Activities and Action in Groupwork

Ruth Middleman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780866562287
• eBook ISBN: 9781135848897
• Topic: Medizin
• Subtopic: Gesundheitsversorgung

This helpful and practical book examines the uses of innovative activities in social groupwork with a number of different populations, such as adolescents, school-age parents and their children, the elderly, and Hispanics.

The Jam Session: A Study of Spontaneous Group Process

Penny Katz
Sanna Longden

ABSTRACT. This experiment describes a spontaneous jazz performance and shows that the jam session can be a useful tool for studying small groups. To determine why and how it works, the author brought together five jazz musicians and gave them three musical tasks. They also participated in a post-performance discussion and filled out a questionnaire to elicit their feelings about the workings of a jam session. The jam session may be a unique group because of the speed with which it coalesces and its use of nonverbal communication, but it also exhibits classic characteristics of small group sociology by conforming to several basic small-group models and principles.

While listening to a jam session whose participants were professional jazz musicians, I realized that I was watching a small group in action, one that might have interesting implications for the study of small group process.

On first inspection, the jam session appears to be a unique configuration. It is a haphazard, unrehearsed, spur-of-the-moment aggregation of musicians who inevitably achieve success by playing spontaneously and skillfully—sometimes even masterfully—without having the history of a well-seasoned band. Group members may be diverse in age, sex, race, value systems, life-styles, educational levels, and musical training; they may not even speak the same language. Nonetheless, this group manages to be metamorphosed from an undifferentiated entity into a solid unity capable of sophisticated performance, using a form of communication which is largely nonverbal. Few other types of groups can operate successfully in this manner. How and why does this phenomenon work?

To find out what small group sociology can learn from the workings of a jam session, I designed and carried out an experiment, supported by my dual backgrounds as social worker and jazz aficionado. The results lead me to suggest that although the jam session is unique in some ways, it also exhibits basic characteristics of small groups.

The Experiment

The experiment was limited in scope to duplicating the jam session atmosphere, recording the performance, and eliciting the responses of each of the musicians as to how and why it works. To accomplish these goals, certain objectives were designed, most of which were achieved despite the problems created by personal time conflicts, location selection, and lack of finances.

The first step was to gather musicians who met the following criteria: (1) racial, sexual, and age diversity; (2) no member typically a leader; (3) unacquainted with one another; and (4) highly competent improvisational instrumentalists. A group was assembled consisting of Kenny—white, early 50s, tenor saxophone and flute; Ed—white, middle 30s, tenor saxophone; Milton—black, late 20s, bass fiddle; Gloria—black, early 40s, piano; and Danny—white, late 30s, percussion. None of the five had played together before. In fact, several met for the first time 15 minutes before the jam session began, although most had known of one another through professional channels. The director of video studies at a local university arranged for the use of the school’s television studio and equipment, acted as technical director, and provided camera operators and engineers.

The experiment was not without its obstacles. One of the video cameras broke the day before the taping, so a portable unit had to be pressed into service. Most of the technical personnel were amateurs and, because of the nature of the experiment, had no opportunity to rehearse. The piano supplied by the university’s music department was more than a half-tone flat so the saxophone players never could adjust their instruments to play in tune. Nonetheless, jazz musicians are a hardy lot, used to adversity, and all in all the effort was remarkably successful.

The format of the musical portion of the experiment was relatively simple. The group was presented with three tasks. The first was to choose one of five swing tunes, which I named for them, and immediately play it. The second was to choose one of five predetermined ballads, or slower songs, and immediately play it. The tune choices were part of the standard repertoire of jazz musicians; there was no sheet music available. The final task was to perform a piece of sheet music containing only a sequence of chords; there was no melody and no rhythm suggestion. This chord sequence, created especially for this experiment by a local jazz musician, was harmonious but not patterned after any song which would be familiar to the performers. In this task, the musicians had to create everything but the chords and had two minutes to discuss how to do it before performing.

After the performance, I initiated a brief conversation about how they found the experience and how they explained what happens during a jam session. Then I asked them to respond in writing to a prepared questionnaire. Unfortunately, without access to the video tape, readers of this paper will not be able to enjoy the musical results of the experiment, which were clearly a success. Observers agreed that the performance was very high calibre. The interaction of the group, which is the subject here, was equally fascinating and more easily set down in words.

The Performance

On the first task of choosing one of the swing tunes, Kenny suggests, “Green Dolphin Street” and the others agree. With almost no words or pause, the bassist strums a phrase and everyone comes in as though they have been rehearsing regularly. Without any visible clues, each horn takes a solo, then the piano, bass, and drums in the traditional sequence. The musicians do not make eye contact throughout the selection, yet they seem to know instinctively when each solo is ending. It is clear as the performance progresses that the group is becoming cohesive very quickly. In the beginning, they play a little tentatively, assessing one another’s contributions. Very soon, however, there is a feeling of laying back, of knowing everything is going to be fine. Several faces relax into smiles.

On the second task, after I list the ballads, there is a short pause, then Ed says, “All of them are good.” “Want to do a medley?” Milton asks and there is immediate agreement. After a quick discussion of the order of tunes and keys, Milton begins a long solo on “Willow, Weep for Me” with no accompaniment. Then Danny picks it up on drums, and Gloria joins in on piano, softly at first, then with increasing dynamics. When asked later how she knew when to come in, she responded, “I just felt like it.”

Out of Gloria’s accompaniment comes her solo on “Lover Man,” with the bass and drums quietly backing her up as she gets into it, head down, swaying. The horns, who have been standing and listening, confer in an undertone: “You want to go?” “No, you go ahead.” Ken swings into “Misty,” a long, soulful solo which ends exactly as Ed takes over with “What’s New?” Ken smiles appreciatively at his colleague’s performance. After a vigorous solo with a beautiful blending of sounds in the background, all the musicians collaborate in bringing the medley to an end. As they disengage from the music, there is pleased laughter.

As task three, the series of chords, is explained, the musicians are amused and intrigued. Milton suggests the tempo: “Let’s take it down like a bossa and then swing it.” He explains further, “We’ll take one chorus together, we’ll all play a bossa, and then you come up with a line and somebody understate it.”

“Who’s got the melody?” Kenny asks to general laughter.

“I think you do, Ken,” says Ed, passing the buck.

“Okay,” says Kenny, picking up his flute. Then he pauses—the whole melody is up to him. “Well, I don’t know,” he says doubtfully. “Let’s do it together. But where’s the bossa?”

Milton begins counting softly, “One, two, one-two-three-four,” and miraculously they all begin playing, the flute singing a free-form melody above the insistent bossa nova rhythm beat out on drum and bass. The designated chords are apparently Gloria’s responsibility; she puts on her glasses to read them. Ed plays the first solo chorus; Danny wags his head and closes his eyes as he strokes his cymbals. As Ed fades out, Gloria picks up the lead. When she plants a final finger at the end of a cadence, Milton begins, playing a melodic line over the accompaniment of some sparse chords from the piano. The drummer takes his solo, then the horns begin fragments of melody which alternate with the drumming. They seem completely attuned when to pick up from each other. Each group member is playing different lines which change, reform, and interlock. They feel for the finale, draw out their various notes, and bring the whole event to a satisfying conclusion. There is an unidentified sigh of relief, then laughter, a little talk, but the musicians are still not looking at one another; by now, they are facing their audience.

Post-Performance Conversation

The degree to which each of these five individuals felt as members of a group was clearly demonstrated in the post-performance conversation. When I asked Milton to explain what appeared to be some confusion as to the timing in the third selection, he accepted the responsibility by declaring that it was his mistake. Kenny quickly reminded us that no agreement had been reached within the group as to the timing. I asked if the last tune was harder to play than the others. Kenny said, “Not after the first two chords,” and the others agreed.

When discussing how they made decisions without a designated leader, Kenny’s comment was “We just sort of fell in.” Gloria added, “When I’m playing with a group, I enjoy hearing what he’s saying and putting something in under that, and hearing what someone else is saying. Each of us gets a chance to say something different.”

I ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Editorial
• Guest Editorial
• Group Work with Hard-to-Reach Adolescents: The Use of Member Initiated Program Selection
• Television Production as Content and Process in Social Work with Groups: An Experiment with Disadvantaged Neighborhood Youth in Israel
• The Jam Session: A Study of Spontaneous Group Process
• An Educational/Supportive Group Model for Intervention with School-Age Parents and Their Children
• Poetry Writing Groups and the Elderly: A Reconsideration of Art and Social Group Work
• The Use of Photography Activities with Adolescent Groups
• Activities and Hispanic Groups: Issues and Suggestions
• Book Reviews