on a regular basis to ALL of our students here. An opportunity to take advantage of this amazing facility to the fullest.
I still remember the feeling of being a young musician and sharing it with others, jamming songs with friends and trying new things. That feeling is the reason I am
here now doing what I do today as a career.
We are coming up on almost one year since Jam Night started and the results are in: It’s a blast! I’ve seen a number of nervous and shy kids tiptoe in that are now monthly regulars. Some students are strictly there honing their skills on their instrument of choice, others are exploring new things since we have teachers on hand to aid them. There are drummers that are grabbing the mic and singing lead, guitarists trying bass, bassists playing keyboard, singers playing percussion and even parents coming up to play drums with their kids! The goal of this article is to get the word out to all the students and parents of Rock City Studios of what Jam Night is and why it’s so important.
Jam Night is a group class that takes place on our main stage. Every month we post a new song in each lesson room so the student has an opportunity to learn it with their teacher. It normally lands on the last Thursday of every month students are invited to come Jam that song with other students and teachers from 6:30 - 8pm. The cost is $15 dollars.
Check out Jam Night here:
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