One of the great challenges of music directing is sorting through and designing the rhythm framework of a song. Every instrument creates rhythm – whether simple or complex – in each song… yes… even the singers.
So, it’s not just the drums or percussionist or the rhythm guitarist that makes the rhythm “work”. To ensure rhythm works, the MD needs to acknowledge that music is made up of a complexity of rhythms, all happening at the same time, and it is her or his job to manage and direct them.
The obvious rhythm maker is the drummer followed by the guitarist. The band relies on the drummer to create the groove (and often style), set and hold the tempo, and often set the mood. And you thought drumming was just making a lot of noise for people to complain about!!
Yet, keyboard players, lead guitarist, bass players, solo instrumentalists and vocalists all create rhythm. The novice musician’s default can be to play whatever rhythm comes to mind. In my experience (and Yes! I’ve been guilty of this more than once)… nothing complicates the rhythm of a song more than a keyboard player (especially piano) trying to wrestle with the rhythm guitarist and drums to make a song work.
What the MD needs to recognise and organise, is the rhythmic structure in its simplicity or complexity; and the responsibility of each musician to play their part… only! It’s a tall order, I know, but if this isn’t done, the rhythm and the music itself will sound like a pig’s breakfast, and has the potential to hijack any song, and muddy any sound.
So where do you start?
This is a huge issue, so more details will be coming next week… but here are some starters that should help you begin to sort out the rhythm dilemma.
- Determine who is the key driver of rhythm for each song. Drums will probably be our default, but you will probably need to think through a harmonic instrument like guitar or piano. Of these two, guitar is the best designed to create rhythms. That doesn’t rule out piano/keyboard, but choose one or the other. NOTE: The challenge for piano players is, that many have come from a background where they play everything – melody, rhythm, chords, bass line etc – and they now have to fit into a band and find a new place & purpose.
- Ensure that the players play the correct grove for each song. Be aware, every song has a slightly (or greatly!) different groove. The words and the style, combined with the ability of the team members, will determine the groove.
- Rhythmically follow suit. Once the feel of the song is established with the groove, and the drums have set it, others must then follow that closely and not play against it.
- Listen!! If the MD can teach and alert their musicians to listen to what others are playing, they will be on the front foot every time!! Listening to others and finding your rhythmic space is a huge and ongoing lesson for any musician to learn. The majority of musicians don’t listen to others… which means that they are not playing as one. Few people do this naturally… listening to others is not automatic – but it can be learnt, and it does take time for it to become habitual. Gentle reminders to listen to what others are playing will constantly keep this in the forefront of your teams mind. If your team learn this one thing, they will be doing everyone a favour, and they might find themselves not playing in certain parts of songs.
Many Music Directors look for people who are skilled at playing. I would always prefer people who are good at listening and then knowing what to play – even if they play. Those are musicians and at the end of the day, the issue is not so much how good an instrumentalist you are, but how good a musician you are.
There will be more on this next week when I will dig down into some issues surrounding this challenge.
Please share this with your team. It will be to your advantage, and everyone will benefit.
Share your personal challenges in “rhythm wrestling” – let’s learn together from your wins.
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