(This article is adapted from Tom’s upcoming book: Juntos, Music, Sports, and Business Projects: Team Dynamics, to be published in the Spring of 2010 by the Sterling Planning Group. )
Not long ago, I got together with several musician friends with whom I have sung and played for decades. We were playing at a private party for friends. These events are always less formal than those we played at larger halls. When I suggested a particular song that we had performed many times and stepped up to the microphone, our lead guitarist and musical director, Bob, stopped everything. He reminded us that we had to clarify certain vocal harmony parts, since we hadn’t done the song for years. The song was “Nowhere Man”, and we needed to clarify who would sing which harmony part. We quickly tried the beginning of the first verse: “He’s a real nowhere man” to see if we remembered our roles. Luckily we did, and we proceeded with the song. Bob’s intervention was valid though. There had been several other instances where someone forgot the chords, or the arrangement, or the lyrics, sometimes making us look, um, not good, because roles were not clear.
Most of us recognize that a high level of cooperation must exist for a team of musicians to produce a sterling performance. The same is true on projects. A concert is a project made up of some number of musical performances. There are requirements for the concert that are planned, similar to any other project. Taken together with the necessary lights, sounds, and any special effects, the musical performances comprise the scope of the project. The concert is scheduled on one or more dates, and has a particular schedule and sequence of songs to be played. There is sometimes a schedule constraint, requiring that the band must be out of the building by midnight. If they are not playing an audition, or playing for friends, musicians must be paid, and there is a cost for the performance, usually in addition to any costs for the venue and the sound and lighting systems. There are risks. An outdoor concert will likely lose hundreds, if not thousands of potential customers if it rains. An indoor concert in the cold climates will lose potential customers if it snows.
Team Dynamics in Music
What does it take to deliver a rave-worthy musical performance? To play in concert with others, whether a large orchestra or duo, all members must conform in many ways. If one or more musicians play dissonant notes during the performance, they have not collaborated successfully, and the performance falls short. There will almost always be at least minor mistakes at any concert, however, too many mistakes may mean that the project is a failure. For a successful concert, musicians must keep to the key, rhythm, and tempo for each song, while conforming to its structure and melody. The same is true of project teams. Where an orchestra or band must follow the sheet music, a project team must work to the project plan.
Great bands, such as the Beatles, rely on all of its members on almost every song. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were one of the best song writing teams in history. Together, they wrote pretty love songs, and driving rock songs. George Harrison also added many great songs. As a group, each member did his job, sometimes coming to the fore by singing or by playing a solo or musical section of a song—but each “team” member usually contributed for the entire song. Their music has never stopped selling in very large quantities, and they are accepted by several generations of listeners.
In pop, rock, blues, jazz, and other types of music, the interaction among band members requires keen listening skills during each song. In every genre, the team members know exactly what is expected of them. When a cue is heard, such as a cymbal crash, one or more members play a passage, as agreed. When improvising, such as when a musician plays a solo, there is a looser structure, though not as restrictive as in the verse or chorus of a song. When the soloist finishes the solo, s/he provides a visual or musical cue to the other members of the band or orchestra.
When “jamming”, the structure is looser still, and is applied as a normal part of many progressive jazz compositions, and so-called “jam bands”. For an orchestra with 30 or more members, synchronization is a must at the beginning and end of each song, as well as keys, beats, notes, rests, and stops. (This may come as a surprise to parents who have sat through one or more middle-school band performances.) Almost all orchestras have a conductor who provides visual cues to its members as to when to start, stop, and play each passage on the music sheet. Members of classical and baroque orchestras, big bands, swing orchestras and school orchestras must all conform to the structure provided by the music. None can “fast track” their role during the song!
Project teams also abide by the structure of a given project. A project has a start date, and an estimated, or “brick wall” end date. A “brick wall” end date is an immovable date, such as the date of an election. Project stops could be the end of each phase, when a decision is made as to whether to approve the next phase or stage. Milestones for some songs could be the beginning or end of the intro, verse, chorus, solo, or bridge.
Norms
A concert is a project made up of a number of songs, ragas, or concertos. There are several other names depending on the genre, or type of music. Generally, each concert element has its own distinct and recognizable melody. Every member of the band or orchestra must play their role as precisely as possible. They must conform to the music itself and the band leader or conductor.
There are norms for each song, such as tempo, and who is responsible for every musical part during every measure of the song. (Most commonly, a measure has four beats.) Like most projects, some, but not all of the team members are working on the song at the beginning. Some begin work after the tasks of any specified predecessor are complete later in the project. On a song, one voice or instrument may start the song, then other members join, either little by little, or all at once. Commonly, in many genres, there is an instrumental introduction, then the either the first verse or chorus begins the song. For example, at the beginning of “The Pharoahs”, by Neko Case, the song begins with a lone guitar, followed by the addition of other instruments, and vocals.
A norm in a musical performance of a song is for certain musicians and/or vocalists must start at the same time to begin a song, and during the song. Appropriate musicians and vocalists must end at the predetermined point. With jazz combos, and “jam bands”, the ending is often determined by one or more members. For some songs only a subset of the musicians will play at the beginning, perhaps only a single musician, who will then be joined by the other members at certain defined points in the song. The same is true for the song ending. On “Bohemian Rhapsody”, a song performed by the band “Queen”, the song closes with a gentle, fading cymbal. On the other hand, many songs end with all or most of the members playing the final notes.
Harmony and Balance
If your family is like most, the “happy birthday” ritual is sung in unison by everyone present. In a band, orchestra or chorale group, we strive for a fuller, thicker sound. A band or orchestra will have a bass, bassoon, or tuba to provide the lowest notes, and some number of other instruments such as trumpets, guitars, cellos, violins, and keyboards play the melody. It is typical to have the singers sing different notes that are part of the same key. They have diversity of pitch, and therefore a fuller sound. The next time you hear a barbershop quartet or chorale group, or a song on the radio, listen for the different voices and the resulting harmony. Artists often provide harmonies for themselves when doing studio recording.
When vocal harmonies are done well, it can sound angelic. The singers must balance the various roles so that the tenors do not drown out the bass, sopranos and alto singers, or vice versa. The sopranos, altos, tenors and bass singers must be in synch rhythmically, but must also sing notes that fit with the song, with no one singing “out of tune”. Those of us who have sat through our young children’s chorale concerts know exactly what I mean. A team member on a business project must also ensure that his part of a project is compatible with the rest of the team.
Summary
To run a successful project, whether it is a concert or a software upgrade, a project manager must work with her team to establish norms for the team, and facilitate cooperation among team members. While the project work is being accomplished, she must monitor the project to ensure that team members understand the norms, and comply with the norms. What is expected of each team member? Who does what? What are the roles of others? Is our work interfering with the work of others? When do they join the project? When is their work complete? The next time you see live music or a music video on YouTube, watch the team dynamics—you may get some ideas that can help your project team!
Copyright © 2010 Thomas Belanger
