Motivating Musicians as a Bandleader
New York, NY
I’m a music director for theatre companies, which means that I spend a lot of time as a bandleader. I landed my first national tour when I was 25-years-old and, to be frank, largely inexperienced in management and motivating people. Before I left for tour I scoured the score, took extra conducting lessons, researched the history of the show, worried about how best to indicate each cut-off, and packed my bags for a 9-month bus-and-truck.
By the time we had our first break, though, I realized that it was management, and not music, that was the most difficult part of a gig like that. I went to the library as soon as I was home and checked out books on management, team leading, working with different personality types, and anything else I could that would give me a crash course in being the boss.
The truth is that being a conductor, or a band leader, is just as much about dealing with people as it is dealing with the material. You must have an expert understanding of the material, yes, but that alone won’t net you the results you need. You also need to know how to motivate musicians to do their best.
All to often in my side of the business, producers hire as few musicians as possible, pay the musicians as little as possible, place them in cramped pits, thank them once on opening night, and once on closing night, threaten to fire them at the smallest provocation, sometimes ask them to play the most inane music, sometimes to pre-recorded click track, and they complain when they don’t sound like the New York Philharmonic. Does that sound motivating? No. But it is still the band leader’s job to get as good a product as the musicians can produce, and we have to find out how to do that.
Two Examples
Let me give you two recent examples. A few shows back I had a bass player who had talent and training, but missed a rehearsal, brought the wrong gear and, when he did come, showed up late. He was a young, but very skilled musician – but he never shed his part and he often strayed from the ink to insert his own improvised approximations of the score.
Famous (and Infamous)
Bandleaders
Toscanini
Leonard Bernstein
Buddy Rich
(Warning: explicit language)
In the next show I had a reed player who played great sax, but was having trouble with the flute and clarinet parts. Doubling isn’t an easy thing, but it is a demon that is particular to theatre reed players and, unfortunately, absolutely required. He was also a talented and conservatory trained player, but also a new father and a full-time teacher at a local public school. On several different occasions he expressed gratitude for the chance to play with adult professionals again.
These are two very different musicians and two very different situations. What’s the best way to motivate these players to do their absolute best?
The musician community is steeped in a tradition of motivation through aggression and intimidation – think about the infamous leadership style of Buddy Rich, Paul Anka, piano teachers that crack knuckles with rulers, or countless other examples. That is one way to lead a band, and sometimes that works. There are many legends of famous conductors that were ruthless in exacting what they wanted out of the musicians under their leadership – Arturo Toscanini, James Brown – there are even stories floating around of Sting punching out Vinnie Colaiuta in rehearsal.
But is intimidation and anger always the right way to motivate musicians? Of course not. I would say that an overly angry band leader probably gets the same product out of a band as an apathetic band leader – he just works harder for the same mediocrity. If you only use sticks, and never any carrots, eventually musicians will turn on you.
Back to my two examples. In the first example, this bass player lacks discipline, focus, and generally just needs to pull his act together. It’s not that he’s a bad player, he’s just a bad professional. The way I handled this situation was to assertively communicate my expectations over and over, and to not let mistakes pass without a comment. When he left his music and his bass at the theater overnight, I pointed out that his part was not ready for performance and he should have brought it home to practice. When he made up his own part to certain grooves, I told him that I expected him to play the music as written, and that we would discuss other musical choices after he had learned it as written. I made a point to critique and, later, compliment his playing in front of the rest of the band. Within a few days he’d learned the book, started arriving early, and played every note as written.
The reed player was a much different situation. Here was a seasoned professional with solid training, but between a full-time job teaching beginners and a young family, seemed out of practice. He already stated that the gig was a valuable opportunity for him personally, so the problem, unlike the bassist, is not just motivation. A musician like this is already motivated to do a good job, it’s the band leader’s responsibility to define what a “good job” means. So in this situation I again communicated expectations, but not necessarily as assertively as I did for the bassist. Usually it’s enough to point out mistakes one at a time, again in front of the rest of the band, and trust that this musician will work it out on his own. As with the bassist, I like to follow up criticism with compliments as mistakes are fixed. For musicians that are already motivated to do a good job, positive reinforcement can be very effective.
Other Factors to Consider
There are other factors to take into account when you are trying to motivate musicians to do their best. You have to take into consideration what the benefit is for the musician. Is this a high-paying gig? Is it a high-profile gig? Is it fun? Why do the musicians want to be there?
The more benefits there are in a gig, the harder you can push your band. For instance, if the band is being paid $0 for rehearsals and <$50 a show, you are going to have a hard time getting the band invested in rehearsals – and threatening to fire someone probably won’t give you the result you’re looking for. At that pay scale they may feel like they are almost volunteering anyway. That’s not to say that you can’t motivate people in that situation, but you’ll have to use motivational factors other than the value of their gig to achieve it.
On the other hand, if the gig pays >$1,500 a week minimum plus benefits, you can expect real accuracy and artistry from your band and you can rehearse and push them, assertively if necessary, until you get it (but you can also afford to hire the absolute best of the best for the gig).
Generally, there are as many ways to motivate people as there are people. It’s a delicate combination of personality types, attitudes and expectations. The thing we should never forget as bandleaders is that nobody ever wants to play poorly. The best leaders seem to be the ones that can succinctly define what success is and then help their players toward that success.
About the author
Nice article, Dave. Positive reinforcement in front of the other musicians as things improve has got to be more effective than dropping the F bomb left and right like good ol’ Buddy.
Leading/managing/motivating is tricky, whether you’re on a contracted show or just trying to get your own band to sound better for the sake of making good music. I think you’re right, everyone wants the band to sound great, but it’s up to the leader to figure out how to oil each part.
7/6/2009
I think its also very important to let the musicians see how passionate you are about the music you’re conducting/performing. I know as a musican i react better to band leaders who are clearly excited about the music!
7/6/2009
Ah man, I have no idea how I have managed to keep my rock band going for 8 odd years. Sure players have come and gone and come back again but the points you mention are very true. I’ve been selling my band to bandmates and prespective bandmates for so long that I became an all round salesman for the band as a whole and those skills are coming in handy in marketing the band properly now!
7/6/2009
@Paddy – I definitely agree. Knowledge of the material combined with excitement for it’s delivery is key. As Bernstein taught us – charisma doesn’t hurt either.
7/6/2009
Excellent article, very helpful! Especially the examples, which I think are some very typical situations when it comes to players. This is just what I’ve been looking for, thanks!
7/16/2009
This is so good, so true. Being a boss seems easy until you become one, and then you realize how much harder it is than working for the boss. I really appreciate the examples.
The only wrinkle is when you are a female bandleader directing mostly men, many of whom are older than you, it can be hard to exert authority. Sometimes it’s not even because they don’t respect you but because as a woman you are used to minimizing the appearance of bossiness. I tend to act very democratically, but in a situation recently that attitude came to bite me back. Onstage, a musician basically refused to play a tune I had called, suggesting we do another instead — and I capitulated. Of course this upset me later. I do plan to play with this musician again, as we have a good relationship otherwise, but I need to talk to him before this happens again. Suggestions?
–Too nice
8/2/2009
Dear Too Nice –
For me that would put a lot of tension on an otherwise good relationship. I would tell them that the next time they do that you’ll be happy to play a different song, but you’ll be docking them for the courtesy (I would dock half of whatever the gig pays, personally). That gives them the option to get in line, get docked, or get another gig – but the choice is theirs.
8/2/2009
Nice to see this article in the AFM propaganda!! Enjoyed it, Thankyou!
9/18/2009
I think its also very important to let the musicians see how passionate you are about the music you’re conducting/performing. I know as a musican i react better to band leaders who are clearly excited about the music!
10/5/2009
Could we get a new post that’s framed differently? I lead a young band of four other musicians besides myself–what are some good strategies to get each member motivated to pitch in on the business side of things. For instance, every week now I sit down with my bass player and our computers–we tend our band’s various online accounts and try to connect with new bands and fans through sites like lastFM.com and imeem.
What are other creative ways to harness the energy & time of band members beyond the mundane tasks like putting up posters and handing out fliers?
Thanks.
11/9/2009
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