Rehearsals & Music

by Tom Jackson

Sometimes I have to ask myself: what IS wrong with this picture?

I’ve done numerous rehearsals with one of the biggest artists in music today. Millions of records sold, huge tours, radio, TV, awards for everything from best artist to best video to best entertainer. And the awards keep coming.

Rehearsals with this artist are always a joy – creative, lots of energy, ideas floating out of everyone. There’s a great attitude from the artist and from all the members of the band.

I always feel an atmosphere of freedom in those rehearsals, too. No one cares who gets the credit, there are no egos, and everyone feels the freedom to take chances. No one is afraid or too insecure to make a mistake or try something because it isn’t cool or because they don’t want to appear goofy.

This artist has said they “want the best show possible” and they want to learn all they can about onstage performance.

On the other hand, one of my Live Music Producers was preparing an artist for a showcase for some labels. She was bummed a little because the members of the artist’s band she was working with told her they wouldn’t take any instruction from her. They had been playing for years, so “thank you very much, but we don’t need any help.”

(A little background here: all the players in this band have worked day jobs for years, and in the meantime they’re waiting for someone to finally “get what they are all about” and give them their big break.)

Quite a difference in attitude from one artist to the other! You have to notice the correlation between the attitude/thirst for knowledge/work ethic of both artists to the number of records sold and awards won, don’t you?

I remember one day last year, after I left rehearsal with this particular superstar artist, I dropped off the masters for my DVD series at a friend of mine who was doing the duplication. He introduced me to the people who work for him. One of the guys he introduced me to played in a band trying to make a living doing this music thing – this was his day gig until that happened.

My friend, who has seen their show, told him what I did. He mentioned I could help the band a lot, and he told him he should hook up with me. Immediately there was an awkward silence in the room. So I asked him how his band’s show was.

“Oh yeah, our show rocks! We don’t need any help.” Hmmmm…right.