[Harp-L] San Francisco/Amateurs and pros

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks to all who responded with offers of jams, gigs, and companionship
on my latest trip to San Francisco.  In the actual event, I wound up
spending my time from 8AM-11PM every day on work-related stuff, so was
unable to take advantage of the great opportunities offered me.  I'm
going back in April, and perhaps we can hook up then.

Two of the work-related things I did in SF actually involved musical
performances.  I was asked to sit in with the band playing at a party
for my colleagues, and I was asked to organize and lead a band of my
colleagues playing at a company party.  The first performance was very
professional, and the second was thoroughly amateur -- at least one of
the players had only played once with other musicians in front of a live
audience.  The contrast between the two events prompted me to think
about a few of the things that separate pro players from amateurs.  Here
they are:

1)  Pros listen better.
Pros are constantly aware of what everyone else on stage is playing. 
They listen carefully and respond fast.  I had a hell of a time just
getting the amateurs to look up and pay attention to what was going on
around them -- they were much too absorbed in what they were playing
themselves.

2)  Pros play less, and they don't step on the singers.
The pros are perfectly content to play one note every minute, if that
happens to be the right note for the song.  The amateurs played every
second, no matter what else was happening.  I had to constantly remind
the guitarists not to solo while the singers were singing, for example.

3)  Pros don't play all-out all the time.
Pros know that you can't climax all the time -- like Debussy said, music
has to have some boring parts for the big moments to work.  The amateurs
played lots of notes at top volume all the time, unless I signaled
frantically to bring it down.  (See item #1 above.)

The main message here is this: some of the biggest things that make
amateurs sound like pros have very, very little to do with riffs and
instrumental technique.  It's all about listening, paying attention, and
playing just enough to make the whole band sound good. Anyone who can
play at all, regardless of technical accomplishment, can learn to do
that, and make a bigger contribution to the sound of the band.

As it happened, both performances were successful.  With the amateurs, I
made sure everyone on stage knew it was a party, not a concert, and the
audience appreciated the opportunity to party with their friends. After
all, you can't spell funk without fun.  With the pros, I made sure not
to screw up the very polished performance they brought to the stage,
played my one big solo, and otherwise did my best to lock into the horn
section of sax and trumpet.   

Thanks, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com