ooooHere is what I would say to a band in a band huddle right before going onstage.
ooooBe calm. Breath. Let the joy sink in. Be inspired. Be a fan of the music. If you don’t love it, why should anybody else? Throw yourself into the music without reservation. Don’t worry about anything. Don’t think about anything. Don’t let anything interfere with your ability to be here now in this moment with an undivided mind. Don’t try so hard. Let the music carry you. Trust yourself. You know how to do this.
ooooLook at the people in the audience. Look them in the eye. They want to know you. Let them. Don’t be shy. It’s much too late for that now.
ooooFeel the music. Don’t think it. Feel it. It’s easy. Let it be easy.
ooooDon’t listen to what you’re playing. Listen to the band, the whole band. Blend into the mix. Don’t play your instrument. Play the song. Let the beauty of the coming together lift you up into the knowledge that your contribution is an essential component of the beauty.
ooooIf you or someone else makes a mistake, who gives a rat’s ass? It’s in the past. Let it stay there.
ooooKeep it crisp and light. Play a little less than you think you have to. Make it simple and clean and sweet. Study the power of silence. Let emptiness be a palpable presence in your music. What we don’t play is so much more important than what we play.
ooooLeave some space. Play fewer notes. This is not a race, and we certainly aren’t getting paid by the pound. If necessary, tie one hand behind your back.
ooooLet there be dynamics in the music. Let it breathe in and out. Stop sometimes to take a breath. The music should rise and fall like the chest of a sleeping lover.
ooooOrgan should stretch across the sharp points of the music like salt water taffy, all gooey and salty and sweet. Piano should fall like leaves in an evening breeze, light, surprising, organic, warm. Drums should be bold and confident and a little hard and pushy. Bass should glow with inner fire and pull us all into a warm sleeping bag for something vaguely naughty. If music is adobe, and bass and drums are the mud, then rhythm guitars are the straw—light, dry and binding. Lead guitars and slide guitars and pedal steel guitars should dialogue with the singer, dancing around the voice, never stepping on it, manifesting in icy stabs, soaring tones and throaty moans the emotions suggested by the words.
ooooAll this means that the most important faculty of any musician is their ears. A good musician plays their part. A great musician listens to the whole.
ooooNow, let’s go out there and make it good. We’ve asked these people to get baby sitters, drive all the way across town, pay for parking and pay more good money to get in this room with us. They’re very busy people and money is always tight. They volunteered for this because they need a little magic in their lives. It might be just another gig for us, but for them, it’s an event. In their minds, this is probably the best thing that’s happened to them all month. Let’s give them the magic they came for. Take the stage with gratitude. Take the stage with confidence. Take the stage with a playful heart. Take the stage with joy. Feed off of the unrealized dreams of the great souls in the room. They are powerful, magical beings, and in our humility, we will help them remember this.
ooooLet’s play.