Listening and Reacting

As someone who primarily works with student musicians, I always appreciate the chance to collaborate with professionals – it makes me up my own game, and I always learn from watching them work together. I left last night’s rehearsal with a pro rhythm section impressed with how quickly and intuitively they reacted to what they were hearing.

They started by simply playing what was written, more or less – with space, grace, and musicality. Then they began assessing what each singer needed, and adjusted. If the singer needed more support, they reacted. If the singer was very confident, they played out more and gave the singer more musical excitement and creativity to play against. If the singer needed a different tempo or was implying a different feel, they reacted and adjusted.

That kind of constant, immediate assessment of the situation, and continuous adjustment to what is happening, is and important part of what distinguishes professionals from students. The players I’m working with this weekend learned this skill in school but likely more through countless collaborations over many years; even so, we can all aspire as teachers to model, teach, and expect more listening and reacting musically to what is happening around us.