VOVE co-executive Josue May walked away from room 106 in Nordhoff Hall prior to Thursday Night Jam to grab supplies and returned to CSUN students overflowing into the hall, instruments strapped to their backs. A thought akin to the infamous “Jaws” line, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat,” went through his mind.
“We need to push for a bigger room,” May said.
On Thursday, May and VOVE co-executive Marisa Beard welcomed students to a blues themed Thursday Night Jam, hosted by the student-run record label. The two-hour gathering was open to all musicians on campus that wanted to come showcase their talents.
Being the first of the semester, May and Beard were worried that the turnout would be underwhelming, but it proved to be quite the opposite.
Close to 60 students attended the session. The two rows of chairs facing the practice space filled up quickly, leaving dozens of students lining the walls of the room and overflowing into the hall where VOVE members had light refreshments for sale.
Beard began the session by thanking the eager students for attending, encouraged intermingling and began calling up names from the sign-up sheet.
As one student got comfortable behind the grand piano, another student came in on bass guitar, laying the tempo down. A third student joined in with the slow swell of a violin, as one more student took a few beats to listen in for the melody, tying things together with the kick of a bass drum.
As the night progressed and the crowd grew, more musicians swapped in and out of position. For the rest of the night, there were nine to 10 students rocking two guitars, a bass, drums, both grand piano and keyboard, trombone, saxophone, vibraphone and vocals, each one playing off the energy of the other.
“There’s a big culture for musicians about having jams and going to jams,” May said. “So, we wanted to create a space that’s local for CSUN students and people in the area to just come by and play with no worry about how you sound. It doesn’t have to be polished.”
The session provided the same feeling that happens when musicians perform on the street with each other: no setlist in mind and no goal to make ticket sales, only the pure passion for playing – with the community joining in on their own instrument, making the crowd around them happy to be there.
Two hours went by in a flash as students took turns chiming in, covering songs by various artists, including Daniel Ceasar, H.E.R., Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, James Brown and Maroon 5. Several of the participating students were multi-instrumentalists and chose to rotate into multiple tracks playing different instruments each time.
One of those students was Haig Kaymakamian, who said he felt connected to his peers through feeling out all of the instruments together.
“It was so much positive energy,” Kaymakamian said. “The creative talent here is so inspiring.”
Beard said there are multiple goals with the jam sessions. Aside from being an inclusive space for all music lovers, the sessions also give students involved with VOVE experience in hosting an event. The sessions may also grow to include a “house band” aspect for artists on the VOVE record label.
“For future purposes, once we sign our artists, this is going to be a platform
for them to also showcase themselves a little bit prior,” Beard said. “So, it kind of fits two
purposes. We want to make sure that our artists are getting exposure to the people here on campus, as well as creating a space for the people here to just come and play.”
May and Beard plan to create different themes for future jam sessions that will be announced prior to the date they occur. However, they insist the themes will be more of a “jumping off point” and encourage all musicians to attend and play whatever they would like.
The next scheduled Thursday Night Jam will take place on Sept. 18 and 25 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Students can follow their Instagram for up-to-date information regarding the sessions.
