Adults at Play: How Conflicting Interests Shape Musical Collaboration in Blues Jams

• In Event: 20209 - Flesh and Blood Sociology: Ethnographic Practice Today

Abstract

Blues jams are a distinctive form of live musical collaboration that differ from open mic nights or battles of the bands. Unlike those more structured performances, blues jams typically involve random groups of musicians performing three to five songs before being replaced by the next ad hoc band. Each participant must improvise their parts in real-time, adapting to bandmates of varying skill levels, backgrounds, and motivations. This spontaneous, unstructured nature of blues jams presents an intriguing research question: Given few constraints and an abundance of conflicting interests, how do performers at blues jams cooperate to create music in situ? This ethnography contributes to sociological understandings of how people collaboratively improvise.

Author

• Jason B. Jimerson, Franklin College