Redcliff resident Lana Major is looking to take her weekly group jam sessions with friends online during the COVID-19 pandemic.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
A local group of musicians who normally gather weekly are moving their jam sessions online.
Lana Major, who plays bass guitar, keyboards and sings, says a friend hosts a “little get together” for 8-10, and sometimes more, musicians in his basement to play their instruments.
Instead of shutting down for the pandemic, the group will attempt to continue over video chat.
“That’s what we’re going to do to interact with the people I know and keep playing music that lives in the soul,” said Major, who works as a nail technician from her Redcliff home when not in self-isolation.
She was previously employed as a nurse, where she learned the therapeutic value of song.
“When a person was feeling sick or down, or when they’re feeling alone at Christmas time or Easter, I would walk into their room and start singing a song. It would make them smile. It would boost their morale,” Major said, citing the long history of religious music.
“It’s something for people to hang on to at this time.”
Their goal is to have their first shot at online jamming March 24 over Zoom, when their next basement session would have been, continuing weekly until they can meet again in the flesh.
There are, of course, some potential complications.
“With our internet, sometimes just for a couple of seconds it stalls and it will cut everybody off,” says Major. “You just kind of have to go with the flow.”
She describes her musical tastes as “the old country,” citing Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Tanya Tucker.
“Music brings happiness to me,” said Major. “I can dance around in my own house here with my little puppy. It’s just a joy to me. Music always has been.”
