One of the bands I’m in is breaking in a new member, and I had forgotten how much a new musician in the mix affects the band’s sound. It makes me realize that a band needs to decide if they’re going to expect a newcomer to conform to their sound, or embrace the difference the new musician makes and incorporate those differences into a new sound.
In addition to the skill set that brought the musician in (prowess on their instrument, vocal abilities), every musician has a tone, and I got to wondering how much a band should, or could, require a musician to alter that tone to suit the band’s vision.
I guess if a band has thousands of followers around the world, you’d want to preserve that sound as much as possible, and finding a player to fit into that sound would be integral to the audition process. But for a band of “gifted amateurs”, a new member is a chance to tap into a new and interesting vibe. It may be subtle, or it may be profound.
In our case, the new player is in the rhythm section and I find that his playing is different enough from his predecessor that I am actually playing a little different, too. In this case, I think this is a very positive thing – I hadn’t realized how I was trying to fill sonic spaces that could be adequately filled by spaces created by the rhythm section – often, perfectly timed spaces of …silience!
I’ve long been a fan of music that has places to breathe. Listen to your favorite versions of songs carefully, and often the parts that make the whole thing work are the spaces where little or nothing is actually played. If the band is playing in perfect meter, those spaces are not disruptive – the listener’s ear knows and trusts the gaps will lead to the next sound, and that interplay can be very pleasing.
I do like challenges too – I find they improve my playing, almost with exception. In this case, I think the end result will be self-improvement, and a very pleasing new twist to this band’s sound. It’s not a sea change – the band sound will be familiar enough to those who have heard us before, but I think on a subliminal level, they will notice the difference and appreciate it. I guess in this case, we are finding our sound to make our sound!
