The privilege of thanksgiving eve...

Every year just before our Thanksgiving Eve gig I get spooked - and anxious - both about the music and whether I've been a bear of a director.  Most of the time it is my shadow shit talking, but it is always good to check in and listen to what is being said, yes?  I don't have to embrace or follow it, but I've learned that I damn well better listen.  Because here's the thing:  it is complicated getting 25 musicians of differing abilities, genres, ages, perspectives and interests to move in the same direction with integrity and compassion. Thank God I don't have to choreograph them in a dance! 

Still, the task at hand is nuanced:  together we need to figure out how to give enough of ourselves to enhance each singer's song without stepping all over it. Sometimes a performer's exuberance gets in the way - he/she rushes a tune rather than rests into its groove - while at other times everybody loves the song so much they want to add just a little bit of their soul to the totality and it winds up muddy and cluttered rather than clean and beautiful.  And sometimes it turns into a total train wreck that we'd best let die a natural death - even when the song is a cherished one.  See what I mean?  Think of it:  jazz masters alongside novices, intuitive rock and rollers next to classically trained church singers, guitars, drums, horns, percussion, keys and bass with 15 vocalists - and some young artists, too.

So after doing this for 30 years, here's a few of the things I've figured out:

+ Like much of life and ministry, everybody shows up to the first practice with varying levels of commitment and preparation.  Note: about a month before we meet, I've already sent out practice video links, song lists, charts and cheat sheets.  And still some arrive without having opened their email even once while others have memorized most of the forms for each song.  Some musicians are so busy they can only make one rehearsal in five while others are there every night.  Some can read music and others play by ear.  Some want clear charts and printed scores for everything and some are intimidated by anything too formal. It is much easier having an homogenized chorus who only want to follow what the director requires - but that isn't our charism.  We've been invited to practice creating a musical community that not only integrates a variety of ages and musical styles into one performance, but we've been encouraged by the Spirit to do it in a way that is beautiful and soul satisfying.  Like the brothers at Taize have said, "we have been called by God to be a parable of festival and joy" for this moment in time.  So that's what we attempt in practice and performance.

+ You cannot practice editing by committee - musical committees included.  If everybody in the band has an equal say about the final set list then the lowest common denominator wins.  Some folk refuse to understand this and that's where I have had to learn to exercise a tender but clear role as director.  We talk about how each song fits - I ask all the players to bring some of their songs to the table - and after working with them for a time we discuss how they sit within the whole.  Most of the professional musicians have said to me something like, "Thank God somebody here is making a decision so that we can all keep moving in the same direction!"  Some of the amateurs, however, think I'm too harsh about cutting out a tune that is tanking - or asking some players/singers to sit back.  They believe it is all about heart: if your heart is pure then you should be able to do whatever you want to share.  But that's called a talent show - in a church - where you don't have to audition or really deliver beauty - all you need to do is show up.  And I believe that there is a sweet place in our churches for these kinds of performances.  I LOVE them.  But a benefit concert for the wider public is not a place for the lowest common denominator regardless of the purity of our hearts.  Helping everyone come to see the importance of having one musical editor - who works collaboratively but decisively - is another growing edge for everyone involved - myself included.

+ This kind of gig demands heart and soul - and careful listening.  Linda Worster, a highly skilled veteran folk singer, said the other night:  "sometimes you can feel the love on stage between the performers as we listen and support one another.  It is heavenly."  It is truly heavenly and magical when that happens - but it requires being fulling present - with a commitment to listening carefully to the music as well as the heart and soul of the featured performer.  Not every note needs to be played.  Often what is left out is more important than what is heard.  At last night's gig, sometimes it was a single mandolin fill - or a plaintive harmonica riff from what felt like miles away - or the delicate interplay of soprano sax and trumpet - or a searing and fluid guitar solo.  Thank God the core of our background singers are precise and understated:  they add to the whole without calling attention to themselves. And I think they are so successful because they are all excellent musicians who let themselves be opened by the Spirit heart and soul.

+ I've discovered that all my obsessing about set lists matters - this is not something that works spontaneously.  There has to be room for lots of improvisation - in the flow of the night - as well as in each song.  But I spend hours exploring the arc of each set - researching how other artists put together the flow of their concerts - and then testing it out with our musicians.  Last night I pulled two songs out completely because given the energy of the crowd and players those songs would have been a drag.  They are great tunes but they wouldn't have kept the energy flowing. It was sweet when our 12 year old girl singer whispered to my wife sadly, "You mean we're NOT going to do 'Hootchie Cootchie Man?'  That's too bad."  (Only in this church, right?) Same with a proposed jazz instrumental early in the night - it would have added nothing to the groove - so I tossed it and we kept on moving.  There are those who say just go with the flow - and at a party, a garage band practice or even some jazz clubs I'm down with that - but not in a concert venue with so many variables.

+ And then there is this - which might seem like a no-brainer - but isn't:  everybody has to encourage everyone else and have one an other's back.  No egos, please.  No divas or prima donnas either because we're all in this together.  Like Springsteen makes clear, we are a community joined together by music and affection, so each player better make sure that everyone else is supported, loved and helped to bring their best to the table.  I've worked in some ensembles where this wasn't true - the director was a loose cannon and some of the professional players were just brutal towards the amateurs - so the tunes might sound perfect but they were empty.  I've played in groups where the opposite was true, too: everyone had a ball but the music sounded like crap.  Our goal and commitment is to find a way to share both beauty and fun - and that requires a ton of encouragement and help.

One of the poems that Sue Kelly read last night, "Bless Their Hearts" by Richard Newman, brought the house down - and cut to the chase:

At Steak ‘n Shake I learned that if you add

“Bless their hearts” after their names, you can say

whatever you want about them and it’s OK.

My son, bless his heart, is an idiot,

she said. He rents storage space for his kids’ toys—

they’re only one and three years old!

I said, my father, bless his heart, has turned into a sentimental old fool. He gets

weepy when he hears my daughter’s greeting

on our voice mail. Before our Steakburgers came

someone else blessed her office mate’s heart,

then, as an afterthought, the jealous hearts

of the entire anthropology department.

We bestowed blessings on many a heart

that day. I even blessed my ex-wife’s heart.

Our waiter, bless his heart, would not be getting

much tip, for which, no doubt, he’d bless our hearts.

In a week it would be Thanksgiving,

and we would each sit with our respective

families, counting our blessings and blessing

the hearts of family members as only family

does best. Oh, bless us all, yes, bless us, please

bless us and bless our crummy little hearts.

After 30 years of doing these Thanksgiving Eve gigs in four different faith communities - Saginaw, MI - Cleveland, OH - Tucson, AZ - and Pittsfield, MA - the power and promise of building community through beautiful and soulful music continues to nourish my heart.  It has been a real privilege to do this for all these years - and I am grateful that this year's gig was clearly the best ever. 

I hope to have some video to post soon - especially of Ethan Wesley playing like an inspired bluesman during "Jesus Is Just Alright with Me."  In the mean time, dig some of Leo's pictures as they capture some of the joy. (And please check out his blog @ http://artsindie.com/)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(all photos by Leo Mazzeo)