.Hi all,
we will continue to jam during the summer on Thursdays from 7pm to 9pm!
If you know you'll come, write your first name and instrument in the required name field in the blog comment below - e.g. Petra (Fiddle). There is no need to fill out anything else (unless you want to tell us, what you are going to call). 
And a bonus feature - if you click the box under the comment area, you'll get notified when others comment (rsvp).
This way all can see, if we have enough people for a jam ... or if you are the only one....
The system will work best, if you only comment when you know you will come! (Do not post maybes or no shows).
A new blog post (with the jam date as title) will show up every Wednesday.

​Have fun jamming :) ​

Hi,
I will resume leading the Wednesday and Thursday evening jams on Sept. 4th and 5th.

Until then, you are welcome to continue meeting in small groups to jam in Revitalize Juice Bar's space (the usual space we use for jamming) on Wednesday and/or Thursday evenings, under the following conditions:

1. Unless you are a paying customer of Revitalize Juice Bar, wait until they close (7pm) before you make use of their space: that is, wait until 7pm to bring your instruments into their space, start setting up, moving tables, chairs, starting to tune, noodle, jam, etc., unless you first purchase an item or two from them, in which case you may set up, start jamming etc., at 6:30.

2. If you do start setting up for the jam, etc., before 7, with due consideration of the condition for this given in the preceding point, try to use no more of their space than is needed for the size of the jam group (usually quite small over the Summer when I am not there to lead the jams), being mindful of their other customers who may wish to sit at a table, and have easy access to a table, in the space. For instance, there should be no need to move all the tables and chairs.

3. As always, when moving tables and chairs, always be sure to lift them, rather than push, pull, or drag them. And, also as always, be sure to leave the space just as you found it: making sure at the end of the night that all garbage, spills, dirt tracked in by jammers, etc., are cleaned up when it happens that you are one of the last people to leave the space when the jam is over, and that the tables and chairs are put back in place as much as possible in the same locations as they were before they were moved.

Another option is to jam on the patio outside Wise Guys Pizza (which is right next to Revitalize Juice Bar in the Pioneer Building). Wise Guys Pizza and the manager of the Pioneer Building have granted us permission to do this from 6:30 to 9pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays when space on their patio is available. But, just to be safe, and for the sake of courtesy, if you go with this option, instead of jamming indoors at Revitalize, the first jammer(s) to arrive should check with the staff of Wise Guys each time before starting to set up for jamming.

To help reduce the likelihood of a person going to the Pioneer Building to jam only to discover that no one else is coming to join them to jam, Petra (who emails the weekly IBA calendar of events to everyone on the beginner and intermediate jam mailing list) has created a system on the Idaho Bluegrass Association's website idahobluegrassassociation.org whereby you can check in on the website beforehand. Petra will soon supply you with the details on how this works.

Near the end of August, I will send out the song of the week emails for the two jams, together with the new song lists for each jam for the Sept. - Dec. 2019 phase of the jams, and explanations of a few changes that will go into effect in September for the beginner jam (e.g., lifting of many of the key choice restrictions during the first half of the evening; welcoming people other than myself to lead the singing on some songs during the first half of the evening).

Songs played at last night's Beginner Jam
16 songs: 13 from the main list, 1 from the additional songs list, and 2 that are on neither list:

All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - A
Beautiful Brown Eyes - G
Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A
Boil The Cabbage Down - A
Buffalo Gals - A
Bury Me Beneath The Willow - G
Foggy Mountain Top - C
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G
I'll Fly Away - D
Mama Don't Allow - A
Shortnin' Bread - G
Way Down Town - E
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - G
Love Me Darling Just Tonight - A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTKND9p4yYo
Greenville Trestle - D
Wild Mountain Flowers For Mary - D

Have a great Summer!
Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken' in the key of G.


Recordings
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - on their classic 3-record 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken' album: with Earl Scruggs on banjo, Vassar Clements on fiddle, Doc Watson on guitar, and Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin, and Roy Acuff taking turns singing the verses: key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn8aruzfRAA


Bill Monroe (live) - key of Bb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Uk42Q-51o 

Ralph Stanley - key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFqL6BprLZM

Jimmy Martin - key of Bb, modulates to the key of C after the second chorus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrj9pIPyEbc  
Key of G: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQxTop7XtoA
(Notice that this version uses the 6m chord in place of the 1 in the last measure of the 3rd line, and ends with an a capela chorus.)

The Carter Family: Key of Ab
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHjm5sRqSA

I include this last version purely for historical reasons. Notice that it has  'crooked' timing (half measures being used in place of full measures in various spots within the song), and uses 5511 instead of the much more common 1511 for the last line of the progression.


Progression
As it has been played at the Beginner Jam so far, Will The Circle Be Unbroken uses the same chord progression as I'll Fly Away (Prog. V3 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout):

1111
4411
1111
1511

In the key of G: 1 = G, 4 = C, and 5 = D.
In the key of A: 1 = A, 4 = D, and 5 = E.
In the key of Bb: 1 = Bb, 4 = Eb, and 5 = F
Etc.

Be sure to conceptualize the progression in terms of four 4-measure lines, just as presented above: a line of 1111, followed by a line of 4411, followed by a line that is the same as the first line, namely 1111, followed by the most typical ending line of a progression for vocal bluegrass songs 1511. Do not fall into the trap of thinking of the progression as 1111441111111511: that is: four measures of the 1 chord, followed by two measures of the 4 chord, followed by seven measures of the 1 chord, followed by one measure of the 5 chord, followed by two measures of the 1 chord. That is a very awkward and ineffective way to keep track of where the change to the 5 chord occurs in the progression.

Other songs that use the same chord progression include:
Cryin' Holy (a.k.a., On The Rock Where Moses Stood)  
Darling, Say Won't You Be Mine - chorus  
Glory, Glory (a.k.a., When I Lay My Burdens Down) - has a melody that is almost the same as the melody for Will The Circle Be Unbroken 
I Hear A Choo-Choo Coming
In Despair - verses  
It's Mighty Dark To Travel - chorus, and in some versions, the verses as well
Life Is Like A Mountain Railroad (a.k.a., Life's Railway To Heaven) - second half of the verses  
Mountain Dew
Precious Memories - chorus
Sitting On Top Of The World - some versions
Waves On The Sea  
When My Time Comes To Go
Will My Mother Know Me There - verses

Songs that use the closely related W3 progression

1111
4411
1111
5511
include Long Gone, Riding On The Midnight Train, Western Hobo, and Won't You Let Me Be Your Friend

Other progressions that have been used on recordings and at jams for Will The Circle Be Unbroken include:

1111
4411
1111
5511
(Prog. W3)

1111
4411
1116m
1511
(This is most common alternative progression at bluegrass jams for Will The Circle Be Unbroken.)

1111
4411
116m6m
1511
(This progression is also used far more often than any other at bluegrass jams in the Boise area for Sitting On Top Of The World.)

(In the key of G: 6m=Em. In the key of A: 6m = F#m. In the key of Bb: 6m = Gm. Etc. The 6m chord is the relative minor chord of the 1 chord.)

Since the person leading the song is responsible for determining which progression will be used for the song, it is important at a jam to pay attention to the choice of chord changes being used by the person leading the song, so that you don't find yourself using a different progression than that used by the leader.


Melody
Notice the melody notes in the second line of Will The Circle Be Unbroken. (See the attachments.) The root note of the key is the main note dwelt on during the 4 chord measures (a G note during the C chord measures when in the key of G; an A note during the D chord measures when in the key of A, etc.), the last note in the second of the two 4 chord measures is the 6th note of the Major Scale of the key (an E note when in the key of G; an F# note when in the key of A, etc.), and the note that follows this note is the 5th note of the Major Scale of the key, and this note coincides with the change back to the 1 chord (a D note that coincides with the return to the G chord when in the key of G, an E note that coincides with the return to the A chord when in the key of A). All of this is typical in the second line of songs that use the V3 or W3 progressions. Compare the second line of the melody of 'I'll Fly Away' with the second line of the melody of Will The Circle Be Unbroken: 
https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/ill-fly-away 

Notice that while the G Major Scale consists of the 7 notes G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#, only five of these notes are used for the melody of Will The Circle Be Unbroken; these are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th notes of the G Major Scale: G, A, B, D, and E. This 5-note subset of the G Major Scale forms what is called the G Major Pentatonic Scale.

Knowing which 5 notes of the major scale form the Major Pentatonic scale can be very useful when trying to find the melody of a song on an instrument, because there are many songs like Will The Circle Be Unbroken that have melodies that use only the notes of the Major Pentatonic scale, and even in songs that use more notes, the notes of the Pentatonic Scale tend to show up more frequently than the two major scale notes that are not included in the Major Pentatonic Scale.

Some other songs that use only the notes of the Major Pentatonic Scale in their melodies are: 'Amazing Grace', 'Shortnin' Bread', 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains', 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot', 'Canaan's Land', 'Long Journey Home', 'Light At The River', 'Mountain Dew', 'All The Good Times Are Past And Gone', 'Down The Road', 'Foggy Mountain Top', 'Nine Pound Hammer', 'Handsome Molly', 'Camptown Races', 'Come Back Darling','Let Me Be Your Friend','Tom Dooley' and 'Little Liza Jane'.

Just like in Nine Pound Hammer, Foggy Mountain Top, and My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains, the lowest and highest notes of the melody for Will The Circle Be Unbroken are the 5th note of the Major Scale, with the lower 5th and the higher 5th being an octave apart from each other. (D notes when in the key of G; E notes when in the key of A, etc.)

Examples of songs on the current main song list and additional song lists that have one or two more notes in their melodies besides the notes of the Major Pentatonic scale, but which still have for the most part a Major Pentatonic sound because these extra notes occur only once or twice in the melody and/or are used only in passing between two more prominent melody notes in the tune, include: 'I'll Fly Away', 'Cripple Creek', 'Cryin' Holy', 'Mama Don't Allow', 'Gathering Flowers From The Hillside', 'Angeline The Baker' (some versions of the melody for 'Angeline The Baker' are entirely pentatonic), 'I'll Still Write Your Name In The Sand', 'Leaning On The Everlasting Arms', 'Worried Man Blues', 'She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain', 'O Susanna', 'This Little Light Of Mine', and 'Will You Be Loving Another Man'.

Here is a comparison of the Major Scales and Major Pentatonic Scales for the 8 major keys we play in at the jam:

                                     1      2     3     4     5     6     7
G Major                       G    A     B     C    D     E     F#
G Major Pentatonic   G    A     B           D     E

A Major                        A    B     C#   D    E     F#   G#
A Major Pentatonic    A    B     C#         E     F#

Bb Major                      Bb   C    D     Eb  F     G     A
Bb Major Pentatonic  Bb   C    D            F     G

B Major                         B    C#   D#   E    F#   G#   A#      
B Major Pentatonic     B    C#   D#          F#   G#   

C Major                        C    D     E     F    G     A     B
C Major Pentatonic    C    D     E           G     A

D Major                        D     E     F#   G   A     B     C#
D Major Pentatonic    D    E     F#          A    B

E Major                         E    F#   G#   A    B    C#   D#
E Major Pentatonic     E    F#   G#         B    C#   

F Major                          F    G     A    Bb   C    D    E
F Major Pentatonic      F     G     A           C    D

Pickups
For Will The Circle Be Unbroken, use the same set of pickups to lead into a break, especially an intro break, that you would use to start Nine Pound Hammer, Little Birdie, or She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain. Notice that the melody of Will The Circle has two pickup notes built into it. These are the same two pickup notes that are built into the melodies of Little Birdie and She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain, and they are also the same as the last two pickup notes that are built into the melody of Nine Pound Hammer. When a song has built-in pickups, it is usually best to include these in one's pickup phrase for leading into a break, rather than selecting pickup notes that don't imply the melody.

https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/nine-pound-hammer 

https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/little-birdie


Fill-ins
Use fill-in licks on the 1 chord measures in the same two places in the progression in your breaks and backup playing for Will The Circle Be Unbroken as in 'I'll Fly Away', 'Nine Pound Hammer', 'Little Birdie', and 'Blue Ridge Cabin Home' (i.e., within the last half of lines 2 and 4):
https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/ill-fly-away  


Lyrics
At jams, it is common for the song to be sung with either 3 or 4 verses:

1. I Was standing by my window...
2. Lord I told that undertaker... (or Well I told that undertaker... or Undertaker, undertaker...)
3. Lord I followed close behind her... (or Well I followed close behind her...)
(4. I went home Lord, my home was lonesome...)


Song List
14 songs were played at the jam on Thursday: 12 from the main list, 1 from the additional songs list, and 1 that is on neither list:

All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - A 
Beautiful Brown Eyes - G
Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A
Boil The Cabbage Down - A
Buffalo Gals - A
Down The Road - A 
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G
I'll Fly Away - G
Mama Don't Allow - A
Nine Pound Hammer - A
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - G
Old Joe Clark - A
Wild Mountain Flowers For Mary - D

The chord progression for Wild Mountain Flowers For Mary is Prog. V9 on the Basic Chord Progressions chart. This is the same progression that is used to play 'Banks Of The Ohio', 'Love Me Darling Just Tonight', 'Take This Hammer', 'Give Me My Flowers While I'm Living', 'Just A Closer Walk With Thee', 'Ninety-Nine Years And One Dark Day', and the chorus of 'In The Sweet By And By'.

Lost & Found: Wild Mountain Flowers For Mary - key of F
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siCkCWMPSh4  

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Will The Circle Be Unbroken - banjo tab
Download File

Will The Circle Be Unbroken - guitar tab
Download File

Will The Circle Be Unbroken  - mandolin tab
Download File

Will The Circle Be Unbroken  - melody in G
Download File

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Blue Ridge Cabin Home' in the key of A. 

Recordings
Flatt and Scruggs - key of Bb. This is the original recording of 'Blue Ridge Cabin Home'. It is in the key of Bb instead of A only because all the instruments were tuned a half-step higher than standard. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcZN9x4q4kg

Here is a link to the same recording, but which the person who posted it on youtube has taken it upon himself to slow it down a bit so that it is lowered to the key of A. You may wish to try playing along with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdo34w5-DtQ

For a more recent recording of Blue Ridge Cabin Home, here is one of my favorites:
The Bluegrass Album Band - key of Bb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htxGouge9-g

In many Bluegrass circles, the Bluegrass Album Band (Tony Rice - guitar, vocals; J.D. Crowe - banjo, vocals; Doyle Lawson - mandolin, vocals; Bobby Hicks - fiddle; Todd Phillips - bass) version of Blue Ridge Cabin Home, released in 1981, has replaced the 1950s Flatt & Scruggs version as the primary point of reference for the song.    


The Bluegrass Album Band
Listening over and over again to the set of records recorded by Tony Rice, J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson, etc., under the name 'The Bluegrass Album Band' was a big help to me when I was first learning to play bluegrass in the early '90's. 

Here are my other favorites, besides Blue Ridge Cabin Home, on the first of the Bluegrass Album Band records:

Molly & Tenbrooks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR6S3FPpvtc

We Can't Be Darlings Anymore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsK8-icQg2I

On My Way Back To The Old Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxLpImPc_FU  

Gonna Settle Down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JXF1yFUZKQ


..and my favorites from the second record:
Your Love Is Like A Flower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcZFzr3jAvQ  

Take Me In The Lifeboat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR53engLlGM  

Back To The Cross
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJChjn6QJ0  

Just When I Needed You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFCoQkVXXiY  

Is It Too Late Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMHVaSu24PU  

I'll Never Shed Another Tear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhfUiS7r1E4  


More Bluegrass Listening
Other Bluegrass artists and bands besides Flatt & Scruggs and the Bluegrass Album Band that I especially recommend listening to in high doses for those who are new to Bluegrass include Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. But, beyond these, there are many other great bluegrass artists and bands that are well-worthwhile checking out. The following is only a very short list of such artists:

Jim & Jesse
J.D. Crowe & The New South
Del McCoury 
Reno & Smiley
Jimmy Martin
Doc Watson
The Osborne Brothers  
Larry Sparks
Kenny Baker
Alan Munde
Alison Krauss & Union Station
The Lynn Morris Band
Hot Rize
The Seldom Scene
Peter Rowan


Progression
The chord progression for Blue Ridge Cabin Home is:
1144
5511
1144
5511

(Progression W8 on the Basic Chord Progressions chart. In the key of A: 1=A, 4=D, 5=E. In the key of Bb: 1=Bb, 4=Eb, 5=F. In the key of G: 1=G, 4=C, 5=D.)

Notice that both halves of the progression are identical with each other, and that the 4 chord is always followed by the 5 chord without the 1 chord intervening between them.

Other very jam friendly bluegrass and 'pre-bluegrass' songs that use the same chord progression, any of which would be welcome additions to the beginner jam repertoire for the second half of the evening if someone wishes to introduce one or more of them into the jam, include: 

A Few More Seasons. (This is a slow song that has a similar melody to Blue Ridge Cabin Home, and is on the current additional songs list.)
I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes 
Is It Too Late Now (A recording of this song is included in the 'Bluegrass Album Band' section of this song of the week email.)
Nobody's Business
The Prisoner's Song. 
Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong. (A slow song from Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt, that will be on the new main list for the jam in September.)
We Can't Be Darlings Anymore (A recording of this song is included in the 'Bluegrass Album Band' section of this song of the week email.)
We'll Meet Again Sweetheart

Other songs that use the 'Blue Ridge Cabin Home' chord progression for one or more of their parts, but not for all of their parts, include:

Are You Tired Of Me My Darling (verses, but not the chorus)
Daybreak In Dixie (the A-Part, but not the B-Part)
Durham's Reel (the A-Part, but not the B-Part)
I Wonder Where You Are Tonight (verses, but not the chorus)
I'd Rather Be Alone (verses, but not the chorus)
I'm Using My Bible For A Roadmap (verses, but not the chorus)
Mastertone March (the B-Part, but not the A-Part)
My Little Home In Tennessee (verses, but not the choruses)
Orange Blossom Special (The first of the two parts that come after the key change from E to A.)
Over The Hill To The Poorhouse (verses, but not the chorus)
Randy Lynn Rag (the A-Part, but not the B-Part)
Sunny Tennessee (first and second verses, but not the third verse or the chorus)
Thinking About You (verses, but not the chorus)

For those of you who are still far less familiar with bluegrass than with certain other genres of music, then, depending on your musical background, good points of reference for Prog. V8 may include one or more of the following songs:

Fraulein  
Golden Slippers (the B-Part, but not the A-Part: however, in some versions, the last line of the B-Part is 5551 rather than 5511)   
Life In The Finland Woods (A-Part, but not the B-Part or the C-Part)   
The Great Speckled Bird
It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels   
Mocking Bird Hill (verses, but not the chorus) 
Reuben James (chorus, but not the verses)  
They'll Never Never Take Her Love From Me (verses, but not the choruses)   
The Wild Side Of Life 
Your Cheating Heart (verses, but not the chorus) 


Lyrics
At jams, I have noticed that many people, when singing harmony, (and occasionally even a person leading the singing on the song) fail to notice that the last line of the chorus uses the word 'mountain' rather than 'cabin'. This may be because the title of the song is 'Blue Ridge Cabin Home', rather than 'Blue Ridge Mountain Home'. But I have also heard people at jams call the title of the song incorrectly also, and perhaps this is due to the last line of the chorus having the words 'Blue Ridge mountain home' in it, and because nowhere in the song do the four words 'Blue Ridge cabin home' occur back to back, although the word cabin does occur in one of the verses (the beginning of the third verse).

For the longest time, I experienced great difficulty remembering how either the second verse or the third started when leading the singing on the song at jams, and it would often happen that I would sing the first half of the third verse and the second half of the second verse as my second verse, and then not be able to remember the remainder of the lyrics, so as to put a third verse together. In observing, and in speaking to others about this, it would seem to me that this is a common problem that people experience with this song. 

[Another song that I have become aware of that tends to present the same kind of difficulties for some people is Mac Wiseman's 'I'll Still Write Your Name In The Sand'. There is a live version of this song that I found on youtube awhile ago, in which Mac himself quite visibly experiences this very difficulty, and consequently ends up with a two verse version of his song, rather than the three verse version that is on his studio recordings of the song.]

Therefore, when I first introduced Blue Ridge Cabin Home into the beginner jams within the first year after moving to Boise, I created a cheat sheet for myself, that had written on it the beginning of both the first and the third lines of the second and third verses of Blue Ridge Cabin Home, and I had this taped to my guitar for several months before I removed it because I felt I no longer needed to glance at it near the end of the break before starting to sing the next verse. 

An alternative to taping a small print cheat sheet on your instrument (which works well only on guitar and bass), is to create a large print cheat sheet that you can place on the floor in front of you.


Melody
In ascending order of pitch, the notes that make up the melody of Blue Ridge Cabin Home are:
                   sol  la   ti   do   re   mi   sol  
                    5     6    7    1     2    3      5      
Key of G:     D   E    F#  G   A    B     D   
Key of A:     E   F#  G#  A    B   C#  E   
Key of Bb:   F   G    A    Bb  C   D     F   
Key of B:     F# G#  A#  B   C# D#  F# 
Key of C:     G   A    B    C    D    E    G   
Key of D:     A    B   C#   D   E   F#   A    
Key of E:     B   C#  D#   E   F# G#  B   
Key of F:     C    D    E      F   G    A    C  

Notice that the 4th note of the Major Scale (fa; a C note when in the key of G, a D note when in the key of A, an Eb note when in the key of Bb, etc.) is absent from the melody.

On the first 4 chord measure in lines 1 and 3 (i.e., measure 3 of lines 1 and 3), the 2nd note of the scale (a B note when in the key of A; an A note when in the key of G, etc.) is dwelt on, even though this note does not belong to the 4 chord.
(In the key of A, the 4 chord is a D which consists of the notes D, F#, A; in the key of G, the 4 chord is a C which consists of the notes C, E, G). The melody note, when added to the chord, creates a 6th chord. The melody note is the root note of the relative minor chord of the 4 chord. The relative minor chord of the 4 chord is the 2m chord. (Bm in the key of A; Am in the key of G.) This note (the 6th, relative to the root note of the chord; B relative to D on a D chord, A relative to C on a C chord, etc.) is the fourth most common note for a melody to dwell on. Of all the notes that are other than the 3 notes that make up a major chord, adding the 6 creates the least degree of dissonance with the notes, considered collectively, of the major chord.

Also notice the prominence of the 7th note of the major scale (ti) in the melody during the 5 chord measures. This is the 3rd of the 5 chord (the G# note in the E chord when in the key of A, the F# note in the D chord when in the key of G, etc.). Compare this with the melody of Little Birdie during the first two of its 5 chord measures, and with the melody of Bury Me Beneath The Willow in its last 5 chord measure (2nd measure of line 4). Contrast this with the melody in the 5 chord measures of any of the rest of the songs on the main list for the beginner jam; these all avoid this note on the 5 chord measures. The melody sheets and song of the week write-ups for the 18 previous songs of the week for the jam are available at https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020. Will The Circle Be Unbroken is the one remaining song on the main list that is yet to be made a song of the week for the jam. 


Harmony
The first melody note of the first full measure of the chorus (just like for the verses) is the 3rd of the 1 chord (C# note when in the key of A, B note when in the key of G, etc.) "Oh I love..." Therefore, the corresponding note that is dwelt on here in the tenor harmony part is the 5th of the chord (E note when in the key of A, D note when in the key of G, etc.), and the corresponding note that is dwelt on here in the baritone harmony part is the root note of the chord (A note when it in the key of A, G note when in the key of G, etc.).

Observe, in listening to the recordings, that the melody for the chorus (especially in the first and third lines) is different than the melody for the verses, and that the phrasing of the lyrics is different in the chorus than in the verses. The attached melody sheets give the melody for the first verse, for when the melody of the chorus differs from the melody of the verses of a song, melody-based breaks on the instruments usually take their cues from the verse melody, rather than the chorus melody. So, in this case, the melody sheets attached here should not be used as a reference point for finding the harmony parts for the chorus.


Starting the Song
On the classic recordings of Blue Ridge Cabin Home, the song begins with a banjo intro break that is based squarely upon the melody for the verses of the song, and that is how the song is usually started at bluegrass jams. The pickup measure played on the banjo on the recordings before the first measure proper of the song consists of a half-note pinch (double-stop or triple-stop lasting for half a measure) on the open 1st (3rd) and 5th strings, followed by two quarter-note pickup notes: open 4th string, then open 3rd string, which leads into the 2-4 or 2-3 slide on the 3rd string that the first measure proper of the break starts with. This is the way that I like to start the song, but at jams, if I feel uncertain that enough people are familiar with how the song starts on the recordings, I will often play a more generic set of pickup notes, so that the song has a better chance of getting off to a strong start with everyone coming in at the right time, like the pickup phrases I recommended using to lead into breaks for the previous songs of the week 'My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains', 'Beautiful Brown Eyes', 'I'll Fly Away', and 'All The Good Times Are Past And Gone'.


Fill-ins
The 2 spots in the verses, choruses, and breaks where a fill-in lick will fit (both of these spots are during '1' chord measures) are identical with the spots in which fill-in licks will fit into the previous songs of the week on the '1' chord: 'Nine Pound Hammer', 'Little Birdie', 'I'll Fly Away', and 'Way Down Town'. That is, at the ends of lines 2 and 4, starting in measure 3 of those lines.


Song List
13 songs were played at the jam on Thursday: 10 from the main list, 0 from the additional songs list, and 3 that are on neither list:

Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A
Boil The Cabbage Down - A
Bury Me Beneath The Willow - G
Cripple Creek - A
Down The Road - A
Foggy Mountain Top - G
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside (played twice) - G 
Soldier's Joy - D
Way Down Town - E
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - G
Lonesome Feeling - G
Greenville Trestle - D
Don't This Road Look Rough And Rocky - A

Doc Watson: Greenville Trestle - key of F
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOh7y8OL1Mc 
 
The chord progression used for Greenville Trestle is the same as the chord progression for 'Before I Met You', 'Cabin In Caroline', 'Cotton Fields', 'Cyclone Of Rye Cove', 'Gonna Settle Down', 'I'm Going To Make Heaven My Home', 'Jesse James' 'Little Cabin Home On The Hill', 'Little Girl Of Mine In Tennessee', 'Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane', 'Lovesick And Sorrow', 'Memories Of You', 'My Oklahoma Home', and 'Watermelon On The Vine'. The verses (and typically the breaks also) of all these songs use Prog. V6 (the 'Foggy Mountain Top'/'Amazing Grace'/'All The Good Times Are Past And Gone' progression) on the basic chord progressions chart, while the choruses use the closely related Prog. X6 which starts with 4411 instead of with 1141, that being the only difference between V6 and X6.

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week for the next beginner jam (Thurs. May 23rd, I am not available to host a jam tonight at the Pioneer Building) is 'Gathering Flowers From The Hillside' in the key of G.

​
Recordings
Here are a few versions of Gathering Flowers From The Hillside to take a listen to. The first one is just good old straightforward traditional bluegrass. The second one is from an old-school country artist I have always enjoyed listening to whose music could be described (albeit somewhat anachronistically) as somewhere between country and bluegrass. And the third one is the version that I learned the song from.

Earl Taylor & Jim McCall - key of G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmzbEGefFBc

Wilma Lee Cooper - key of C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKrXivVNF8o

Hylo Brown -  key of F
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YK1Sv9oft4


Jam-Friendly Songs
'Gathering Flowers' is just one of  thousands of simple and straightforward bluegrass songs that, for that very reason, tend to work well at almost any bluegrass jam, irrespective of how many people at the jam have ever played or even heard the song before. Keep your ears open for these types of songs if you are looking for ways to more rapidly increase your repertoire of songs to introduce into the jams you play at. 

See if you can identify the chord progression for 'Gathering Flowers' by listening to the versions given in the links below, before you take a look at the attached melody sheets. What other songs do you know, or recall playing at the jam, that use either the same chord progression or a closely related chord progression? How much of the melody can you figure out by ear before looking at the attached melody sheets? Do you recognize certain parts of the melody as being the same, or almost the same, as parts of the melodies to other songs that you are more familiar with than this one?  


Lyrics
The lyrics I use for the chorus are as follows:

I've been gathering flowers from the hillside,
To wreath around your brow;
But you kept me waiting so long dear,
That the flowers have all withered now.

The words in italics are the ones that I find people quite often deviating from when singing harmony along with me on the chorus.


Harmony
Just like in Foggy Mountain Top, a previous song of the week, each musical line of the melody for Gathering Flowers starts with the same note: a D note when in the key of G, which is the highest note in the melody. The syllable that coincides with the beginning of each musical line of the chorus is shown in bold type below. On these syllables, the tenor harmony note is a G note when in the key of G, and the baritone harmony note is a B note when in the key of G.

I've been gathering flowers from the hillside,
To wreath around your brow;
But you kept me waiting so long dear,
That the flowers have all withered now.


Endings
For songs like Gathering Flowers From The Hillside that use a progression that ends with two measures of the 1 chord, and in which the last syllable is sung at the beginning of the first of these two measures (which includes the overwhelming majority of the non-instrumental songs on the current main list and additional songs list), it is common for a two-measure ending lick to be played on the instruments during the last two measures of the progression when the song is going to end. In most cases, this means the last two measures of the final chorus (or, for songs that don't have a chorus, the final verse) of the song. 

In the attachments, I have included a chart of simple two-measure endings in the key of G for fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and bass that will work for all of the songs that fit into this category, except for the ones played in 3/4 time.

Notice that the last note played in each of the endings coincides with the beginning of the second half of the last measure. (For 3/4 time songs, appropriate ending licks would have their last note coincide with the beginning of the last measure.)


Progression
The chord progression for 'Gathering Flowers' is:

1111
1155
1111
1511
(Prog. V1 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout)

In the key of G: 1 = G; 5 = D. The G chord consists of the notes G, B, and D. The D chord consists of the notes D, F#, and A.

Notice the relation between the progression for 'Gathering Flowers' (V1) and the progressions used to play 'Mama Don't Allow' (V2), 'Foggy Mountain Top (V6), and 'Bury Me Beneath The Willow' (V7). V1 simply stays on the '1' chord in all the spots where these other progressions have a '4' chord. In all four of these progressions, the locations of the '5' chords are the same (measures 3 and 4 of line 2, and measure 2 of line 4), and in all these progressions, measures 1 and 2 of lines 1, 2, and 3, and measures 1, 3, and 4 of line 4 have the '1' chord.


Melody 
The melody of Gathering Flowers shares a lot in common with the melody of Foggy Mountain Top. The only places where the two melodies significantly deviate from each other are from the second half of measure 2 through to the first half of measure 4 in lines 1 and 3. Refer back to the melody sheets in the attachments in the song of the week write-up for Foggy Mountain Top:
https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/foggy-mountain-top  


Breaks  
Remember, the melody sheets provided here in the attachments are just that and nothing more. They do not show you how to play bluegrass-style breaks on your instrument. So, why do I include the melody sheets in the song of the week emails? Because, to a significant extent, creating a break that sounds like it belongs in the song (and this is especially true of intro breaks, i.e., the break that is played before the singing starts and which identifies what song is being played even before the singing starts, or in the case of an instrumental, just simply the first break) involves surrounding the melody notes in the song with appropriate choices of other notes: and, in order to do this, one needs to have a fairly clear idea of what the melody of the song is. 

There are countless ways to play a break for any given song, and how one plays a break for a song depends upon several factors, including stylistic preference, level of technical ability on one's instrument, and even things of the nature of what tempo the song is being played at. But, once one is past the very beginner stages of learning to play 'lead' parts, attempts should be made - with the help of a teacher if need be - to play in a way that involves more than just copying on one's instrument the melody of the song as sung. 

Disclaimer: Even at the most advanced levels, being a bluegrass musician or jammer does not always involve being able to play breaks. There are many top-notch bluegrass guitar players, for instance, who only play rhythm (backup). Becoming a great bluegrass rhythm guitar player can be just as challenging as - or possibly even more challenging than - becoming a great flatpicker.  


Fill-ins
There are four dead spaces in the melody of each verse and chorus of Gathering Flowers that are long enough for a fill-in lick to be used to fill up these spaces.
These occur at the end of every musical line, starting in measure 3 of the line and ending in measure 4 of the line, which is the same location within a line that a fill-in fits into the progressions for all the previous songs of the week that I have discussed the use of fill-ins in connection with.  Here is a summary of most of the songs of the week so far in which fill-ins fit into one or more of their lines:
                                                                                          line 1        line 2       line 3     line 4
My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains       no fill        no fill        no fill    fillin (1)
& Beautiful Brown Eyes chorus

Nine Pound Hammer, Little Birdie, I'll Fly Away     no fill         fillin (1)     no fill    fillin (1)
& Way Down Town

Beautiful Brown Eyes  verses,                                     no fill         fillin (5)     no fill     fillin (1)
Bury Me Beneath The Willow, 
All The Good Times Are Past And Gone  
& Foggy Mountain Top                                                                            
 
New River Train  & Mama Don't Allow                       fillin (1)        fillin (5)     no fill     fillin (1) 

Gathering Flowers From The Hillside                        fillin (1)       fillin (5)     fillin (1)   fillin (1)

The numbers in parentheses refer to the chord that is called for at the time of the dead space in which the fillin lick is played.

Gathering Flowers provides more opportunity than any of the other songs for practicing fillins, and since there is room to fit three fillins on the 1 chord in each verse and chorus, it also provides a good opportunity for practicing varying your choice of fillins, if you know how to play more than one fillin for the 1 chord.

For G and D fillins (the 1 and 5 chords when in the key of G), refer back to the attachments in the song of the week write ups for I'll Fly Away and Mama Don't Allow:
https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/ill-fly-away 

https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/mama-dont-allow


Pickup Notes
Concerning Pickup Notes into a break for Gathering Flowers. Instead of playing only the 2 pickup notes (B and C) that are sung in the vocal melody (see the attached melody sheets) to lead into the first complete measure of your break, it is often more effective at jams to add a 3rd quarter note, a C#, after these two notes, especially if you the one kicking off the song with an intro break. The chromatically ascending sequence of pickup notes: B, C, C# to lead to a D note on a G chord is commonplace on good Bluegrass records (good examples of this are at the beginning of the banjo intro break and at the beginning of the fiddle break on the first youtube link given here for Gathering Flowers). Three-quarters of a measure, rather than just half a measure, worth of pickup notes gives everyone at the jam a better sense of what the tempo of the song will be, so that they can all start playing backup confidently behind the person playing the intro break at the beginning of the first complete measure of the break. This is a good case in point illustrating how it is sometimes better to make modifications to the melody as sung, rather than to follow the melody slavishly, when creating melody-based breaks. 

Note: Many melodies do not have any built-in pickup notes leading into their first complete measure; in these cases one needs to create a pick-up measure to have an effective intro break for the song. This can be done by borrowing pickup phrases from other songs in which the first full measure of the song starts with the same note and same chord as the song in question, or one can learn common generic pickup phrases used on Bluegrass records for each specific situation: e.g., a generic pickup phrase leading to a B note on a G chord, a generic pickup phrase leading to a C note on a C chord, etc.


Song List
16 songs were played at last week's jam: 12 from the main list, and 4 from the additional songs list:

Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A
Boil The Cabbage Down - A
Buffalo Gals - A
Bury Me Beneath The Willow (played twice) - G & C
Cripple Creek - A
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G
Mama Don't Allow - A
My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains - G
New River Train - F 
Nine Pound Hammer - A 
Shortnin' Bread - G
Soldier's Joy - D
Liberty - D
Lonesome Road Blues - G
Long Journey Home - A
Will You Be Loving Another Man - A

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
I will not be available to host the Wednesday and Thursday jams this coming week (May 15 & 16). For the week after that, the song of the week for the intermediate jam will be Gold Watch And Chain in the key of Bb (Wed. May 22nd), and the song of the week for the beginner jam will be Gathering Flowers From The Hillside in the key of G (Thurs. May 23rd). I will try to send out the song of the week emails early next week.

I invite all of you to join me in Weiser, ID at Weiser Banjo Camp for the evening jams on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of next week. (May 16, 17, & 18). We are in need of many guitar, bass, mandolin, fiddle, and dobro players, and singers, of all levels of jamming experience and ability (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), to balance out the large number of banjo players who will be at the jams. 

Jamming starts at 7:30pm on Thursday. May 16th, 7pm on Friday, May 17th, and 8:15pm on Saturday, May 18th. There will be several different jams going on at the same time on all four floors of Slokum Hall, and, weather permitting, there will also be outdoor jamming.

Jamming starts later on the Saturday due to the banjo masters concert being held from 7 to 8pm, which you are also invited to attend if you would like to.

The Weiser Banjo Camp is held at the same location as the annual National Old-Time Fiddlers Contest & Festival. The address for Slokum Hall is 2235 Paddock Ave. Weiser, ID 83672 

For more info on the Weiser Banjo Camp: go to  https://weiserbanjo.weebly.com/
Weiser Banjo Camp & Contest Information
"This camp provides a very unique opportunity for banjo players of all skill levels to work directly with regional and nationally known instructors in a very casual environment.
weiserbanjo.weebly.com

In the attachments are the song lists for the instructor and volunteer-led jams that will take place during the first hour of evening jam time on the Thursday and Friday evenings.

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Soldier's Joy' in the key of D.
Soldier's Joy is one of the more popular traditional fiddle tunes in Bluegrass circles, but one will hear it played not only at Bluegrass jams, but also at Old-Time jams, at square dances, contradances, and even sometimes at Irish sessions. 


Recordings
Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys (guitar & fiddle breaks) (starts at 3:50) - key of D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyZWC5CVdaI
 
Larry Rice and the Bottom Dollar Boys (mandolin, fiddle, Scruggs-style banjo: tuned GCGBD, & guitar breaks) - key of D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzZ2tSENgTY

Earl Scruggs & John McEuen: a good example of Scruggs-style banjo and Clawhammer banjo being played together. Scruggs' banjo is tuned GCGBD; John McEuen's banjo is tuned GCGCE. Note: since there is no fiddle or mandolin here, they get away with playing Soldier's Joy in C (no capo) instead of D (capo 2).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5OKxPE59Bo


Form & Key
Soldier's Joy follows the most typical form for traditional fiddle tunes: AABB (can be thought of as: verse, verse, chorus, chorus, if this helps), with each A-Part and each B-Part being 8 measures long. (Total: 32 measures).  Like most traditional fiddle tunes, there is only one key that it is usually played in: in this case 'D'.


Progression
The chord progression that we use at the beginner jam for Soldier's Joy is the one that I have heard most frequently at Bluegrass Jams and on Bluegrass recordings of the tune. It is:

A-Part:
1    1    1    5
1    1    1/5 1
(Prog. Y1 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout. This is the same progression that is used to play the A-Parts of Old Joe Clark and O Susanna.)
 
B-Part
1    4    1    5
1    4    1/5 1
(Prog. Y7 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout. This is the same progression that is used to play the A-Part of Boil The Cabbage Down.) 
In the key of D: 1 = D; 4 = G; 5 = A. 


'To capo or not to capo'
Many banjo players and some guitar players prefer to play Soldier's Joy in D by capoing to the 2nd fret and then playing it as if in 'C'. For this reason, I have included both key of D and key of C melody tabs for banjo and guitar in the attachments. 

If you have the capo on the 2nd fret for playing Soldier's Joy in D, then your chord shapes need to be the same as those for playing in the key of C without a capo: 1=C; 4=F; 5=G.


Banjo Tunings
Note: On banjo, no matter which of these two options you choose: capo  2 or no capo, you will need to raise your 5th string up to an A note (i.e., spike/capo your 5th string to the 7th fret) in order to be able to play an effective Scruggs-style or Clawhammer-style break.

Most Scruggs-style banjo players who prefer the capo 2 option tune their 4th string down a whole step so as to retain access to the lowest melody note in the tune when playing within the first 5 frets. (This is called 'C tuning': without the capo the 4th string will be tuned down to a C note. With the capo on the 2nd fret, the 4th string will then register as a D note when not fretted. See the attachment: 'BBJ - Soldier's Joy - banjo tab C tuning'.)  
Most clawhammer banjo players play Soldier's Joy either by tuning to Double C tuning: GCGCD or Open C tuning: GCGCE, and then capo to the 2nd fret in order to be playing in D. I have included a Double C tuning banjo melody tab in the attachments.


8 Potato Intros
Since the most effective way to start most fiddle tunes at a jam is by playing an 8 potato intro before starting into the first A-Part of your intro break, I have included an attachment that gives 8 potato intros suitable for Soldier's Joy and most other key of D fiddle tunes, for fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo. 

An 8 potato intro, reduced to its most basic form, essentially consists of droning the note that has the same name as the key of the tune in a highly rhythmic fashion for 4 measures. Accenting the first pickstroke (or, on fiddle, bowstroke) of each measure of the intro is crucial to an effective 8 potato intro, so as to make it unmistakably clear where each of the measures that make up the intro begin and end; it also helps to accent the first pickstroke/bowstroke of the second half of each measure, but this accent should not be quite as heavy as the accent on the beginning of the measure.

Choose a version of the 8 potato intro that works for you, but don't wait until you are at the jam to 'practice' it. Make it  habit to always start most of your fiddle tunes with 8 potato intros when you are practicing at home so that you will be better prepared to effectively use 8 potato intros when playing with others.

If you have pickup notes leading into the first complete measure of your break, you must cut the 8 potato intro short by playing the pickup notes in place of the corresponding part of the last measure of the 8 potato intro, so that you end up with exactly 4 measures worth of music, no more and no less, before the first full measure of your intro break starts.  


Melody 
Soldier's Joy is one of those tunes which - in one and the same version - is often played both with so many melody notes that there is little room left for additional 'filler' notes (i.e., as many as 8 melody notes per measure), and with the bare minimum of melody notes necessary to retain the identity of the tune (no more than 3 or 4 melody notes per measure).

In my many years of experience with listening to hundreds of versions of this tune and playing it in a wide variety of jam situations, I have found that in playing Soldier's Joy, Bluegrass and Irish fiddlers and melodic (Keith) style banjo players tend towards trying to squeeze in as many melody notes as possible, while Scruggs-style and Clawhammer banjo players and Dobro players tend to play as few melody notes as necessary.  Old-Time fiddlers, mandolin players, and flatpickers tend to fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

For fiddle, mandolin, and guitar, I have included in the attachments melody tabs with 'few melody notes' and melody tabs with 'more melody notes'. 

The interval between the lowest pitched melody note and the highest pitched melody note for Soldier's Joy is wider than for any other song on the current beginner jam song lists. There are only two other songs on the lists that come close to having such a wide melodic range, and both of these are AABB form fiddle tunes: Cripple Creek and Liberty.

In ascending order of pitch, the melody notes for Soldier's Joy are:

                 do  re    mi    fa   sol   la    ti     do      re      mi     fa      sol    la
                  1     2     3      4     5     6      7     8(1)   9(2)  10(3)  11(4) 12(5)  13(6)
Key of D:  D    E     F#   G    A     B    C#    D      E       F#      G      A       B
Key of C:  C    D     E     F     G     A     B     C      D       E         F      G       A
The notes in italics are absent from some versions of the melody.

In some versions the highest note of A-Part is 10(3), whereas in other versions the highest note of the A-Part is 12(5). In the B-Part, the lowest melody note is 5, which is in contrast with the A-Part which consists mostly of notes 1,2,3, and 5, thereby making the B-Part the overall higher pitched part of the two parts that make up the tune.

Notice where repetitions occur within the melody. These are all fairly typical for AABB form fiddle tunes in which each part is 8 measures long. There are not only several measures in the tune which are identical with at least one other measure in the tune, there also, in some versions of the melody, halves of measures that are identical with other halves of measures. 


Breaks
If you are not ready for a 'more melody notes' type version, then, to the extent that you are able to, try to add some filler notes to a 'few melody notes' version. 

Even for the 'more melody notes' versions, filler notes should be added in at least some spots so as to avoid playing half notes. Whenever you play a half note (or a note or even longer duration) in a break, you are decreasing your degree of control over the tempo and feel of the tune at that point. 

I have not included 'more melody notes' tabs for banjo, since that would take us well beyond Scruggs-style and traditional Clawhammer banjo into the realm of Melodic and Single-string style playing. If you are a three-finger style player, fill in the blanks with the Scruggs-style picking patterns you know how to play when these are feasible to use around the melody. If you are a clawhammer player, fill in the blanks with 'bum-ditty' figures and - if this is part of your playing - a few rhythmic drop-thumb figures here and there when they fit.


Double Endings
For most songs that use a progression that ends with two measures of the 1 chord (e.g., songs that use any of the progressions in row V, W, or X on the basic chord progressions chart), it is common for a two-measure ending lick to be played on one or more of the instruments over the last two measures of the progression to end the song. Most AABB tunes, however, do not use progressions that end with two measures of the 1 chord, and the last melody note in their parts almost always occurs at either the beginning or in the middle of the last measure of the progression, rather than at the beginning of the second to last measure of the progression. For these reasons, ending licks for AABB fiddle tunes almost always are played after the last measure of the final B-Part rather than during the tail-end of the final B-Part.

In the attachments, I have included examples of double-endings for fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo suitable for most key of D fiddle tunes. These are called 'double endings', for they consist of two 2-measure length ending licks played back to back. 

At the beginner jams, what tends to happen most often, and usually works better than some of the other options, is for everyone who wishes to play a double ending to do so, regardless of which instrument section played the last break, while the rest of the players play nothing during the double ending, except on the last note of the ending. 

What is played on the last note of the ending by the backup instruments typically includes things such as a single strum on the 1 chord (good for guitars and mandolins, and sometimes for banjos), the root note of the 1 chord being played by itself (especially good on the bass and in the low register of the fiddle), a double stop consisting of two notes of the 1 chord (especially good for fiddles), and a three-note pinch on banjo consisting of notes of the 1 chord 


Song List
21 songs were played at last night's jam: 18 from the main list, and 3 from the additional songs list:

All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - A
Beautiful Brown Eyes - G
Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A
Buffalo Gals - A
Bury Me Beneath The Willow (played twice) - G & C
Cripple Creek - A 
Down The Road - A
Foggy Mountain Top - G
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G
I'll Fly Away - G
Little Birdie - Bb
Mama Don't Allow - A
New River Train - F
Nine Pound Hammer - B
Shortnin' Bread - A
Soldier's Joy - D
Way Down Town - E
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - G
Long Journey Home - A
Old Joe Clark - A
Worried Man Blues - G

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
The song of the week is 'Mama Don't Allow' in the key of A. 

Be prepared also to play Mama Don't Allow in the key of G during the first half of the evening at the jams, since both the key of A and the key of G are specified for the song on the main list.
In the attachments, I have included melody sheets for the song in both A and G.

Once Mama Don't Allow has completed its song of the week cycle, it will become more likely that others will want to lead the singing on it during the second half of the evening, in which case it could be called in the keys of Bb, B, C, D, E, and F as well.


Recordings 
The two recorded versions of Mama Don't Allow given below are very different from each other. The first, from Flatt and Scruggs, is a straightforward Bluegrass studio recording arrangement of the song, featuring only three lead instruments (banjo, fiddle, and dobro), while the second, from Doc Watson, has more of a jam feel to it, and, in addition to featuring traditional Bluegrass instruments (mandolin, banjo, guitar, etc.) it also includes and features some instruments that are not among the first instruments that usually come to mind when one thinks of Bluegrass (drums, piano).

Flatt & Scruggs - key of G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfXlI6Fz4j0  

Doc Watson - key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ODoOHoNyQ  


Progression 
The chord progression for Mama Don't Allow is:

1111
1155
1144
1511

(Progression V2 on the Basic Chord Progressions handout.)  
In the key of A: 1=A; 4=D; 5=E
In the key of G: 1=G; 4=C; 5=D.

This is a very useful progression to know by heart, for it is very common. It is the same progression that is used to play the well-known folk songs 'When The Saints Go Marching In', 'She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain', 'Froggy Went A Courting', and some versions of 'Red River Valley'. Three other songs that I believe are especially well worth familiarizing oneself with that also use the same progression are: 'The Crawdad Song' (a folk song adapted to Bluegrass that has tended to be popular at previous incarnations of Beginner jam in some of their phases), 'Will You Be Loving Another Man' (a classic Bluegrass song from Bill Monroe, very well-known in Bluegrass circles), the verses and breaks, but not the choruses, of 'Why Don't You Tell Me So' (a classic Bluegrass song from Flatt & Scruggs, also very well-known in Bluegrass circles).

I highly recommend making it a point to associate a particular song (or a small group of songs) with each progression on the basic chord progressions handout, that you are really familiar with whenever this is possible. Songs that you have known and, better yet, sung since childhood, and/or songs that were the first song example(s) of a particular progression that you learned to play on your instrument(s) tend to work best for this purpose. 

For a progression on the chart that you do not yet have a direct useful point of reference for, you might find it helpful to think of the progression in terms of its relation to a progression that is similar to it that you are able to easily associate with a particular song or group of songs.


Use of Fill-ins in Backup Playing
While listening to the recordings provided here, observe that the instruments not only take turns doing breaks, as determined by the lyrics, but also take turns being featured as the dominant backup instrument behind the vocals.  As soon as the name of the instrument is mentioned in the first line of the verse, this is an opportunity for that instrument to play a fill-in lick during the two measures of 'dead space' that occur in the vocal between the last syllable of the first line of the verse and the first syllable of the second line of the verse.  Two measure length 'dead' spaces' occur also after the last syllable of the second line and after the last syllable of the fourth line; so, in each verse there are three different spots where the appropriate instrument can announce its presence by playing a fill-in lick in anticipation of its upcoming break.

In the recorded versions, most of the fill-in licks used are not among the simpler ones to learn to play. In addition to the melody sheets for Mama Don't Allow, I have included in the attachments some easier fill-in licks for fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo to help you get started with using fill-in licks in your playing if you do not already do so. The licks are intended to start at the beginning of the 3rd measure of lines 1, 2, and 4 of the verse: the A licks for lines 1 and 4 when playing in the key of A (G licks when playing in the key of G), and the E licks for line 2 when playing in the key of A (D licks when playing in the key of G). 

Each lick ends at the beginning of measure 4 of the line, at which point you can simply go back to doing whatever kind of thing you were doing before you started the fillin, whether that be simple rhythm playing on the guitar or mandolin, roll backup on the banjo, or something else. On the attached chart of fill-in licks, notes in parentheses are not really part of the fill-in lick proper and may be omitted if they are inconvenient to get into from what you were doing immediately before the fill-in measure begins. For instance, if you are playing chop chords on the fiddle or mandolin right up to the point where the fill-in measure starts, you may wish to substitute a quarter note rest in place of the quarter note in parentheses that occurs at the beginning of the fill-in lick measure.

Bluegrass songs typically contain at least 2 'dead spaces' in each 16-measure-length verse and in each 16-measure-length chorus that are long enough for a fill-in lick to be used during them. Depending on whether there are pickup notes leading into the next line of the song, these 'dead spaces' will last anywhere from one measure to two measures. These are always opportunities for fill-in licks to be played by a lead instrument.  On bluegrass recordings, you may notice that the lead instruments usually take turns being featured as the dominant backup instrument.  This same thing occurs also at jams. Mama Don't Allow is a good song to use to start to get the hang of doing this, for the lyrics of song draw attention directly to the fact that that is what is going in the backup, and so there need never be any doubt in this song as to which lead instrument should be featured at any given time.


Singing and leading the song at the jam
The lyrics of Mama Don't Allow are among the easiest to learn of all the songs on the two songs lists provided for the Beginner Jam, and once learned, the lyrics are not easily forgotten.

However, the one thing that can sometimes be challenging about remembering the lyrics to this song is that one needs to keep track of which instruments one has mentioned in each verse so far, so as to not leave any instrument out that is represented at the jam, and so as to not over-feature any of the instruments. 

It helps to keep track though if one makes it a point to call each instrument type in the order in which one first encounters each type of instrument, going clockwise around the circle starting from the person who played the intro break for the song until one runs out of other instruments to call and one finally calls the name of the instrument on which the intro break was played. This is the system that I use for calling breaks on most songs at the jam.

As traditionally played at jams, the bass player is given a break on Mama Don't Allow, whereas for most other songs this is not done. 

(Bass breaks for this song are not usually melody-based, so I have not included a melody sheet for bass in the attachments.)

For this song, I don't usually call the breaks as each verse is ending. The person singing the verses is calling the breaks simply by virtue of singing the name of an instrument in any given verse. The only times when I have felt a real need to call a break on this song when someone else was singing it, is when either: a) I had failed to mention before the song started that the verse 'Mama don't 'low no bluegrass music round here' (or something similar to this) is - at least in the context of how our jam operates - a way of calling a collective 'everybody' break, and it seemed doubtful to me that enough people had caught on to this in time before the collective break was about to begin; or b) it was obvious that people were not catching on to which instrument was named by the person singing. 

This latter scenario occurs almost any time, for instance, when a singer abbreviates mandolin as 'mando': many people mistake this for 'banjo'. So, even though it is not as easy to squeeze a three-syllable instrument name into the verses as it is to sing a two-syllable instrument name, it is best to always sing 'mandolin' instead of 'mando' for the mandolin verse.


Melody & Breaks
As I sing it, the melody of Mama Don't Allow consists of 6 notes. In ascending order of pitch these are:

                  5    6    1    2    b3    3
Key of G:   D    E   G   A    Bb    B
Key of A:   E    F#  A   B    C     C#
Key of Bb: F    G    Bb C    Db   D
Key of B:   F#  G#  B   C#  D     D#
Key of C:   G    A    C   D    Eb   E
Key of D:    A    B    D   E    F     F#
Key of E:    B    C#  E   F#   G    G#
Key of F:    C     D   F    G   Ab   A

The b3 note is not part of the major scale. It is borrowed from the minor scale, and is commonly referred to as a 'blue note'. This note occurs during the second of the two 4 chord measures in line 3 of the melody. When the b3 note is added to the 4 chord a (dominant) 7th chord is created. (E.g., adding a C note to a D chord results in a D7 chord; adding a Bb note to a C chord results in a C7 chord.)

With the exception of the 4 chord measures in line 3, there is not much to the melody of Mama Don't Allow. So when creating a break for this song, try to do more than just merely shuffle (or on banjo, roll) through the melody. Make use of fill-in licks, and any other licks you know that will fit over the chords being played. These other licks need not always imply the melody. Notice that in many of the breaks on the recordings, licks are used that have little or nothing to do with the melody of the song.


Pickup Notes
Use the same set of pickup notes to lead into a break for Mama Don't Allow that you would use for starting into a break for Down The Road. Refer back to the 'Breaks and Backup' section of the song of the week write-up for Down The Road: 
https://www.idahobluegrassassociation.org/jasons-beginner-jam-blog-2019---2020/category/down-the-road  


Jason Homey & The Snake River Boys
Here is the performance of the 6th through 10th songs of the week for the new beginner jam (Buffalo Gals, New River Train, Bury Me Beneath The Willow, I'll Fly Away, and Little Birdie) that I did on Tuesday with Brent King (guitar), Doug Jenkins (fiddle), and Bernie Reilly (bass) at the Bluegrass Open Mic at Liquid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJAtP8irWYs  


Song List
16 songs were played at the jam last week: 12 from the main list, 1 from the additional songs list, and 3 that are on neither list:

All The Good Times Are Past And Gone - A
Beautiful Brown Eyes - G
Blue Ridge Cabin Home - A
Buffalo Gals - A
Cripple Creek - A
Down The Road (played twice) - A
Foggy Mountain Top - G
Gathering Flowers From The Hillside - G
Little Birdie - Bb
Mama Don't Allow - A
Soldier's Joy - D
Way Down Town (played twice) - E & G
Old Joe Clark - A
Leaning On The Everlasting Arms - A
Lonesome Feeling - G
Red River Valley - A

Happy Pickin',
Jason

Hi,
There will be no beginner bluegrass jam on Thursday, April 25th. The next beginner jam will be held on Thursday, May 2nd. The song of the week will be 'Mama Don't Allow' in the key of A. I will send out the song of the week write-up next week.