When I was 19, I went to college for 2 quarters and then dropped out for a few years before changing my major. One thing I'll never forget from those times were my music classes. I took Music Appreciation, Introduction to Jazz, a Music concert experience class, Music theory, Marching Band, and Orchestra. I didn't have a music scholarship because they weren't going to give me much money. No, I was there on an academic scholarship because I worked hard on my grades as a high school kid, BUT I wanted to be a music major at the time (that didn't last . . .).
It was equally painful when it was my academic performance in Music Theory that cost me my full ride. I got a C-, which was my worst grade ever, and a painful realization that I wasn't going to make it as a music major. But what I was thinking about today were the high moments of those 2 quarters! Being in a Marching Band with a full percussion line was epic. I met a lifelong friend there. Introduction to Jazz gave me a love for Coltrane and Miles Davis . . . but today I want to focus on a cool moment that happened during Orchestra.
The other drummers, and really the whole band, were way better than me, and pretty much everyone had a major attitude about our conductor. The comments generally were that he was hard to follow, the orchestral music he wrote was strange, and in general they all just seemed to dismiss him as not being good. I don't know if any of them really paid him much attention up there while he was slinging his baton. For some reason, he just hadn't earned the respect of the band.
I didn't get to stretch my chops much, and the older and more veteran players stuck me on the giant bass drum, which had a relatively simple part where I didn't play much. That said, it felt like the stakes were high, and I was intimidated with imposter syndrome to the gills thanks to realizing my skills weren't quite what I thought they were. (College was an eye opener)
So there I was one day, and I was reading the music, playing, and watching our conductor. All of a sudden, he was looking at me and really threw his directing fist in my direction, so I responded by playing louder. He did it again, and a third time, and each time I responded as well. He stopped the whole band, and said that I had impressed him right there, and as far as he was concerned I had what it took to go far in orchestral music.
The rest of the drummers that were playing along looked over at me, and said, "What did you do?" Again, intimidated and not knowing I did anything special, I just said, "I'm not sure." They all silently chuckled and continued to dismiss him as crazy. I hadn't put it together yet.
The truth as I've come to believe it is that I watched him, I responded to him, and we communicated together as the music was playing despite what the music on the sheet said to do. I like to believe that I showed a non-musical, musical talent, which is the "ability to follow the lead."
Two thoughts:
- So many times in life ego gets in the way of collaborative cooperation, and I've seen it happen several times when someone goes too strong in the project because they think they know the end product better than those that direct them. That technical excellence sometimes taints the project, and it creates what I would term "well-intentioned dissonance."
- Reacting with your lead when direction is applied can be incredibly satisfying, and especially when you see excellent results together because of that labor. I think that shift away from personal ego and toward shared ego is the essence of building an excellent camaraderie and great work experiences.
. . . and that's how I see it as a C- music student dropout who was also told I could go far in orchestral music by a conductor who had no respect from his band.
What does this have to do with a video game blog?
I have a few MMORPG parallels that are coming to mind (saw someone rage and delete his account just the other day), but I'll let you put your own fine print with that in the comments. I just wanted to get that experience out there since it was rolling around in my brain today.
Happy Dueling!
No comments:
Post a Comment