Ain’t it the Gospel Truth
Music
Situational Awareness – the key to great teamwork and leadership (in music and anything else)
May 14th
As clinical and dry as the title reads, I promise not to write a treatise on something new-agey and boring. I’m not trying to sell you a book or convince you to hire me as a consultant to help motivate your team. I’m just jotting down some thoughts that have come to me from my years of working all sorts of bands.
I’m going to draw my experience from my music background – music in a large group situation requires just as much if not more teamwork as team sports. As a trumpet player, I’ve been in all the seats, I’ve led a section and I’ve played the last chair. I’ve had a taste of everything and I’ve played in enough groups to know what works and what doesn’t.
Here’s the secret to it all… Situational Awareness.
Lets look at it from the team player perspective. Let’s use the music example: let’s say you have a player on the 4th chair. At the very basic level of teamwork, this player will perform the music exactly as written with no regard for anything that occurs around him. If performed competently (which many players still struggle to reach this), there will be nothing particular bad or particular good about this performance. In this situation it is a pure 1+1=2 situation – the player adds himself to the equation but nothing else.
This is sort of where my ideas break down. There are few players who are technically competent AND show no sense of situational awareness… but I digress…
When playing in a band, situation awareness means you must be aware of what your section leader is doing, what the other sections of the band are doing, and what the conductor is doing. I put the conductor last because he/she is the first person most players look to when performing with a group but in reality the conductor is really the only one in a musical group who is NOT creating music. Educators will love to disagree with me on this – that’s their job – to drill into less accomplished players that there is only one source of musical guidance. It’s centralization of power, they don’t want to loose that.
The truth is, the conductor is simply a means for the musicians to have a common adjudicator. Yes, he/she is the only thing you need to be aware of, is silly. To even say he/she is the most important thing is really far too much simplification (jazz bands rarely need conductors). The conductor is like a traffic director, the musicians are the ones driving the car. Imagine if you were at an intersection, if you stared at the traffic director the entire time, you could still end up the ramming the car in front of you.
The answer is “Situational Awareness” – be aware of what you’re doing and how it fits into the big picture. Back to the 4th trumpet player- if he has a G on the 3rd beat – the question now is what’s the point of that note? Is that G octave doubling the lead? Is the lead playing it short or long? Is the rhythm swinging it or playing it straight? Is that G a third in a major chord (in that case you’ll want to play it a bit flat). Is that note part of a melody section or are the trumpets doing hits at that point. Are the drums setting you up there? Is the passage leading to a melodic section? Are you going sharp or flat? All these factors are important in how you play that note – and you make those decisions by being AWARE of your surroundings and anticipating what’s coming next. If you do that, we get a situation where 1+1>2.
Notice I didn’t mention what dynamic or what’s written on the music. Sheet music is just a suggestion – a darn good one though. Sheet music is NOT music, it gets interpreted into music. I’m so EFFING sick of people asking me what dynamic is written or what the tempo marking is. I don’t play piano (soft) because the music says to play piano. I play soft because that’s what would sound good. Of course, dynamic markings are all relative anyways. My rant on tempo markings will be saved for another night….
Now in terms of leadership, it should be pretty obvious how situational awareness plays in. A section leader needs to know precisely what’s happening and respond correctly. The further you go up the command chain, the more aware of what’s going on and how to communicate to the different individuals in the group. A good leader needs to be aware of what those under him/her are dealing with as well in order to adjust and alter the plan of attack.
That’s about a gist of some of the things running through my head. Leave a comment if anything makes sense or you totally disagree!
Popularity: 7% [?]
The Christmas Musical Draws to a Close
Dec 14th
It seemed like it went by all too fast. About 5 days ago I was worried about “hell week” – a 5 day marathon of taxing playing. But now after three performances of the Christmas Musical, it seemed to go by all too quickly.
And I still haven’t had my fill of Christmas music this year. I suppose there’s still two weeks to go…
Here are the two highlights of my night.
The first is me, in the style of Martin Luther an his theses, nailing the high Eb against the wall of the church at the end of Act I:
The sound from my chair when that beautiful Eb reverberated through the hall was simply invigorating.
And the second highlight of my evening was nailing a really cool piccolo trumpet lick for the first time in three nights:
All this accomplished while I was feeling sick and exhausted having set up the video and recording equipment. I think you can see it in my face.
So there really is a lot of different emotions going through me right now. Generally I’m happy with my final (and recorded performance). I’ll spare you the pain of listening to my rather pretty solo being ruined by a clam at the end. Otherwise, I had a rather nice night of playing.
There are a couple thoughts I want to hit upon for my own personal reflection. And yes, I will venture into what may be deemed as dangerous territory.
First of all is the concept I touched on about two weeks ago in my post about the human element. One of the things I was talking about is the fact that as a trumpet player – I bring a certain skill set to the table. Not to toot my own horn (puns!), but I bring a fairly solid commercial sound to a group. I’m extremely careful about my tuning and although I could certainly be better, I’m fairly grounded in the “semi-pro” arena.
Here’s the deal, there are other trumpet players who are certainly not near my level. I know personally a few people in this area that I would say are gladly equal and better than I am. I play with them, and I’m perfectly happy to play under them. But I will not play 2nd fiddle to someone who is not as good.
I’m not going on an ego trip here. I certainly can hear the flaws of the picc solo (although that first excerpt is frankly flawless 
). I’m just saying it’s foolish to think that I can be replaced with someone off the streets or who plays lead in high school. Unless that kid is a prodigy and in that case I’ll gladly play second.
I think this reaction is a response to an attitude that I think I’m seeing in this musical group and in a few others. It’s this cobbling together of players without really any idea of their playing ability. Does so-and-so play trumpet – okay, bring him/her in. I really don’t mind students sitting in to learn how these shows work, but seriously let the experienced ones do the heavy lifting.
Which brings me to another experience recently with this musical that I’d honestly would rather no experience again. There was from high school who came in a couple rehearsals ago that on very first impression (having only heard him warm up as I walked into the hall) seemed very enthusiastic. But then upon actually meeting him and hearing him talk, he became very annoying.
Very Very Annoying.
Like, why are you sitting in the 1st trumpet chair annoying.
Like, quit bitching about how your band sucks because you can’t play in tune to save your life. And quit blaming my 70+ year old trumpet player friend for all your bad notes you little punk.
The kid would not shut up during rehearsal, making smart alec remarks to the director the whole time (loud enough so the director would hear). He acted like he was everybody’s smart ass friend – absolutely no decorum. And frankly, no talent.
Just a punk ass kid with his head shoved up his ass.
I know that kind of narcissism is really a sign of massive insecurity. I’m sure it is. He’s got plenty to be insecure about. He sucks.
Coming off of some other crap, I wasn’t afraid to pull seniority and weight on him. I know I’m better by miles. So after the first rehearsal where he clawed his way to second, I sent him down to play third. The first reason was because having someone playing that poorly around me (missing partials and hitting notes that are WAY off) makes me worse. The second reason (which may be the most important one), I was afraid I was going to deck him if I didn’t get him far away from me.
And no – he’s not in that pic above, so there!
The final bit I wanted to touch on tonight is the subject of high notes. Trumpet players live for high notes. As you can see by my posting two excerpts above. There’s a reason why – they sound extremely cool. It’s a great feeling to nail a note that sits in just right. It’s sonic purity – getting all the wavelengths to line up like that. It’s high brass heaven.
Not everyone can play high notes.
Or more accurately, not everyone plays them right.
My poor friend Joe. To hear him painfully warm up trying to reach a high G. It’s pinched and nasally. There’s nothing exciting or sizzling about it. For one, it’s out of tune. And he’s argued with me that high notes don’t need to be in tune. Totally WRONG. High notes, because of their piercing quality, need to be “more in tune” than anything else.
If the high note sits right in tune, it peaks of the wavelength play pretty with all the other notes of the chord. Like I said, sonic purity! If a high not is out of tune, it clashes because with such a high frequency, it has many opportunities to mash against the other notes in the chord.
And this is what I think why a lot of musicians/teachers who don’t “get” what high notes are about get tangled up in. They deal with a lot of kids who think, “Gee, I fingered a F on the valves, that must mean I hit a high F” while realistically, they overshot by 30 cents.
High note playing is something that requires a lot of practice and a lot of ear training. You need to start hearing what the correct pitches are suppose to be. For me, it took a long time in front of a tuner but I was determined to get those pitches into my head. I had a really hard time with it this summer, but I’m a lot closer now than I was a year or two ago.
So I can understand why some just don’t “get it” – they listen to the wannabes and think that’s all there is.
Okay, long post… but I’ll touch on one last thing.
I think I’ve been trying too hard to push myself in the MSJC college band. I did too much above the ledger playing trying to get myself to a usable double C. I can hit that, though not terribly well, but right now it is beyond my grasp. High F and Gs are really my usable limit – I need to build that strength up more and keep things around that range and slowly work up.
And sometimes I need to remember that I am not a professional musician. I’ve chosen something else as my profession and passion. This is my second love.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Day One of MSJC Jazz Concerts is Done!
Dec 10th
Yay – the first of the two MSJC concerts is done. Now only 4 taxing concerts left.
I think I had a decent night – much better than I originally expected. My confidence in my lip has been waning over the past few months but I think I made it through. Although my note accuracy isn’t what it should be, the tone and tuning are certainly there. And I’m not just going on my impression/memory – I have a recording to go by.
Here’s my quick solo during “Take Some Time” – tomorrow I’ll try to come up with a better ending:
[wpaudio url="http://www.gospeljohn.net/wp-content/uploads/Take-Some-Time-Excerpt.mp3" text="Take Some Time Except"]
So I think the reason I had a decent night came from two things. I located my lip balm that I haven’t been using but should have. It was in my black striped shirt. I really needed that chap stick because my lips have been bad for weeks. Secondly, I had a nice 20 minute warm-up. All sorts of notes including a lot of high stuff but also some low range “warm down” notes. A little bit of everything, but not enough to tire out.
And I also traded Joe a Bach 10C mouthpiece for something called TrueTone 7D mouthpiece. That sucker is fat… It’s good for ballads where you don’t want to go full on Flugelhorn but you want that mellowness…
Tomorrow’s another show!
Popularity: 2% [?]
The Weird Strange Divide between Classical and Commercial
Dec 8th
As I prepare for yet another “Hell week” in terms of playing (5 days of straight VERY taxing performances), I start thinking of the massive divide that exists between the world of the “Classical” Musician and the “Commercial” (Jazz and Pop) Musician.
I was becoming somewhat aware of this back when I was playing Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in my conversations with the classically trained musicians (the violin/viola/flute). I revisited that very world once again when I played the Messiah last night.
Okay, quick side note – I really don’t get why a lot of trumpet players fret when it comes to playing the Messiah. A trumpet player plays maybe 4 or 5 numbers during the Messiah (we only got to 3 because they didn’t do “The Trumpet Shall Sound” – even then, as a 2nd player, I wouldn’t be playing). It’s pretty straight forward music – a little difficult to play with that classical “baroque tone”.
Anyhow, I got to play with an excellent trumpet player also from that classical world and I got to see that divide again. To simplify the explanation I’ll go over some of the differences and I’ll use the word Jazz in place of Commercial (sorry, I’m not in the mental state to make them funny – they’re just observations).
- Classical Musicians have Beethoven, Stravinski, and Debussy / A Jazz Musician has Miller, Basie, and Nestico
- A Classical Trumpet Player owns an Eb Trumpet / A Jazz Player owns a Flugelhorn
- A Classical Player talks about recitals that went bad / A Jazz Player talks about gigs that went sour
- A Classical Trumpet Player is inspired by Maurice Andre / A Jazz Trumpet Player was inspired by Maynard
- A Classical Player has to study Claude Gordon Technique / A Jazz Player has listen to a lot of records
- A Classical Trumpet Player has to count hundreds of measures / A Jazz player waits for the cue or just “feels it”
- A Classical Trumpet Player talks about playing Mahler / A Jazz Trumpet Player usually won’t remember who the arranger is
- A Classical Musician tries to interpret what the composer was trying to say / A Jazz Musician says what he wants to say
- A Classical Musician plays the passage the same every time / A Jazz Musician has a lot more leeway in how the show goes
- A Classical Musician wears a tux / A Jazz Musician wears a black collared shirt (but only if he has to dress up)
That’s all I can come up with now. I’m sure I could write some funny ones but I’d have to stoop to a lot of stereotypes. Although a lot of what I wrote borders on the stereotype – there’s a lot of nuggets of the divide that I see between the two worlds.
Bah, now I’m rabbling. It’s been a tough few weeks and it’s going to be a tough 5 days of performances.
Popularity: 2% [?]
If you don’t want to be heard, DON’T SHOW UP
Apr 18th
From a post on FilmmakerIQ.com
So I set up the audio for a small community big band that I work with. I used to play with them but I’m so tired of playing the same rinky dinky music with the same rinky dinky attitude that I resigned my self more to full on audio tech and “conductor”.
Rinky dinky music is fine, if you approach it with a serious attitude.
I set up the mics for this group. 3 mics for 4 saxes… the Baritone sax gets his own mic. I set it up last night and go do something else.
When the show started and I got into my conductor position, the baritone sax’s mic was pointed away from the sax and over at nothing…
WTF???
This guy always does this. He doesn’t want to play into a mic.
In fact, nobody in the group wants to play into a mic… they’re all so afraid of their “sound”
Hello! I’m trying to record this assholes! (which was an unmitigated disaster). Even if I wasn’t recording this, you NEED TO PLAY INTO A MICROPHONE for sound reinforcement and balance.
Why do I even bother setting up this sound system if you guys won’t use it.
Okay, first let me set up the cold hard reality of playing in a big band. Every part is important for different reasons (some are more important than others). Each person is playing a DIFFERENT part so they all need to be heard together. Secondly, the sound from where you sit in a big band is sounds completely different from what the audience hears (especially if you don’t have monitors). You think you’re playing loud enough because you match what you hear, you’re way too soft. If you think you can cuddle up and hide inside the group, you’re wrong.
Or this attitude, I’m going to play my part so only I can hear it.
WHAT’S THE FUCKING POINT OF THAT!?!?
Get on the mic – then I can adjust you (live because this band “doesn’t need” a sound check). We heavily mic the saxes because we have this antiquated notion that the saxes are some how not as loud as the brass…
That’s another thing I can’t stand. I play trumpet. I am capable of pumping more wattage through that horn than most people I play with. For that, I am “well known”… but I’m not some cro-magnon that can’t tone it down. Guess what, I can play softer than most everyone I play with as well. I can play “purdy” too. And purdy stuff deserves to be heard of annoyingly loud sax work.
Back on point.
Seriously, why do you even bother showing up if you don’t want to be heard?
It stopped being funny years ago.
Popularity: 2% [?]