This project is intentionally flexible, collaborative, and student-centered. There is no single finish line everyone must reach at the same time. Instead, each student participates at their own level, choosing parts that match their ability while still stretching their musicianship.
Our team is building a growing library of arrangements based on familiar, exciting music – pop, blues, Disney, and more – with parts offered at multiple tiers. That means:
Beginners can play something meaningful right away
More advanced students can take on challenges, solos, and patterns
Everyone contributes to the sound of the group
We’ll support learning through traditional instruction and at-home tutorial videos that offer the exciting immediacy of the ‘play-along’ approach.
In the spring, Youth Jam will culminate in a community performance where students demonstrate the skills they’ve developed by playing with each other and with live musicians, choosing from a menu of songs and parts. It’s more like joining a band than surviving a recital.
It turns piano from something done alone into something done together.
This performance wasn’t Youth Jam — but it captures the energy, collaboration, and live-band excitement we’re building toward.
