Ukulele Jam

Greetings, Kingston ukulele fans!

First, I'd like to invite all of you to participate in an informal, unscheduled jam this Wednesday, February 22, 7pm. The purpose of this jam is to evaluate a new venue, the Royal Canadian Legion at 4034 Bath Road in Collins Bay. This is very easy to find, right in the village, just east of Collins Bay Road. There's plenty of parking on the east side. Enter through the bar, and take the stairs at the other end of the room up to the second floor.

Please take the opportunity to check this out. If the consensus is positive, we'll make this our regular venue.

As usual, we'll do this as a song circle. Bring copies of some of your favorite songs.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked you to fill in a survey about our regular ukulele jam. Here are some of the results. There were 20 responses in total.

Question 1: Rate your skills. 6 (30%) considered themselves beginners, 12 (60%) intermediate, and 2 (10%) advanced.

Question 2: Preferred jam format. Most (11) want mixed instruction and song circle. 7 want primarily song circle, and 1 wanted primarily instruction.

Finding topics for a workshop is always challenging. We should have topics that appeal to a wide range of skills. If you have any ideas for workshop topics, or you're willing to lead a workshop, please let me know.

Question 3: Preferred schedule. 89% want a twice a month jam, with the rest preferring a monthly jam.

No surprises here.

Question 4: Jam attendance. Ideally, two thirds of respondents would like to attend every jam if possible, with another quarter expecting to attend every other jam.

This is a positive result. Based on informal feedback, it seems many people have issues with our current venue. With a more appropriate venue, hopefully we'll see a better turnout.

Question 5: Ideal group size. Most respondents think the ideal group size is either 9-11 (41%) or 12-15 (35%).

No surprises here.

Question 6: Ideal room. Most respondents (44%) would prefer a quiet back room in a licensed establishment. 22% would prefer a quiet room in a church, school, or library. One respondent would prefer a living room in someone's home. 28% have no preference.

I, for one, would prefer a venue where I can have a beer while jamming. I think the Collins Bay Legion may be a good choice for venue.

Question 7: Cost. Most (58%) are willing to pay $3-$5 per jam.

There's always a cost. Venues that are willing to provide space for free, such as a licensed bar or restaurant, expect to make money from attendees visiting the bar or ordering food. At least, if you don't buy anything, drop a toonie into the tip jar at the bar.

Question 8: Age. Most respondents were either 61 or older (53%) or 41-60 (37%).

Question 9: Where do you live. Respondents were equally split among inner city Kingston, suburban Kingston and outside the city.

Question 10: Willing to organize. Of 19 respondents, 2 expressed willingness to take an active role in organizing jam activities, 9 replied "perhaps".

Thank you all for participating in the survey. The results will be helpful as we move forward.

Cheers! Hans