Django in June

anthon_74

In my DIJ experience, the classes, while the centerpiece for the week, are actually not what keeps me coming back. I come back for the inspiration of seeing so many different players jamming well into the night, and the fun of jamming hours a day myself; Getting to see the greatest players in the world play up close, acoustic, and in an informal celebratory setting...
AND, every year I learn at least one or two little nuggets, sometimes in the classes, sometimes between them that I can take home with me.
I also find that jamming non stop for 5 days just makes you better, despite whether or not you took the perfect class.

Anthony

MichaelHorowitz

Charles Meadows wrote: »

Is Michael Horowitz coming? I saw his name on one of the instructor lists but not the other. Definitely looking forward to it.

Wouldn't miss it! See you there....

GuitGuy

Thank you all for all this great info. It's really helpful for us first-timers to have information like this!!

andoatagn

JHB...Interesting to hear of your experience last time. Just so you know, in the last couple of years (last year especially) we started getting more intentional about creating spaces where newcomers and slow-jammers could find one another and maybe have some support in getting their own jams going, especially Tuesday through Thursday eves. Sami Arefin took the lead on coordinating that last year and will again in 2015 and we got good feedback. We're working on it...

Bottom line, if we wait till we're "good enough" to jam with the heavy-hitters...well, this is going to be a very, very small event! Better for players at every level to find and claim their space and, by all means, take advantage of the skill and generosity of others to learn a thing or two. It's so good to read (essentially) that same advice from others in this thread.

My 10 centimes,
Andrew

anthon_74

Oh, and for the record, in addition to Sami, Andrew is recruiting more players this year ( I suspect more than he ever has) to support newer "slow jammers" and make sure they get out there and jam with each other despite their reluctance. There should be a lot of options along those lines this year.

Anthony

Buco

One thing I just realized about the classes is that sometimes I learned more about the person than the material that was being presented.
And that can be more valuable than any lick or arpegio, you're getting a direct insight in how this person got to be so good at it, their approach, struggles and how they worked through it.

It's usually these guys that aren't the best classic classroom educators but are very rich with their own experience and don't mind sharing.

kevingcox

Well said, Buco.

And as for the idea of waiting until you are "good enough" to jam... you will get there much much faster by just biting the bullet and going for it. There is a time and place to woodshed and Django in June is not it! Get out there, share and learn!

JHB

Convincing group, on this thread and also on the Jamming thread. Bit the bullet and purchased my tickets. Appreciate the positive words and look forward to meeting and maybe even jamming with some of ya'll. Kevin and Buco, will you guys be there?

Buco

Oh yeah.
As much as I'm looking forward to it, almost as much I'm looking forward to Northampton brewery.

kevingcox

I just bought a house a couple of months ago so I'm not yet confident that DIJ is in my budget, but if there is any way for me to do it I will be there jamming in the quad.