Photo By Cpl. Timothy Norris | A Marine plays the piano during a jam session at the chapel aboard Marine Corps Air...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, S.C. - A Marine walks into a chapel with a guitar and is greeted with the rolling sound of drum beats, piano chords and the pickings of a few more guitars. The jam sessions hosted by the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort Chapel have started back up after a short break during the holidays and a busy new year.
“It’s a way of practicing, to play outside of their own comfort zone and support the person who is playing,” said Cmdr. Kim Donahue, the Marine Aircraft group 31 chaplain. “Music stirs the heart and adds conviction to their commitment.”
Donahue started the jam sessions last year to give service members aboard the Air Station a place for musicians to meet, practice and learn from each other. The sessions are held at the Air Station every Friday night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The Air Station chapel houses the session because “music and spirituality go together,” Donahue said. “If there is anyplace one this base where it makes sense to host the jam sessions it’s the chapel.”
“Chapels are designed with good acoustics because music is part of just about every religious tradition, with or without instruments. So it’s a good place to play because the chapel is acoustically live.”
For Donahue, however, it means more than just a couple of hours of good music and camaraderie.
“For me, everything starts with my faith and convictions,” she explained. “My understanding of God developed from music. My mother was an organist and pianist so music was everywhere in my life. I spent a lot of my time as a child listening to my mother play. She gave her heart and soul to it.”
The jam sessions are informal and musicians are encouraged to bring music they want to practice. At the first session of the year, musicians played songs from ranging Johnny Cash to Snow Patrol.
“All music has a spiritual value whether it’s secular or sacred,” Donahue said. “Music conveys and communicates things that words sometimes can’t. It’s similar to faith. I look at music as a spiritual grounding that allows people to express who they are beyond words.”
In addition to the intangible rewards, last year a chapel band was formed as a result of the sessions. Some of the jam session members have started writing their own music, and several played in a public forum for the first time.
The jam sessions are open to musicians with every kind of instrument and Donahue also encourages people to come to sing or just listen.
| Date Taken: | 03.07.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.07.2014 12:09 |
| Story ID: | 121669 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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