Masters of the Craft

May 27, 2015 | Welcome Column

Despite two left feet and a complete lack of eye-hand coordination, I have long been an avid sports fan – albeit as a spectator only. Nobody wants me on their softball team, believe me.

But you don’t have to be an athlete to appreciate the physical gifts on display in professional sports. For years it was primarily baseball – that amazing sport based on failure. Hitting a round ball with a round bat is so hard, those than do successfully one time in three attempts on average are all-stars. And while hitting is an individual battle against the pitcher, it’s still a team game, and on a champion team the players work together as if they share a neural connection.

Team owners, from time to time will try and purchase a championship by paying top dollar to stack their team with the very best athletes. Sometimes, that works, but often, it does not. A truly great team exceeds the sum of its parts. And often, on a championship team, there are one or two players that hold the whole
thing together – they make everyone around them better due to their intangible gifts.

I’ve seen the same thing in other sports, too – football, basketball, soccer – in a game full of excellent players, a select few are able to elevate the play of others around them.

I’ve seen this phenomenon in music too. When you see a band that really has everything on the ball, chances are there’s one key player that helps to hold the center. In a band of truly excellent players, this could be a hard-to-spot distinction, and it may not be the main soloist or the main singer.

How many times have you been in a jam, and you’re playing away, and sounding pretty good, and then someone else joins the circle, and all of a sudden, everyone is playing better? How can one player in a group of four, or five or six pickers make everyone better? Beats me, but I’ve had it happen a number of times.

The next question, I guess is, does the effect persist? While the jam is enjoying the addition of one of these uplifting players, and seemingly playing over their heads, is there a lasting benefit? Is it a teaching moment, or just one of these enjoyable, but temporary high spots we encounter now and again?

I think that depends on the players. I know a few of these transcendental, uplifting musicians, and I have seen instances where they failed to have that effect, and it wasn’t because they were having an off day. Instead it occurred in jams where players weren’t listening closely enough to recognize that they had been joined by a musician strong enough shoulder the rhythmic load of the ensemble – but they didn’t seize the opportunity.

So, this festival season, when the jam you’re in suddenly seems better than ever, pay attention – you may be a getting a free lesson from a master of the craft!

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