Music Improvisation Workshop

Are you ready to blast past the limitations of a jam session? Are you ready to extract every drop of musical creativity? This workshop is for those who are ready to risk putting everything that goes in their brains out there in musical form! After this workshop, you're never going to look at music the same way!

More than a jam, the Jam With Humans workshop is a workshop on how to jam. Your teacher Daniel Matias Ferrer will guide you through exercises on musical improvisation and creativity. In a typical workshop, we start by getting to know each other and why we came to the workshop. Then, we warm-up by allowing ourselves to be silly and childishly curious, usually via theatrical exercises. At this point, we replace the verbal component of these exercises by improvised music. We proceed with exercising our skills in coming up with musical ideas, transferring them and listening to the ideas of others, and finish the session with one big jam.

The Jam With Humans Workshops are free to join. A (voluntary) contribution will be requested at the end of the session for helping with production costs (suggested €10).

🤔FAQ🤔

Should I bring an instrument?
If you can, please bring your instrument. PARLOUR AMSTERDAM will be equipped with a bass and two guitar amplifiers, a drum set and a PA system with as many vocal microphones as we’d like to use.

I’m a beginner, can I join?
Yes! The workshop is for everyone: we’ll be able to use whatever sounds you can produce plus all your knowledge of music (both from listening and playing) to explore how they can be used creatively in an improvisational setting. The workshop is also a safe space, so don’t be shy in taking risks musically, we have your back!

I’m a professional, should I join?
Absolutely! Given that the workshop is about improvisation and creativity, chances are you’ll be faced with exercises that allow you to explore your instrument in ways you never thought about before. Plus, you’ll be practicing mechanisms of being able to improvise with anyone else, in different instruments and with different musical sensibilities.

How often should I participate?
As often as you want! The workshops are weekly (or fortnightly during summer time) and their syllabus is circular. All workshops are different and it’s recommended that you come to at least three before you make up your mind about them. Otherwise, show up as often as you want: every week, every two weeks, many workshops in a row and then none for a few months…
There is only one catch: those who come often will be invited eventually to join The Jam With Humans Orchestra in a separate rehearsal and join our Jam With Humans live shows. Also, those who come really often (regularly for over a year), will be invited to teach workshops themselves, as that’s a fundamental part of the Jam With Humans pedagogical ethos.

Does everyone have to participate, or can I just watch?
Everyone has to participate! If you’re in the room, you’ll have to participate. No observers! Again: we get your back, no worries. Hold our hand and be ready to dive into the world of improvised music, we’ll be there to help you through the journey.

What style do we play?
Whatever you’d like to play. Musical styles, musical genres, those are words which tend to not be imposed to the workshop participants. The goal of the workshop is to harness whatever is your musical language and sensibility to better cooperate with others in an improvisational context.

Is there anything I should do to prepare?
Actively listen to a lot of music. Sit down and think of what went through the musicians/composers heads that lead to what you are listening to. If you’re looking for inspiration, start with one of the three big influences on the Jam With Humans musical improvisation style: John Zorn, Sun Ra, Frank Zappa.