Beorn's thoughts on how to make a good jam!

Here are some of my thoughts on how to make a good jam...

A jam has a lot in common with a conversation.

You should enter a conversation willing to listen, rather than just wanting to talk. 

A good conversation is as much about respectfully listening as it is about saying something. You should leave a conversation having learnt something, rather than simply having spoken your thoughts. A jam goes bad when it's full of people doing monologues.

Having said that...

There's no point having a conversation if you're just going to mumble. You should say what you mean and mean what you say. It's much better to play one note every two bars with confidence than it is to play 100 notes every bar without conviction. It's better to be quiet than to mumble.

Imposing too many rules on a jam can make everyone second guess what they do. They either lose confidence and mumble, or get rebellious and stop listening.

So in short...

Don't babble. Don't mumble. Listen. Play from the heart.

...just my 2 euros

Beorn (who knows he's a hypocrite)

P.S.

http://truefire.com/blog/favorites/words-of-wisdom-from-thelonius-monk/

"Always leave them wanting more"