Everyone is a delicate snowflake with a genius vision that demands realization, but there is no escaping an attention starved bassist who won’t stop playing in the same register as the guitar, the drummer that insists on extravagant fills in every measure, or the five hundred decibel keyboard player acting as if they’re in a one-man band. Granted this was my experience in bands with different friends over the years as an amateur, but even pros cannot escape this creative tug of war.
When new musicians first play in a band it seems like writing and playing will always be a joyous symphony of collaboration, but nobody anticipates how conflicts within the group shape the sound. On the surface it seems like playing with band mates should be something easily achievable by those with enough talent and determination, but too often egos collide. In reality playing in a band is a delicate balancing act to achieve the right sound through either musical chemistry, technical ability or both. In the process of discovering the right blend of people and talent, artistic differences amongst members usually lead to intense conflict. The source of conflict may change depending on the genre of music, but it always either leads to the demise of a group or results in great and enduring music.
"If playing music with certain people can be so contentious then why do musicians continue playing with those they grow to despise?"
It’s been said before by many musicians; being in a band is the equivalent of being in a relationship. Rarely do all sides agree on decisions made, it takes commitment, compromise, and inevitably people grow apart from conflicting desires. Where bands differ from standard relationships, unless you’re a duo, is in the fact that members have to deal with the added challenge of multiple competing egos and creative desires. For any group in any genre to last years or decades with the same people is simply amazing. The real irony is that some of the longest lasting and most popular groups secretly, or openly, hate each other. Google the phrase “bands that hate each other,” if you want to be horribly disillusioned. This is not to say band mates can never coexist peacefully throughout their careers, but no matter how much people in a band get along something inevitably breaks the peace. Of course, it could emanate from some of the human apes' lesser qualities, like cheating, lying, or greediness, but for the purpose of this article the focus is on the creative process of writing and playing music. Sometimes it is a temporary bump in the road, but for many groups they either learn to live with the tension or allow it to fester into a wound that kills the band.
If playing music with certain people can be so contentious then why do musicians continue playing with those they grow to despise? It can’t be for money alone. If that were the case every band in existence with any amount of notoriety would stay together until old age, or until relegated to the state fair circuit. Conversely, bands already worth millions would have no reason to continue enduring their disdain for one another, and yet bands like The Rolling Stones, who have famously battled one another, still tour well into their golden years. It might also be that musical chemistry between certain people is so strong they are willing to set aside their differences in pursuit of the rush awaiting them onstage, or writing a great song, which they cannot achieve with any other configuration of people.
Open conflict amongst band mates seems to be prevalent in popular music, but rarely do we hear jazz artists, or Classical musicians airing their creative dirty laundry in public. It's hard to imagine a flautist for the New York Philharmonic having thoughts of jamming a wand into the conductor’s aorta, but certainly some level of creative drama exists in the lesser publicized musical arts.
One of the most famous Jazz drummers of all time, Buddy Rich, was notorious for having a short temper with band mates, and even audience members, if they did anything that went against the grain of his musical temperament. He was once quoted berating a woman in the audience by saying, “This isn't the Metropole. Would you act like that if this was Segovia playing at Carnegie Hall? When I go to hear somebody, I don't want some broad screaming in my ear.”
Aside from being abrasive with an audience member he draws the parallel between himself and Segovia, arguably the most renowned classical guitarist of all time. The implication is that jazz musicians deserve as much reverence and respect as classical players receive, because of the intense virtuosity and dedication required to perform either type of music at such a high level.
Of course, Rich’s band mates received much worse tongue lashings from him than rude audience members received. Just listen to the expletive laden tirade of Buddy yelling at his band. Jazz and Classical musicians are focused on serving the music through mastery of their instrument and painstaking deliberation of every note, which likely explains Rich’s attitude towards anyone that doesn’t perform to his exacting standards. The cultivation of technical ability in instrumentation or composition is usually not the focus in other forms of popular music. It does not rely upon virtuosity or strict adherence to a style of music, and instead affords bands in genres, such as Rock and R&B for example, the freedom to be fluid in cultivating onstage personas, developing signature sounds, and defining their role in the zeitgeist.
"The difference in other forms of popular music is that conflicts within a group usually center around control over song writing or direction of the band's sound and aesthetic"
For instance, Jazz musicians refer to practicing their instrument as “woodshedding” or “shedding” for short. The term implies that mastering an instrument and a piece of music requires hours of practice each day in an isolated environment before stepping foot on stage. Similarly, Classical musicians will practice 6 or more hours a day for weeks or months prior to a recital in order to prepare. I know this because a good friend of mine studied classical guitar performance in graduate school. He and other classical guitar players could never acknowledge how amazing their ability was because of the hypercritical nature inherent to playing classical music. If one note wasn’t sustained a tenth of a second long enough, or a slight miss pluck occurred, the performance was garbage in their minds. This obsessive pursuit of perfection is the source of drama between musicians in genres like Jazz and Classical, in my opinion.
The difference in other forms of popular music is that conflicts within a group usually center around control over song writing or direction of the band's sound and aesthetic, not so much about technical prowess or obsessing on how every note is played. However, the common thread in all genres seems to be that great music is achieved by an indefinable chemistry amongst those playing.
Although Jazz and Classical music tend to adhere to a particular sound and structure, there is still a great deal of personal interpretation imparted into the music. There is a reason why Buddy Rich, Charlie Parker, or Miles Davis are synonymous with Jazz, or why Segovia is universally known as one of the greatest classical guitarists to ever live. Their playing style resonates with the audience and is an unmistakable sound that only those artists are capable of creating. When Segovia played Bach, to the discerning ear there is no mistaking his rendition of Bach as coming from a different guitarist.
This is one characteristic that spans across musical genres, and any artform for that matter. Every artist leaves a unique fingerprint of themselves in their work. That is what makes group dynamics amongst musicians interesting. Each person brings a particular sound and playing style to the table. Serious musicians will relentlessly play with different people to practice and find a group configuration that produces the sound they are seeking. Sometimes there is nothing particularly interesting about a certain configuration of musicians, but every once in a while, with the right group of people, the musical chemistry is undeniable. While this may not be the only reason for a group staying together in spite of their mutual hatred for one another, it certainly is a good reason.
