What's going on with the Pegram Jam

Hot off the presses: a new edition of our Chord Chart Book

FEBRUARY 2009 -- We are proud to announce the release of the Pegram Jam Chord Chart Book v.46, now packed with the chords to over 400 songs. Help yourself and print one out. We added over 30 new tunes to this edition, marked with an asterisk here on the site.

We've been weeding out any errors from the last edition and have published a 2009 Supplement so if you already have the last version of the book (v. 45), the supplement contains just the new tunes and any other changes we made to the chord charts. This will keep you current without having to print a new book if you already have one.

Word has it that the Pegram Jam Chord Chart Book is popping up all over the place. Kirk and I are simply thrilled to have contributed something useful to our fellow tune hounds. But the book is getting so large now -- 62 pages -- that it's mighty expensive to print on your home printer. I didn't want to reduce the type size (my goal was to make the pages readable laying on the floor at your feet) and I've got the tunes as close together as possible and still be legible from a distance, so I had some books printed up for sale. Each is secured with coil binding so it will lay flat when open and has protective clear plastic covers on the front and back. Now you won't have to use your ink, paper and time to own a chord chart book. The price is $15 per book plus shipping. See the Pegram Jam Chord Chart Book page for details.

We hope that you've heard that in April of 2008 our jam reconvened at the Fiddle & Pick, home of the Musical Heritage Center of Middle Tennessee. The Musical Heritage Center is a new traditional music school and performance hall located in Pegram, just minutes away from the original jam. The first and third Tuesdays at 7:00, we meet for our usual three hours of Old Time Music. Volunteers teach new Old Time tunes on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings. If you're in the neighborhood, come join us for a jammin' good time. - Susie Q

New Chord Chart book to be published soon

JANUARY 2009 -- Kirk and Susie have been updating the PegramJam chord chart book. We have added dozens of new tunes, and corrected all of the errors which were discovered over the past year. Thanks to the folks who sent us corrections and suggestions for the book. We hope that you will find the new book more useful than ever. Stay tuned; we're in the final phase of the long-overdue update. - Kirk

Thanks for Six Great Years of Music

JANUARY 2008 -- It has been said that all good things must come to and end. We prefer to think that all good things can lead to new good things. After six straight years, we have decided to discontinue the weekly Tuesday night jam sessions at our home in Pegram. It has truly been an amazing six years, but we need to take a break from hosting the fun. Whether you attended the Pegram Jam one time or a hundred times, we sincerely hope that you had some fun, and perhaps even made a friend or two

Some of you may know that Gretchen Priest-May purchased a building here in Pegram, which is to become the local old-time music center. It's likely that another Tuesday jam may take form there sometime this spring or summer. Stay tuned for more info.

Susie and I plan to take the extra time each week to focus on some other aspects of our music making. We also hope to do more playing with different groups of folks as opportunities permit.

The Pegram Jam web page will stay alive for at least another year. We will add content from time to time, and we hope to use it as a means of keeping in touch with all of our musician friends. Our love for old-time music has not dwindled a bit. We just need to let go of hosting the weekly jam, and focus our energy elsewhere for a while.

Thanks to everyone who has been a part of the Pegram Jam. It's been a great ride! It's been an honor and a pleasure to host the jam these last six years, and we wish all of our picking pals a prosperous and joyful 2008.

You can view our sixth anniversary "class photo" at this link. - Kirk

It's all about the Tone

NOVEMBER 2007 -- I had somewhat of a revelation the other day. I was reading an old quote about a fiddler who "knew a thousand tunes, but couldn't play one of them worth a darn." I think it's possible to spend too much attention on learning more tunes, and too little attention cultivating one's TONE. In the end, it's the SOUND that comes from our instruments that matters.

I love learning new tunes, and hope to expand my repertoire until I'm no longer able to play. However, I am going to spend a lot more time concentrating on my tone from now on. I'm listening to my favorite players, paying special attention to the sound they pull from their instruments. I figure I have to know what good tone sounds like before I can try to create it myself. - Kirk

In Search of the Ensemble Mind

OCTOBER 2007 -- Thanks to everyone who has been attending the Pegram Jam. The crowds have been smaller, which is historically what happens during the summer months. We've been chugging right along, with some more intimate sessions and of course, new tunes.

One concept which has been on my mind lately is the difference between playing for myself and playing for an ensemble. It feels like the ensemble sound has a complete mind of its own, and it will tell me what to do, *if* I listen for it. It's a little bit like surrendering to the flow of a river, or being on a sail boat. The great ensemble players have figured out that some approaches support the flow, while others wind up feeling like trying to swim upstream. Usually I find myslef having to listen more and play less, just in order to hear what the ensemble sound needs. When it's at its best, great ensemble playing feels to me like everyone is lifting a hot air balloon together. Each player is contributing just what the balloon needs, without weighing it down with anything extra. It is an exhilarating feeling when it happens! - Kirk

Scorch Plug-in Update

JULY 2007 -- The Sibelius Scorch web browser plug-in has been updated. The old Scorch plug-in will not play scores created after June 2007. In order to play all of the scores listed here, you must first install the latest version of Scorch. The Scorch plug-in is available at this link. - Kirk