Today was a fantastic and exhausting day at School of Rock. The new sessions have finally started, and I helped out the jam bands crew today. After my usual office work and the lessons I sit in on, the new students in the next series of shows got together for the first time. The director of this session is Joe, an avid fan of jam bands and other psychedelic rock groups.
In case you don't know, the point of a jam band is to jam. A jam band will briefly follow the the structure of a song before breaking off into solos and improvisation. A jam band will often stretch a song they play in the studio from five minutes up to half an hour. Some famous jam bands include The Allman Brothers Band, Phish, the Grateful Dead, and many other classic bands.
I served two major functions today. The first thing I did was help inexperienced student learn a riff in one of the songs. One of the songs, Joyful Noise, has this one riff that the rhythm guitar plays throughout the whole song. This student, Quinn, was having trouble getting the riff under his fingers so I walked him through note by note so he could pick it up.
The rest of the day was really fun as all I did was jam along with some other kids on the Allman Brother's Whipping Post, the ultimate jam band song. I helped them piece together the structure of the song, but it didn't feel like work to me, just a lot of fun.
I'm excited that I finally get to play music with these kids. If the rest of project is anything like today, I know I'll have a good time.
I think it's so cool that you're turning your passion for music into this awesome senior project. A lot of these projects, from what I've seen and heard, are not necessarily matched to the students' interests or passions, but you've managed to find a great outlet to do what you love to do. I've personally seen you do your thing in jazz band performances (loved your solo during the Michael Henderson concert, by the way), and I think it's great that you've managed to connect your talents and abilities with this project. I've personally found that the best teachers are the ones who feel a love towards what they teach, and it's clear that you indeed love what you teach. I think that the students at the School of Rock are incredibly fortunate to have a dedicated, talented teacher like you to help them with anything they need. It sounds like you're having a lot of fun doing what you love. I think that's the single most important criteria to finding a career: that you love what you do. Of course money is important; in our modern society we often consider income to be the most important thing, but I say, do what you love to do. I think you're on the right track for that!
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