Posted by Rick Denney on April 30, 2001 at 09:44:59:
In Reply to: Ensemble minus one posted by END OF MY ROPE! on April 27, 2001 at 10:21:13:
You didn't mention what your objectives were for this group. If it's just the local buddies getting together to make music, then maybe you should lighten up. In that situation, everyone is doing their best in competition with the rest of life, and that's about all you can expect.
If you have professional intentions, however, then you can set higher standards and expect the members to meet those standards. But, and here's the answer to your question, you cannot impose those standards without consensus. The group must be equally committed to a common standard of excellence.
The way you achieve that commitment is to talk to the other members about their goals for the group. If three of you want to perform professionally, but the fourth does not, then you have your answer. When it's clear that three want to pursue paid gigs, the fourth will probably decide this isn't his group, and the others will realize it, too. Even if professional playing isn't an objective, you can still mutually decide what the objectives and standards of the group will be.
Remember, to build consensus, you must lay out the choices for the objectives, which requires listening to the others for their choices, and then you must select from the choices, which requires listening to other views on which of those choices are most appropriate. Did I say that listening was important?
Once you have consensus on the objectives and standards of the group, then evaluating the playing performance of each player against that standard becomes a lot easier. In fact, when the objectives are clear and everyone is committed to them, you won't have to perform that evaluation. People will push themselves harder than you can push them, if they buy into the objectives of the group. Without agreement on the standards, though, you have nothing on which to base an evaluation.
A couple of stories: I was the weakest player in the TubaMeisters when we accepted a gig at Fiesta Texas theme park. But I was still committed to the program, and everyone knew it. They worked with my playing ability, including arranging music that gave me a bit of a break on my interior part. Plus, I worked my butt off, because I didn't want to hold the group back. We were all equally committed, and that commitment gave us ways to work with our varying talent (and talent always varies).
Another story: I was asked many years ago to form a quintet for a friend's wedding. Money was available for paying the other four players, so this was a legit pro gig. I had two choices. I could have hired pros, and told them that one of the bad points of the gig was that they had to endure my playing (it was a command performance for me), but the good point was that the client's check would not bounce. Or, I could get my community band buddies to play the gig. I chose the latter, but in retrospect it was a mistake. They were not committed to professional standards, and I didn't have this discussion about objectives early on as I should have. It wasn't as good as it should have been.
Rick "who recommends agreeing on the standards before applying them" Denney