My Work as a Collaborator
An artist with a strong creative vision and the motivation to work toward realizing it is an inspiration to me. This the starting point for all of the artists I work with. A strong creative vision is the foundation -- upon which songs, records, live performances, tours, and ultimately whole careers, can be built. I have worked with many different songwriters, of many different styles and genres, during my career, and I've seen that fundamental thing -- a strong creative vision -- exist at various levels of completeness. The level the vision is in its development, along with the tools the artist has at their disposal to work toward realizing it are the two factors that determine the form my involvement will take. In every situation, however, my main priority remains consistent: to use my skills, knowledge, and experience in whatever way that is necessary to make the music, to whose creation I am contributing, the best it can possibly be.
As a Band Member
The form that my contribution takes can vary, depending on the needs of the artist I am collaborating with. In the case of an artist with a fully developed vision -- typically one who is already established, with songs that are already fully arranged, and who has a complete understanding and expectation of what each member of their band will do for each song -- all they may need of me is for me to step in and play guitar or bass in their shows or on their record. This is a role I am content in, and one that I excel at.
In a case like what I have just described, all that is needed of me is that I learn my parts in the music and show up to rehearsals and shows ready to play. I take this part seriously, and I make it my practice to show up to the first rehearsal ready to play all the material. Part of being a professional is showing up prepared, and in my opinion, failing to do this is unacceptable.
It is possible, however, that different people may apply a different standard in evaluating preparedness, or what constitutes having "learned" a song. Here is the standard that I apply:
I consider myself to have learned, or to know, a song when I
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have established the basic structure of the song, which is the order in which the different sections occur and what is the basic content of each section.
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have determined, for each section, what is the chord progression; but also determined, beyond the chord progression, a distinct part within the arrangement for my instrument, which is unique to that song.
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have established, that part or parts, which I can play over the complete song, and established a fundamental version of it that I can repeat exactly over multiple times playing the song.
I was recently in a situation where I was joining a band that was already well established, and I was entering under these exact circumstances. The band was Urban Soil, who had recently celebrated their ten year anniversary at the time that I joined. Here is a page out of a notebook of charts that I created as a resource to help me learn all of their music:
The band maintained an extensive repertoire, complete with complex arrangements and transitions, which they had developed over that decade, so the task of learning all their songs in a short period so that I be ready to jump in right away seemed daunting, so I created a chart for each song in the band's repertoire, which, at the time, was 36 songs in total. These were for my own personal use, to reference during the first few rehearsals as I was learning the material. The charts use a combination of text cues, staff notation of key melodies, and chord symbols, which primarily outline the structure of each song.
This is the starting point -- knowing the songs. Once I know the songs, I am then able to share in the creative vision, and to help to advance it in whatever way is necessary and appropriate.
In the previous section I have gone into detail about my process of learning a part and assimilating myself into an ensemble, performing music that already exists — that is, music that is fully formed, with ideas that are flushed out before I ever begin working on it. But what about a situation where the music is not yet fully formed?
In order to explore this topic, we must return to the beginning, to what I have said is the foundation upon which all my work must be built. That is a strong creative vision.
What is a creative vision?
A creative vision is a clear understanding beyond the immediate. A vision exists at every level, every step in the process of creating a song, which anticipates the next level. So, say a songwriter begins with an idea for a single line. Maybe it’s the first line of the song, maybe it’s the hook of the chorus. Let’s say it’s the hook. It doesn’t mean very much on its own, but it’s all you have right now. You ask yourself a few questions: who is saying it? what situation are they in as they say it? what is their intended meaning? will the meaning be the same to the audience? As you are doing this, you are creating the greater narrative elements that will drive your song. By asking who, you are creating a character. By asking why they are saying it, you are creating a scenario. By answering these questions, you are developing a creative vision for the song. Perhaps the only element of the song you actually have is this one single line, but your creative vision is beginning to encompass an entire world. This is the framework — it will inform your decisions as you continue to add elements.
We’re beginning to develop lyrical ideas. Our lyrical ideas help us to develop melodic ideas, melodic ideas imply harmonic and rhythmic ideas. We’ve started with just the hook for the chorus, but the vision isn’t just to sing that hook acapella. There are other musical elements occurring underneath, and those elements combine to produce a particular effect. We’re going to lay these out as our harmonic and rhythmic ideas. We begin to explore these. What sort of harmonic movement is occurring? What rhythm is this movement expressing? What is the relationship between the harmony and the melody? As we answer these questions, we are developing a creative vision for this section. The vision is hypothetical, but as we move forward, we consolidate our harmonic and rhythmic ideas into a chord progression, which we are then able to incorporate into the material of our song, where before it was immaterial as vision. Okay, now we’ve moved past envisioning the harmony and rhythm of this section, and we’ve actually written it into the song as a distinct chord progression. We’ve moved it from the immaterial to the material. It’s now one of our structural members, part of what we have. In order to move forward, we need to, once again, see beyond what we have currently in order to add more elements.
As we move forward, we continue this process, repeating it again at each subsequent level. We have a chorus now, meaning that we’re working backward from the climactic moment of the song, meaning that in order for this moment to be effective as climax, we need to see beyond the chorus to the greater picture, which will encompass the full journey to that point. Then, we can start to build up to that moment by adding verses and other elements, eventually coming to the end of the songwriting process, at which point we have a song, including all the fundamental elements that make up a song in its base form: lyrics, structure, chords, melody, rhythm.
So, we’ve established the pattern, now we’re ready to define vision:
Vision is sight: having a vision, therefore, is seeing beyond what is to what will be; beyond the part to the whole; beyond the individual to the ensemble.
If you have a vision, you can see the bigger picture. Then, and only then, you can create that whole by putting together the parts.
In the creative work we’re examining here — songcraft — we’re talking about seeing the bigger picture before it even exists. That is what is required in order for us to create it in reality: that we first grasp it firmly in mind as a creative vision.
Okay, so far I've described how a creative vision works in the process of songwriting. At this point, that process has taken us all the way from the initial germinating idea up to the point where we have something that we would call a song -- and if we've made it this far, we've achieved something truly remarkable. But, this isn't the end of the song-creating process. There is a level to that which we have not yet achieved, and that is developing a complete version of the song that we can perform on stage or record in the studio.
At the stage in the process we've reached with the song, what I'm calling the end of the "songwriting" process, we've progressed through various levels, and, at each level, it has been necessary to develop a new vision -- a broader vision -- in order to reach the next level. The movement between the levels, however, can be difficult, owing to the different approaches, different bases of knowledge, and different skillsets required at each. Here, we have a song that feels sturdy and structurally sound, but this is the point at which many songwriters run up against the limit of their creative vision -- they reach this point and can't see beyond to the next level. Or, they can see to the next level, but simply lack the tools to realize it. This is the area where my artistry is strongest, because this is the point at which the strongest areas of my knowledge base and skillset are the most useful and the most necessary. I excel at building upon the ideas of songwriters, creating arrangements which can transform songs in the base form into complete works of music -- works which remain true to the fundamental ideas of the song as envisioned by the songwriter.
How do I do this? I step in as leader of the band, taking on the responsibility of realizing the songwriter's original vision in the context of a larger ensemble. I am able to do this because I can grasp their vision and hold my own simultaneously -- my own vision, which encompasses the whole ensemble, including the details of the individual parts members will play. Finally, I have the technical skills and language to communicate those ideas with clarity and specificity in a number of ways, sufficient to facilitate the ability of all involved to learn the music, following that same standard for learning that I have put forward for myself.
As a Band Leader
What is my role as a band leader? From an outside perspective, it may not be apparent. I am most visible on stage as a guitarist or bassist, occasional background vocalist. However, my role goes deeper than that, and it’s in the less visible parts that I’m most valuable. Broadly speaking, the role is as a creative consultant to artists, as they seek to transform the raw material of their songs into live sets and records. Often, this means helping to craft the ideas for songs beyond what the artist creates directly through their playing and singing, then, overseeing their implementation by creating the resources through which the ideas can be shared and learned by other band members, and finally, directing the combination of all these elements to ensure cohesion in the final work — whether a live performance or a record.
The role I play is similar to that of a conductor in an orchestra. Like the conductor in an orchestra, my job is to ensure that everyone has their music -- in this case whatever resources necessary for each member their part -- and to organize and lead the band during rehearsals and shows. Alongside the songwriter, I work outward from their instrumental and vocal parts, which make up the central sound of the band, to create an arrangement which complements and builds upon the ideas that they have created in their songs, working with individual members to craft parts within the arrangements, and working decisively towards realizing a cohesive vision for the music of the group.
Much of this work is administrative: I organize, plan, create, and distribute a written agenda for each rehearsal. I create resources to make individual preparation for rehearsals and shows as easy and smooth as possible. The form this takes varies from context to context. Depending on the preferred method of learning music of the other members of the group I am working with, I might write charts, which can vary in complexity to the simplest to the most detailed. Here are a some examples of those:
The simplest end of the spectrum. This is a chart I wrote to be used by the backing band to Bella Nona, a singer/songwriter I collaborated with for several years. It just uses chord symbols and distinguishes between different sections of the song. Since this format lacks information on rhythm, melody, or dynamics, it needs to be used in conjunction with an aural resource.
This is a chart for Finger Painter, my own original song (featured on Home Page). I wrote the chart for a band I had in 2021. The chart uses a combination of chord symbols and rhythmic notation, with occasional notation of specific melodies, and would be typical reading for rhythm section players in jazz bands and large ensembles.
The most complex, detailed end of the spectrum. This is two pages from a score I wrote for jazz big band during my time as a music student at UNC. Although this sort of writing is far beyond the scope of most of the work I do now, this experience -- working with this many musicians at once, 18 in total, and needing to create parts for all of them that will combine to form a cohesive work which carries the fundamental ideas of the music -- has been vital in my development as an arranger and composer, and the skills that I gained while doing this work have contributed my confidence to work on music at any scale.
As I've mentioned already, my aim as a band leader is facilitate the learning of the music for all other band members -- learning which fulfills my own professional standard, which I outline at the top of this page. So, all resources I create, I create with the intention of facilitating that very thing. The result of my work, then, is lessening of the burden of work on other band members, as they are able to do their individual work of learning and practicing the material more effectively and in a shorter amount of time. Some of that burden gets transferred to me, but this is a burden I accept happily, as fair exchange for an overall elevation in the quality standards of the group -- and, despite the increase in my own work load, under this type of organizing structure, the whole group is able to function much more efficiently, with less total output of labor from the group collectively yielding far greater progress.
The role that I am describing is labor intensive, but all of these tasks are vital for a band's ability to perform and create music that fulfills a high professional standard. To me, it's well worth the investment of time and energy -- to whatever degree -- because, from my perspective, it's only worth doing the work in the first place if the resulting music is really really good. This is the standard I apply to all situations I face as a musician, in whatever role I am occupying.