A blog and nothing but since 2003. Some tech, lots of music, and if rambling was money, drinks are on me.
What you’re watching while you’re listening
Years ago, when Peyton Manning was new to the NFL, I read an article about him in which he said that when he was young and first starting to play football, his father told him how a football player should watch a game. “Fans watch the ball,” he said. “Players watch the defense.”
This is only so true, of course. A quarterback is still going to watch the quarterback every now and then to see what he’s doing, a running back will still watch the running back, etc. But there’s a huge truth to that: If you’re a spectator, you only need the big picture, but if you’re a participant, you need to know the pieces of the puzzle’s picture.
I thought of this last night when I was watching the amazing musicians in Ed “Paperboy” Reed’s band, the True Loves and came up with this variation: Fans watch the singer. Musicians watch the bassist.
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May 7th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Fans watch the singer. Musicians watch the bassist.
I am always entranced by the bassist, so I would have to say that my musical “skills” would disagree with this statement.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Or maybe the fact that you watch the bassist disagrees with your self-assessment of your “skills”?
I use the word “musician” here as a term of convenience, but it’s really more of a distinction between the people who are mostly just interested in the end product versus the people who want to know how to make it work. So, in this case at least, a “musician” is more a person who investigates what makes the music go and not necessarily someone who plays a musical instrument.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I’m not a drummer, but I’ve spent a large chunk of a show watching the drummer. (Let’s face it, a guy playing keyboards is often not all that interesting to watch. At least if he’s not being a total ham/dork) Or in any event, my attention certainly moves around.
The little moments of communication between band members — perhaps a recognition of something subtle that just happened, and which they figure nobody sees since everyone’s watching the singer — those are my favorites.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Well, it’d be great to be able to watch the keyboardist, but, to continue on the football analogy, trying to watch the keyboardist is like watching a football game on TV and trying to watch the cornerback. You just can’t see. When I went to see Ben Folds Five, I’d always try to position myself to see the keys, but so did everyone else, so I usually didn’t. So I watched Darren Jessee and Robert Sledge.
I just think that the bass involves so much choice. There’s plenty of bassists who do he Kim Deal, root note thing, and that’s fine, and then there’s the guy playing five stringers who clearly wish they were playing guitar (and that’s NOT fine), but when you see those bassists who are still playing bass, but add something to the music that no one notices until they’re paying attention. Andy Rourke of the Smiths is fantastic at this.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Sometimes I watch the bassist, sometimes the drummer. Depends on the individuals and the band.