Boston Front Porch: Bluegrass Fiddle Tune Jam for Students
Second and Fourth Friday of each month
Brookline, Mass. 7:30pm
Boston Front Porch is an ongoing series of free Bluegrass fiddle tune jams with an educational focus. It’s designed primarily for college-age students, but all are welcome. All jams are led by professional bluegrass musicians. Please join us. This jam is open to fiddlers and other instrumentalists who play fiddle tunes. The circle will be led by a professional fiddler. BFP meets in a private home in Brookline (close to Green Line, C and D trains).
For directions please email [email protected] and introduce yourself!
How many front porches are in your neighborhood?
Boston Front Porch was created to address a pressing need in our community: access to fiddle tune traditions the way they’ve always been handed down. The greater Boston area has a wealth of experienced traditional and improvising musicians, but students rarely have opportunities to listen and learn from them. BFP is the BBU’s way of facilitating access so that today’s students have more opportunities to listen and learn from master musicians.
Skills: BFP is designed for intermediate to advanced level players. This is an opportunity to develop your fiddling (or fiddle tune skills applied to other instruments). There is also room for experienced players from other musical styles, or others who want to learn.
A Note to Banjo Players (and other instrumentalists): You are welcome to join us, but at this point we can’t help translate fiddle tune skills to your instrument. That’s the kind of work that’s usually done in private lessons. However it’s OK to come and listen, vamp or just play rhythm. BFP is open to all who want to listen and learn. It’s normal to sit on the outside of the circle until you’re comfortable joining in.
Repertoire: Every week we’ll focus on a new fiddle tune, to be prepared from the tune list. Students will learn traditional styles, tunes, and the little details that make each tune unique. We may also take side trips into related styles such as Celtic, Cajun, or Texas Swing — but the focus will be on the fiddle tunes most often heard in bluegrass jams.
Costs: Boston Front Porch is a free jam. It’s an outreach program of the Boston Bluegrass Union, and is also supported by your much-appreciated (and tax-deductible) donations.