Jamroulette

In the organizer's words:

Jamroulette is one of the most dazzling jam sessions in the Ruhr region. The success story of this event series began in 2011 and continues to magically attract musicians from all over the Ruhr region.

Then, every month, musicians* meet again in Dortmund's Fritz-Henßler-Haus in the heart of the city and play songs with each other that are only created in that moment, on stage and in front of an audience.

Unlike other jam sessions, however, this one is moderated like a roulette game. A "croupier" operates the specially designed roulette wheel, which presents the respective bands with small challenges ("game winnings"), which are redeemed directly on stage. These can be musical guidelines (e.g. tempo, style, chord sequences, etc.), text guidelines (instruction manual, textbook...) but also emotions and "audience jokers" can hit the band. Somewhere between relaxed and fast-paced, rhythms, lyrics, harmonies and melodies of various styles will evolve. Should the song get out of hand, the infamous "Rien ne va plus" glitter buzzer comes into play and the band crunches a crisp song ending out of the speakers together within 30 seconds - then the wheels can be turned again.

That this goes hand in hand with a lot of fun and always reliably produces moments in which the musical quality of the music improvised in this way is simply stunning, is something that thousands of visitors have been able to convince themselves of over the past few years.

It doesn't matter if you already have session experience or not. You don't have to be a professional - what counts is that you can listen well and take a step back.

Bring your instrument, your sticks or your vocal chords and come along.

Admission is free, backline is provided.