Jam spaces on campus – grassroots!

Two new posts today. Don’t forget to scroll down.

So today I was walking along on the upper floor of the SUB, about to head downstairs to the pottery studio, when I heard this alluring jazzy music coming from the ballroom. I thought it might be a recording. So I headed over, thinking that I might catch the dance club practicing or something equally exciting. The ballroom was deserted – but the music kept coming. It was emanating from my right. I turned around to peek in the window of the servery door. There I saw a girl in a knitted toque rocking out on a piano. She was producing the most wonderful music, totally in her own world – jammed up against the wall among the sinks, fridges, and portable bars, on the clammy tile floor.

I stood there and listened to her for a while – she didn’t notice – and then I went on my way. This reminded me of a cool project that GSS councilor Roderigo Nunes has started. It’s about establishing music-friendly jam spaces on campus, in environments that aren’t formal, or linked to alcohol. They’re trying to get pianos tuned, refurbished, and placed in public areas. It’s based on the idea that music is good. I’m pretty sure we can agree on that. Since Roderigo is in social sciences, there’s lots more big words in the official description, including a reference to Henri Lefebvre.
Check out the Jam Spaces project, being organized on facebook, (the natural home for all activism, apparently) HERE.

There used to be a piano next to the SUB art gallery that students used regularly. Not sure where it went, but it not there now. It’s pretty bizarre that the only usable piano in the SUB would hidden away in an upstairs kitchen, of all places. It was wonderful to hear that music today though; it would be wonderful to come across spontaneous music around campus more often. It’s also pretty neat to see a grassroots type of group come together to forward a great topical issue like music spaces – one that wouldn’t really ever come up from traditional student government circles.