Full Transcript:

Emily Race: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Founding Mothers podcast, where we're imagining new ways of living with one another and our planet. I'm your host, Emily Race. 

Today's conversation is with Maria Cincotta of JAMS Music. Maria Cincotta has been playing in bands since 1995 and has been teaching and band coaching with the Rock Camp for Girls movement since 2001.

Maria Cincotta: This project of having a rock camp for girls and I thought that sounded pretty interesting. And so I got involved as a guitar teacher and a band coach, and it was quite a transformative experience for everyone involved just to be in an all girl, all women's space with other folks playing music, really good musicians, inspiring people, and a whole movement and community emerged as a result of that.[00:01:00] 

Emily Race: She's a certified teacher with experience teaching of all ages, from kindergarteners to adults. It is her passion to help young musicians collaborate creatively, write their own songs, and have fun rocking out together. She enjoys working with beginners, getting them off and running with their first songs fast.

Maria writes songs and plays guitar, but she also plays a bit of bass, drums, sax, ukulele, and synthesizer. She has toured in both Europe and the United States with a few of her bands, including elcassette and Sally Rides. 

Welcome, Maria. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on the Founding Mothers podcast. It's great to have you. 

Maria Cincotta: Thank you so much, Emily. I'm glad to be here. 

Emily Race: Maria, you're here to both speak about your own experience and vision, but also the work that you're doing with JAMS. What is JAMS, who makes up JAMS, and what's the work that you all are doing?

Maria Cincotta: JAMS is a music nonprofit in Santa Barbara, and it's been around for quite some time. The foundation behind it started in '97 , and it's called the Star Jasmine Music [00:02:00] Foundation. Nancy Earl founded it. She started it in honor of her daughter who she lost to a freak accident in Yosemite. A tree fell on her daughter when they were taking a vacation up there in Yosemite and her daughter was 10 years old only. And so Nancy was devastated, but she decided to transform her grief into something positive and bring music into the community because her daughter was very musical. So she wanted to continue that legacy and honor of her daughter, and also to bring joy to anyone who's lost a loved one.

 So that's how it started. And basically, before it was actually JAMS the music school, she started it as a way to connect people who need instruments with instruments, connecting people with music in that way. 

She had this grand vision, which she still has, of having a music in the wilderness program. It was going to be really cool once it comes into fruition, but she realized that, that's a really big idea. Maybe we'll start smaller. And so then she started the Music School JAMS, which stands for [00:03:00] Jasmine's Alternative Music School. So it's kind of a fun acronym.

 She's been doing really cool programming there ever since. Some rock camps in the summer, lessons throughout the year. After school music exploration programs, and folks from JAMS have gone to places like the Sarah House and brought music to folks who need that kind of joy; the Sarah House is an end of life facility. Also the Braille Institute, and they've been to a bunch of different places, bringing music to where it's needed.

So right now what we have going on is a weekly teen night, which has also been happening for a while, and that's basically an open jam that happens every Friday. We have young teen hour for the first hour. Kids who are roughly 11 to 14 can come and have this space to themselves and feel free to create without having the older teens coming in and being a little more dominant as they might be. Although we try and make sure nobody's dominating, of course. That's the young teen hour, and then older teens come in as well, and the young teens can stay and then[00:04:00] the jam just continues until 9:00 PM every Friday, and it's a free open jam for any young person.

Something I wish I had had as a young person.

 JAMS itself is, basically a music studio. It's also a recording studio, and we have everything there that one could possibly want for making music. A drum set, electric drums, various amps, guitars, bass, other really random instruments as well. A harp, a sitar, mandolins, a bunch of ukuleles and keyboards, piano, digital piano, the works. Folks are welcome to come and grab instruments from the wall and try 'em out, play and explore. 

 We also have the monthly adult jam, it's every third Wednesday of the month and that's also a free open jam for anyone who wants to come, as a way to connect musicians, because I see JAMS as your community music center, in that it's a place for folks to come and coalesce, create community through music, maybe find their [00:05:00] future bandmates or new friends or find a place to explore, especially after this whole COVID thing that really isolated a lot of folks. It's important to have these nexuses of that social activity and creative activity as well. 

The neat thing about a lot of our programs is that it attracts the broad cross section of society and we get lots of folks in there who wouldn't otherwise find themselves in the same room playing music together, you know, all ages, all backgrounds, a real cool mix.

 I lead this women's strumming social club, and women come and play guitar, bass, ukulele, and we sing popular songs. Basically, it's an ongoing workshop. So I teach; a little bit of knowledge is helpful, but we also get newbies who don't know anything and that's fine too. We play and sing together and it's a lot of fun. 

We have an afterschool program currently for ages eight to 12. 

Emily Race: You do private lessons as well? 

Maria Cincotta: We do private lessons as well.

And in fact, today I received a request for a birthday party lesson, so

Emily Race: sure. 

Maria Cincotta: We'll see [00:06:00] if we'll expand into that. I don't know. I have to think about it. But yeah, basically it's an open situation where if folks have ideas that they wanna suggest, we're open to it. 

We also started a vocal workshop recently. There's one for adults and one for teens and one for younger kids. 

Anyone who wants to get involved, if they want to lead a workshop or have ideas, we're very open because the ideal would be to have this space filled with awesome activities constantly.

 We rent the space as a practice space as well, so that's a way that we can generate income to pay for our other community programs. 

Emily Race: Beautiful. One thing that's striking me is how the origin of JAMS is really born out of quite tragic circumstances, right, and also a mother's love. And then you have a legacy that's been born from that that is really feeding the community. And so, one question I have to specify a bit, it sounds like you have offerings for all different people, age groups, it doesn't really matter how you [00:07:00] identify, how new or 

Maria Cincotta: yes 

Emily Race: old you are to music, but there is something for everyone here is that correct?

Maria Cincotta: That's totally correct. 

Emily Race: And part of that vision, it sounds like, is to provide the space, from that first iteration of connecting the dots for musical instruments to be shared. 

Maria Cincotta: Yeah. 

Emily Race: To now creating a space where people could come and actually play together. 

Maria Cincotta: Yeah, that's part of the big end goal, is connecting people through music as well.

'Cause a lot of people, especially teens, are strumming their guitars or practicing their rifts alone in their bedrooms and in a really isolated manner, and in my opinion, music is a way to socialize and connect.

And so we provide the space for that and encourage people to connect through music.

Emily Race: Mm. Yeah, on the journey to getting to where you all are now and then looking at what's ahead, who have been some of the key people who've been instrumental, no pun intended, in bringing JAMS to life?

Maria Cincotta: Nancy I spoke of, she's the founder and director and she's been there the whole time working really tirelessly. It's incredible how much she's done actually. She [00:08:00] does the accounting, the fundraising, the grant writing, really every step of the way she's been there. It's been a lot of work for her, but she does it out of passion and joy and dedication to the cause.

That's what keeps all of us going. Her son Cody is the studio manager; he's the one who organizes the bands who want to come and rent out the space. 

We have a board as well. It's a little small at the moment because unfortunately a couple board members passed away last year. We're in the process of board redevelopment, but we're about to embark upon a board retreat; we were awarded a grant from the Santa Barbara Foundation to have the board retreat.

It's an exciting opportunity to connect and figure out how we can develop a great team and reinvent the board. 

We're also in the process of creating a youth advisory board; we have a few young people on that who are also coming to the board retreat, and it's a lovely way to see young people from different places, different colleges, or maybe not from college, connect as well, [00:09:00] because usually we're locked into our little ghettos of activity, be it your neighborhood or your job or your school. But this crosses all those borders and connects folks from all different parts of town. 

Emily Race: I can actually personally attest to having come to the adult jam session. The space itself is so inspirational, from the instruments that are there to the people that show up, and as a newbie to the area it's a great way to connect with new folks.

I am curious because part of this podcast is looking at new ways of relating with ourselves and one another. What would you say is JAMS' belief around education or the role that music plays in our society? 

Maria Cincotta: Part of the belief is that anyone can do it, and so we try to demystify it and make it something that can be accessible to everyone.

 Not to say that reading music is discouraged. But you can come in and already get started at the ground level without having a formal training. We will provide that training, but we like to get folks started and having fun with it as quick as possible, so they can [00:10:00] feel the joy of playing music with others and you don't really need so much knowledge for that actually. And then they can take it to the next level as they go, absolutely, but you'd be surprised how much you can do just with a few chords and a simple beat. 

For example, in our afterschool program, which is all volunteer run by the way, they're teaching these kids instruments and then the kids are forming bands, writing a song, and they're gonna play a show. And these kids come in frequently with no musical background or maybe a little background on a different instrument, and they get started and within just a couple of sessions, they're able to play a little bit together in a very basic manner. And to see the joy that that spreads, is really a special experience. 

Another component is that we encourage creativity. In most of our programs, songwriting is encouraged and is part of the program. My theory is that anyone can play a cover, but only you can write your own special song, and especially songwriting in the context of a band.

This kind of collaboration creatively with one another, it's a special experience. 

Emily Race: Mm. I love that. Going back to the beginning of that answer, there shouldn't be, or there doesn't need to be these barriers, right, to being able to pick up an instrument or use your own voice to sing. There could be so many reasons why people may have a supposed barrier to music, whether it's the cost of a lesson or instrument or having the resources available at their school. If we were to follow the thread of the vision that JAMS has for the world a little bit more, what do you see that looking like, whether it's in the local area or on a larger scale? 

Maria Cincotta: One of my big dreams is to see a real big music and arts community center be built. I have no idea how we'd get a building, but I think if all of the creative nonprofits in town were to collaborate with one another, we could do something really awesome and have a one-stop place where kids and teens could come and do a whole bunch of different creative things. Not just music, but also art. Maybe an all ages club could be involved and a radio [00:12:00] station that's youth run; the possibilities are limitless, and Santa Barbara sure needs something like that. 

I grew up going to all ages clubs in LA and that was a very transformative experience for me. I needed that outlet. And so, I think that kids here need something like that too. 

Emily Race: Do you mind diving into that a little bit more because I'm interviewing you as someone who has grown up with music and really enjoys the process of creativity, and then there may be some listeners who can relate to that and others who may not, maybe this is kind of foreign to them. So what have you seen to be the power of having music as a resource and what that impact can have on an individual?

Maria Cincotta: I could speak from my own musical journey that I was a pretty awkward kid, as kids are. Once I found the DIY music community, sort of indie Rock College radio as a teenager, and found that you can just write your own songs and record them on a four track, and other bands were doing that and getting their songs on the radio. That was very empowering to me. And it helped give me [00:13:00] self-esteem to know that I could do these cool things too, that anyone can.

It's just handing back the power to the people, because when you listen to pop music on the radio or you see people, I don't know, Beyonce, she's amazing, but it's just kind of like, "Oh, I can't put myself in her shoes. I could never do that." But when you see a band like Sebadoh, for example, they're in indie band from the nineties and they were doing a lot on the four track. And so I heard them and I thought, " I can do this." It's feasible and fun and there's a whole community around it. A community of kind of freaks and fun people not, just the, "the normies". It's a special feeling to find your place through music. 

Ever since then, music has connected me with people throughout the world really. It's the universal language that everyone speaks. And you can go to a country where you don't speak the language, which I've done numerous times, and you start playing music with people and there you have it, you're plugged into the community through your music.

It's the unifying human experience, I would say.

Emily Race: Oh my gosh, isn't that the truth? Yeah. It totally is. I'd love for you to speak a bit about your own personal journey; I know that you've had some impact beyond the work that you're doing here with JAMS that led you up to this place. So do you mind sharing a bit about what that's looked like for you?

Maria Cincotta: Yeah, I could. Yeah, definitely 

My journey with music non-profits began in 2001 in Portland. I had just graduated from college about a year prior to that, and I heard through the grapevine that there was going to be a rock camp for girls that some college kid was starting as her thesis project, and I thought that sounded pretty interesting. And so I got involved as a guitar teacher and a band coach, and it was quite a transformative experience for everyone involved just to be in an all girl, all women's space with other folks playing music, really good musicians, inspiring people, and a whole movement and community emerged as a result of that. It was phenomenal. The idea caught on like wildfire and various other rock camps [00:15:00] for girls sprouted up all throughout the country and abroad as well. 

I was living after that in New York City and I got connected with some other women who wanted to start a rock camp for girls out there, so I helped them found one out there, and I was their volunteer coordinator and I worked as a guitar teacher and band coach and again, a really special community coalesced. 

One of the volunteer, it was all volunteer run basically, I think she walked away from a domestic violence situation because she felt so empowered. Bands formed amongst the adults. I found my band through the volunteers there and it's great because it's special both for the kids who participate and the adults who take part. It really speaks to everyone. 

After that I moved to Munich and I started my own rock camp for girls out there too, which was interesting because the whole process of finding money in Germany is pretty easy compared to here. The arts are valued and funded. I was quite fortunate to [00:16:00] have a pretty easy time of setting up the structure and finding the location and having the financing and again, it was all volunteer run. A lot of wonderful ladies from Berlin came down to help out. They had their own rock camp for girls up there that I went and volunteered at a couple times.

I also got plugged into this Girls Rock Camp Alliance, which is basically a larger group that networks all the rock camps so you can exchange ideas and brainstorm on ways to make things better. The one I was involved in was European wide. We had conferences in Sweden and Finland and Skyping all the time with other women doing the same things and sharing our passion and ideas. It was really beautiful. It is basically a movement. 

After that I went to Italy and I tried to do something similar and it wasn't the right place, unfortunately. So that's why I'm extra excited to be back here doing things with music in a way that I find transformative, because I get a lot of joy out of this, [00:17:00] and it's hard if you don't have that outlet. 

Emily Race: A thousand percent. Some things, as themes, that I keep hearing; one, the empowerment piece. It seems to be such a huge undercurrent through this, and that sense of personal power that one gets from the creative experience, but also it sounds like that community aspect amplifies that even more. 

Maria Cincotta: Yeah, absolutely. That's totally it. 

Emily Race: And the other thing as a theme that I wanna underline here, is the volunteer aspect, that it keeps coming up.

You know, obviously funding, we can touch on funding when we talk about support in a bit, but I am really intrigued by this aspect of volunteering. It almost feels like a selfless act of wanting to contribute to something that you wanna see more of, and we live in this capitalist society where everything is so tied to monetary value and what you're making and what you're doing. But there's something actually inspiring about the volunteering aspect. Is there anything on that, that you wanted to touch on?

Maria Cincotta: Yeah, I find it to be the case as well, and unfortunately, the flip side of that would be that not everybody can afford to volunteer, and I wish that that weren't the [00:18:00] case, but it's almost a privilege to have the time to do this. 

On the other hand, the volunteerism brings in the passion, and when you're doing something like this, just with your heart and just with your passion and not for a financial goal, it's all the more special and pure, and you can convey that feeling to the folks you're working with. And it feels different. It's not a business, it's a mission. 

Emily Race: Thank you for also acknowledging that flip side, around the privilege of volunteering. And on that point of supporting, I'd love to hear what support would look like for JAMS for those who are listening, whether they're from Santa Barbara or not, how could we all support what you are all up to?

Maria Cincotta: I mean, if anyone wants to donate, it's quite easy to do so on our website.

 We are a 501c, which means if somebody wants to have an invoice for their donation for tax purposes, we're more than happy to provide that. They would just have to email us in addition so that we know to produce that. 

We also take [00:19:00] instruments that are donated and we can also provide an invoice for that as well. We were creating a musical instrument lending library, in order to provide our participants with instruments so that they can practice between the sessions. Any instruments folks wanna donate are very appreciated. I'm sure there are a ton of people who have a guitar collecting dust in the corner. So, 

Emily Race: But they can bring that guitar and play it at the jam session. Yeah. 

Maria Cincotta: Or I mean, I, I encourage them to play it themselves and not to donate it, but if you absolutely given up, then you might as well donate it to us. 

Another way to support is to get involved volunteering. We have a ton of volunteer roles we can plug people into from publicity to teaching the programs and mentoring these kids in their band practices, and a lot more opportunities as well. If anyone wants to get involved, the sky is the limit, they can email me. 

Emily Race: Amazing. I love to also ask if there's an inquiry or an invitation that you have for folks listening; an action they could take or something for them [00:20:00] to think about? 

Maria Cincotta: If you want to check it out, come to the open jam. That's the best time to feel the spirit of the place and to participate. Or they can just email and see how they can get involved. You can reach me at either maria@jamsmusic.org or info@jamsmusic.org, or you can just check out our website and fill out the contact form.

Emily Race: And for folks who aren't maybe local and can't come in, unfortunately, to the actual place, what invitation do you have for them? Maybe something that they could think about or do differently where they are?

Maria Cincotta: Anyone's more than welcome to donate. If somebody's living somewhere other than Santa Barbara, in a place that doesn't have this kind of thing, I would really recommend that they think about starting something like this. 

Emily Race: Yeah

Maria Cincotta: Because I think every community needs a space where folks can go and connect through music. That would be an invitation to consider providing that space for people or also to consider getting involved in music and to trust yourself, to trust that you can do it.

At the ladies drumming social club that I lead once a week, there are a lot of older women. It's all ages really, but it's so cool to see especially the older women who come in and they're starting something new or maybe they stepped away from music for a few decades and they're coming back into it and it's very brave. But it doesn't have to be. It shouldn't be brave. It should actually just be normal.

I would have a call out for folks to just go for it if you've wanted to play music but had some sort of block. Just go for it. 

Emily Race: I'm glad you actually used the word brave because speaking from my own experience as someone who never really grew up playing music in community, to actually go to one of these jam sessions, it took a bit of courage, but then it was such a welcoming environment. There was no judgment. It was all fun. 

And I agree that if someone's not in Santa Barbara and listening to this, but is inspired to just even reach out to some folks on Craigslist or go the old fashioned way of sending out a message board or something at your local coffee shop, because I think you'd be surprised to see how many other musicians[00:22:00] or aspiring musicians are in your area. 

Maria Cincotta: Absolutely. 

Emily Race: Thank you for bringing that. 

Maria Cincotta: Yeah. 

Emily Race: That awareness. 

Maria Cincotta: Thank you, and on that note, as it were, one thing that we try to cultivate in all of our programs, but especially in the open jams is this welcoming vibe and really a non-hierarchical atmosphere.

Sometimes I'll get inquiries; people write, "What's up with the jam? What level are the players?" And I'm kind of allergic to that question because it's for all levels and you can have a really good player who might not be able to follow a song. 

Emily Race: Mm-hmm.

Maria Cincotta: or to transpose a piece on the fly or to play by ear or to write a song. You know, there are so many different ways of identifying " levels" and what is "good", and I think all musicians have their own strengths and weaknesses, and that is to be respected and not to be judged. 

Everybody's welcome. Even if you just wanna come and sing or come and hang out, it has to be welcoming, because I don't see music as an elitist project. 

Emily Race: Mm-hmm. [00:23:00] Although there definitely have been elitist programs out there for music and that's 

Maria Cincotta: absolutely, 

Emily Race: and that's the unfortunate thing. I think what's so wonderful is back to what you said about music being a global language and that there doesn't have to be these barriers to access, which is what JAMS is here for. 

Maria Cincotta: Yeah.

Emily Race: Well, thank you so much, Maria, for all the work that you're doing personally and that JAMS is doing collectively, and I'm excited to see some of these programs come to life and continue to be part of the community.

Maria Cincotta: One more thing, sorry, it's kind of a non sequitur that I didn't throw in but I wanted to, is that we're looking to expand into sound healing and sound baths as well. So that's like up, up and coming on the horizon as well. 

Emily Race: Coming soon. Wow. 

Maria Cincotta: Yeah. 

Emily Race: That's amazing. Again, a testament to how there's really no limits to what can be created in this community. I love it. 

Maria Cincotta: Yeah. 

Emily Race: Okay. Anything else for our listeners before we wrap up? 

Maria Cincotta: Just get in touch. Everyone's welcome. So yeah, don't hesitate to get in touch and get involved. 

Emily Race: Amazing. Well thank you again Maria, and hopefully [00:24:00] this left people inspire to start writing a tune of their own and join a session.

Maria Cincotta: Perfect. Thank you so much, Emily. 

Emily Race: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Founding Mothers Podcast. This podcast is produced and hosted by me, Emily Race, and edited by Eric Weisberg. 

If you want to support the show, please leave us a rating or share this episode with the important people in your life. We'd also love to hear from you if you or someone you know who would be a great guest to share about their vision for the world. You can email emily@founding-mothers.com or visit www.founding-mothers.com.