Musicians
Now this is actually the job that we all wanted, wasn’t it? Whether it was the big hair and spandex in a heavy metal band or playing that exquisite concerto in front of the nation’s finest symphony orchestra I’m convinced (OK, maybe I’m projecting here) that everyone has at some time wanted to be the musician or singer up there on the stage.
Most of us realize early on that we don’t have the systemizing skills necessary: it takes a minimum of 3,000 hours of playing to become an accomplished musician. That is, for those keeping score, a year and a half of full time work. So would we look at musicians and singers and say that this is, therefore, for those with the male brain type by our EQSQ personality tests?
Well, on that evidence alone we might but from personal experience I can tell you that it isn’t actually that simple. Having done those 3,000 hours myself I was working occasionally as a semi-pro (one or two gigs a week for beer and gas money, nothing more) and I was good at my chosen instrument, the trumpet. It was mostly jazz I played but there was orchestral stuff in there as well, bits and pieces of being a horn section for local pop bands, that sort of stuff.
Then I hit a brick wall in developing my playing. I didn’t actually have what it takes to go further than being simply a proficient technican. The most important thing to get to a fully professional position is empathy. You have to naturally understand what the other musicians are thinking, where the piece is going, (yes, even if it’s all written out for you, you have to ‘get’ the dynamics).
Much to my annoyance and frustration I found that to be a professional musician you really need to have the balanced brain type from our EQSQ personality tests. You need to be systemizing to get the physical skills but you need on top of that the empathic ones to make good use of them.
I do wish I’d known that 30 years ago, I will admit.
October 27th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
Tim, I’d think that empathy would play a particularly important role in playing jazz–with all of the collaborative improvising! Perhaps empathy is slightly less important when playing with a symphony in which the conductor calls so many of the shots. What do you think?
I realized how important empathy was to a musician recently when my husband and I went to a piano festival here locally. The pianist played a “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky. I don’t know if you or your readers know the work–it was my first time hearing it. And wow. Mussorgsky wrote it after attending an exhibition of works by a recently deceased friend, and the piece expresses a wild grief. And the pianist’s phrasing expressed so well the humor, despair, rage, and sorrow. The effect was achieved through perfect timing–like an actor, perhaps.
October 29th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Millie’s reference to the pianist who wrote out of “wild grief” might be a clue as to why musicians need empathy - if you can’t express your emotions, or feel others’ pain, how can you be a great musician? Although, perhaps, all a good musician must do is feel his or her own pain. Empathy for self? No longer empathy, I know. Self pity…Aren’t there many great musicians who have great amounts of this? [But that doesn't exactly mean they are systemizers.]
October 30th, 2006 at 5:14 am
Tim, I think there is a vast gradient scale in the world of the musician, ranging from the hobbyist who simply plays for the fun of it and has no professional aspirations to the driven technician who strives to know his instrument, improve his craft, and become the best at what he does and ultimately make a living. Certainly I am guilty of being one of those who dreamed of being the guy on stage, guitar in hand, and rocking in front of a crowd of thousands. I still have that dream, though now it is tempered by my life experiences thus far as a professional musician. I think that you are correct, that in order to achieve that highest level as a musician, to enter that circle, you need the systemizing and empathic skills in balance.
I would point out that not only does empathy play a crucial role in your success in terms of your ability to interact with your fellow musicians, whether improvising or not, but it is also critical to empathize with your audience. After all, why do we go to hear a band play? To the symphony or the opera? To see one of the jazz greats in a rare show? Because we want to be moved! We want the players, the artists, to take us to a place we’ve never been before and we want to leave with a memory that sticks with us and resonates with us.
However, I’d add that in this spectrum of musicians there is a place for everyone – not all players will achieve the status that drives us, whether because of skill or simple chance, the role of the dice, but to stand in front of an audience even if only your family and play your instrument is a true and valuable thing. So many people wish they could play guitar, the trumpet, the drums and never even try. So even if you are not quite in balance and as a result think maybe you won’t get to that national audience, you still do a rare thing by playing. There can never be enough music in the world!
I only just today took my EQ test and I am not in balance either, however I am astonished to learn that I have above average scores on both scales. Perhaps I possess the right combination of emotional intelligence and native talent to achieve my dreams, but nevertheless I know that people get a kick out of hearing and seeing me play, and I get a kick out of that!
November 2nd, 2006 at 9:53 pm
Millie and Lucy. yes, indeed, I do know the Mussorgsky piece, I’ve been in the orchestra for a certain arrangement of it. Here’s a little bit of rockn’roll intelligence for you. There’s a version of it by Emerson Lake and Palmer, quite the rock gods of my youth. They had a habit actually of taking classical pieces and arranging them for a rock band (their pianist is classically trained) and they took Aaron Copeland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ (a really super short piece which I highly recommend) and made it into the theme tune for the Montreal Olympics. They also did his ‘Hoedown’.
Yes, I think you’re right that empathy or emotional intelligence is more important in jazz than it is in orchestral playing: but then every orchestral player really wants to be the soloist, where it is just as important again. In fact, the difference between someone sitting in the first violin section and the soloist is just that: the level of empathy they bring. The level of technical skill will be exactly the same which was really rather my point.
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Gabriel, I’d agree with everthing you say there. It is absolutely a glorious and wonderful kick you get when on stage, in those moments when the band really gets into the groove (no, this isn’t some strange disco phrase. It refers to the time when instead of being a group of individual musicians, you actually become a band. Really, it’s when the empathy kicks in!). If there was one piece of intelligence that I’d want to get across to people about music it is that, that as a communal activity there is really nothing like it. You don’t have to have great musical (or emotional nor any other sort) intelligence to enjoy it, it’s a primal part of what makes us humans.
My sister runs choir workshops for people who have never sung at all, let alone together. She says it’s absolutely wonderful when after the first 20 or 30 minutes she can see that look going across their faces: Aha! so this is what they’ve been talking about all these years!
You’re also absolutely right that you shouldn’t stop just because you’re not going to make it to the top. I still play, just not the trumpet, as that takes too much practise time each and every day if you’re not going to be making a living at it.
November 4th, 2006 at 12:53 am
I honestly have to admit; I am guilty of the lip-synching into a hairbrush as I’m drying my hair, singing to the throngs of imaginary fans. Needless to say, I have not and probably will not ever experience this exhilarating moment in real life.
I do, on the other hand, have friends who have had the opportunity to experience this feeling as their musical profession on a regular basis. In watching them play together, I think, Tim, you are absolutely correct in saying that musicians need to balance their systemizing physical prowess and empathizing emotional intelligence. Each member of the band must work together to form one cohesive sound. Each member also works individually on improving their craft through endless hours of practicing and fine-tuning. The result of this balance is a beautiful medley of parts coming together to make a whole.