After listening to a member of London Symphony Orchestra on BBC Radio 3 last week about the stress and pressure that the musicians were under as part of the LSO, it got me thinking about how as a musician, and specifically either a session musician or member of an orchestra (which in essence is a glorified session musician - however being part of the LSO or SFSO is always seen as a more prestige gig rather than being session musician for George Michael, Roger Waters or Rob Thomas) would feel the pressure and strain of what is in fact reciting and replaying someone else's music? As well as the lady talking about the pressure and strain of performing every night!!
As a past musician and live performer I found this quite a weird statement - the joy of playing live in front of an audience where you never know what the reaction will be, how they will gel with your sound and how they will react to your songs. As the main front man and occasional guitarist it was in my control (even power) to either step up the tempo and pace of a gig or slow down and calm and over active audience down. At the same time we could, as long as the rest of the band were "with me" start some improvisation and start to change the shape and structure of our songs by extending into some fractal display of virtuosity and live "jam session" or as I recall back in the late 1980's had a tendency to run songs over 8mins long - so we could cut off tracks and wrap them up in quick smart time - especially good if playing in a packed out pub and the landlord has called time as we start playing the final encore that is supposed to last 11mins but cut that neatly down to a more compact 3min 30sec!
And that is when I sort of twigged it - surely it can't be the thrill and excitement of performing to a live audience - but the expectation that is bestowed on them, not as individuals but as a single unit.
Ready to perform and play and interpret pieces of music in a specific way, specific style and specific manner. This will either come from the musical director, conductor, art director, musician - and not the individual.
So using a couple of examples here lets take my Radio 3 lady - let's say that she plays violin as part of the SFSO - they have a tour of West Coast and have 30 dates in 40 days just over a performance per night - heavy going but nothing too bad (remember Elvis was doing matinees as well as evening performances in Vegas to keep the Colonel happy!! They have a varied repertoire but mainly Mozart & Beethoven.
Our violinist although proficient and technically a good player - is not a lead and is neither a virtuoso - so she is part of the 20 strong orchestra fronted by their superb Director / Conductor - who has spent the last 10 months preparing and adding his own take and unique style into the program for the tour. Our intrepid SFSO violinist has also spent months learning, interpreting and in some cases changing a specific style. She may already be very familiar with the pieces that she has to perform and probably learned these as she crafted her skill and musicianship. Talented she probably also read the music and interpret her own thoughts and feelings around what is a very passionate and moving experience - the playing and performing of music. So our trusted and respected director thinks that elements of the piece should be aggressive, fast paced and challenging - whilst our violinist actually thinks that the composer would have wanted the movement to be more profound and meaningful rather than aggressive - then she is immediately challenged to curtail her own personal expression and curtail her own interpretation - which must be hard to perform in this way night in and night out. I'm sure that the endless rehearsals and practice sessions would have knocked her into an almost robotic and hypnotic state by the time of the debut performance.
However now I start to empathize with her and her stress and almost "torture" of the performance that she does not get lost in the music and drift off into her own and valid interpretation of the piece. To some this may sound simple way of listen, learn and play - but as a real musician who is passionate about music, its emotiveness and the power that it can bring - this really is a tough gig for her and by the time the 30th and final date rolls in she probably has had to suppress her desire and individualism 29 times already. So now I get it!!
The same could be said for session musicians as well - but perhaps on a lesser scale. These guys and girls will be chosen and picked by the lead artist, lets say Rob Thomas, where he needs a backing band for a handful of dates for a solo tour. The first element is to learn the songs from his solo album, and how Rob wants these interpreted from studio to live. Rob maybe open to suggestion - but as an artist who has crafted these songs he will know himself how he wants these to sound and appear to a live audience. Then there is the selected tracks from his Matchbox Twenty albums - that after selling millions will be in the heart and minds of both Rob and the fans - but also the sessions musicians may well be fans and as per the last example - have their own thoughts and views on the catalogue that they are about to perform. However as this is a solo tour - Rob may want to change some of the well known songs into different arrangements - while exciting and great to be part of this - again there is a constant urge to either perform what they already know from the recordings or how they would interpret the songs...
Session musicians and members of orchestras will enjoy and love the live performances and even though they are suppressed in some ways - the trill of playing live should always overcome any loss of individualism - and what you will find is that they will in most cases work doubly hard as to express themselves fully - by either performing in their own ensemble or band - as well as their own writing...
And in reflection of writing a pure Blog post that didn't really cover anything in my work life, but mostly in my past life - I started to think that there are some similarities in what I do day to day as a Consultant as I no longer tread the boards of live musical performances!
How?
Well I have a “stage” as such normally a board room or small meeting room (occasionally a nice big stage!) to perform on - I present, talk, discuss, share and passionately explore ideas and solutions to help my clients, and prospect clients. However sometimes during this process I am part of a bigger "ensemble" and team that must deliver a set piece that actually I or the rest of the team may not agree with nor conform to - as it may be part of another's interpretation of what is being delivered or asked for - or some sort of compromise that we actually don't agree with. This means that we, just as the musicians in my example, must play to a different tune and suppress the individualism and personal expression while still delivering some great results!
These are the challenges of life I guess and its not just musicians or consultants - but very recently I was allowed to perform not within any constraints and with a great team with me (well one - he knows who he is MM ;) and wow what a feeling and result! But just as the edge comes off a great performance there is rumblings in the horizon that is now asking us to play a different tune, band another beat again, but at what cost? We can perform again, change the tempo, follow, play and suppress - but who really misses out the professional performer? or the audience? That same audience that sat through the original 4hr performance and was sold on the idea, sold on the original performance, bought the t-shirt, album and program and already set up for the next performance??
