BAPP Zoom - 28th April - 9pm

Last night we had a cross module zoom meeting led by Sam, with a guest in the form of his song writing partner and producer James Grunwell. 

The discussion focused on three main topics: Collaboration, Communication & Language, and Risk Taking.

Hearing about Sam and James' experiences as musicians with these three topics was interesting and seemed to draw a lot of parallels with the dance world. Some of the main points that stood out to me across the topics were reflection, being willing to adapt, and being willing to forget your ego for the sake of the bigger picture. 

Below I will summarise the notes I took from the three themes and open discussion.



COLLABORATION


  • COMPOSITION :::
    • singer has seed idea and bring it to the room (or the zoom!)
    • each musician works on their individual part
    • parts are brought together to flesh out a structure
    • a process of cutting and pasting shapes and refines the piece
    • the piece changes continuously over time
  • Improvisation - working as a group and negotiating in the moment
  • Everyone has two roles -- for the live act and the studio role
    • the studio set is a reigned in version with less improvisation to make a more refined, formal version for an accessible and polished recording
    • there is still some improv. through frontline instruments, but the others act as a 'bedrock' for the piece
  • 'Jamming' 
    • improvising together and playing with ideas
    • reacting and responding to what spontaneously occurs
    • feeling, being free, serendipitous occurrences 
    • listening to the recordings of the jam session back and working with it to structure a piece
    • taking a motif from the improv., using it as a 'hook' and working on a harmony to accompany it
    • REFLECTION - looking at what you did and making decisions 




COMMUNICATION & LANGUAGE

  • Communicating to make the right decisions for the piece
  • Having someone with clear ideas of the end product helps cohesion -- there are lots of 'egos' who all want certain elements to feature or take priority
  • Something might feel good in the moment but reflecting on it change your view
    • producer has the bigger picture and doesn't have an ego for the piece
    • producer balances the elements for a more digestible product \
  • Need clear communication of what is wanted or required through language use (Sam mentioned he worked with a producer who asked for his play to be more 'wistful' ... I think we're both still trying to figure out what that means...)
  • Using 'reference points' can help communication - specific points or ideas the whole group knows and understands from previous work
  • Try, develop, reflect, repeat



                                                                       RISK TAKING

  • Live environment
    • risks as a live band -- concerts/festivals
    • sometimes beneficial, sometimes doesn't work out
    • reading audience reaction and response
    • feels like a risk because you don't know what the response will be
  • Arranging music for release
    • unusual structures vs what gets airplay -- arrangements not always radio-friendly
    • staying true to the vision and idea vs what is more accessible
  • Reflecting on the risk that you took and how that affects you moving forwards
  • 'Road-testing' new songs
  • Technology risk, eg. live stream
  • Creating new versions of older and successful songs
    • risk of spoiling the song
    • song associated with old version
    • but may get a good response because it is already a well-liked song
  • Taking studio elements and finding a way to do them live (changing/adapting things to suit environment)
  • Using more recent influences on established style



OPEN DISCUSSION

  • Having a connection with someone to be able to collaborate
    • using similar or understandable language
    • using topical or field-specific language and jargon
    • there might be a different route to connection if it does not happen immediately
    • graphic/visual stimuli may facilitate connection and understanding
  • Changing the language you use depending on who you're working with so that you are on the same page
  • DC on cruise ship with multiple nationalities
    • giving notes - words are not always understood when not first language
    • finding different ways of explaining things and communicating
    • reassembling and reconstructing communication
  • Non-verbal communication has a huge impact
  • Sometimes tiny or subtle changes to explaining something make all the difference
  • Be malleable; be empathetic
  • Relationship affects communication -- knowing a person well and how they think/work
  • Producer authority
    • 'benevolent dictator'
    • pleasing people is in direct conflict with the role --> it is impossible to do and not the point of the project or the role of producer
    • an effective method is giving people free reign with creative energy and then bringing things together for a final product
    • knowing when (and being able) to say no
    • when to say no to taking a risk




A lot of parallels can be drawn between musical arrangement and choreography as a dancer - improvising for creative inspiration, bringing individual parts together for a cohesive piece, 'cutting and pasting' elements and continuously revising material, taking new inspiration to old ideas, and having a 'benevolent dictator' to override egos and balance the whole piece.

Communication is also hugely important in dance to achieve a cohesive piece in which everyone has a shared goal and understanding of how to get there. Whatever the communication barrier, there is almost always another means of communicating that gets everyone on the same page. Fortunately, we do have a lot of vocabulary that is used internationally or at least fairly widely that is used for technical steps and ideas, however more subtle and creative elements may be not be universally recognised by particular symbols or words and require other methods of conveying them.
Equally, non-verbal communication is frequently needed for dancers to communicate whilst on stage or in situations where they do not have the option to talk, and it is especially needed when teaching dance to whatever age group.

Risk taking may be in choreography, in difficult but impressive partner work, in performed improvisation, reworking established stories or themes, or fusing non-typical ideas together. Other environmental and contextual factors may require decisions about risks and usually a choreographer or director will be the one to make the decision.


A final idea was made at the very end of the meeting by Sam and this was the notion of composing and choreographing simultaneously. As dancers we usually find music then choreograph to it, or occasionally start choreographing and then find music that fits the feel of the movement, but rarely do you see composition and choreography happening together. 

This idea was almost mentioned in passing but I would love to see this in practice and explore what happens when the two elements are devised and revised in the context of each other. I feel this could really create an amazing multi-dimensional piece. 
Naturally, collaboration, communication and risk would all factor into it, but what a fascinating idea to experiment with. Maybe one day!

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