Learning to play a musical instrument can be a transformational experience in a student’s life. So can sharing it.
The term “Jam Summit” refers to the highest point to which a jam session is produced. For the kids enrolled in our Music Will program, the Jam Summit is equivalent to “performing at Radio City Music Hall,” says Music Will teacher from the Bronx, Eddie Hager.
Each year, Music Will teachers across the nation host these large, multi-school concerts featuring students (K through 12th grades) from across the school district.
Imagine walking into a darkened auditorium, where nearly a hundred students wait patiently for the lights to illuminate the stage. When they do, a roaring cheer from parents, teachers and friends ignites the auditorium, and the synchronous strumming of dozens of guitars kicks off a song like Jimi Hendrix’s, “Little Wing”, Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You”, or a student-composed tune that was written only weeks prior to the show.
This year, Dave Matthews Band bassist Stefan Lessard popped into the Dallas ISD Jam Summit to jam with the kids and deliver some guitars. Check out the story HERE.
Thousands of the 118,000+ Music Will students participate in Jam Summits each year. Some include full-day workshops led by both students and teachers, impromptu jam sessions, and an evening concert. Others provide students from across a given city the chance to perform onstage at another school, or even at a local music hall, in front of dozens of their peers, friends, family and new fans. Each city does it differently, but there is one unique characteristic that links all of the Music Will Jam Summits – the chance for our students to step into the limelight and be rock stars in front of an attentive and enthusiastic audience!
”It’s so important that these students understand that they are part of something much bigger than the music class in which they participate each week,” said Allan Adkison, a Music Will teacher who hosted the New York summit this year. “Each student belongs to a nationwide musical community that is [118,000] students strong… Music Will!”
