I was thinking about how musicians experience, deal with, and resolve issues of power on the bandstand to see if there was a way we could better understand power in our lives. What I learned is that we experience power differently.
Leader. There is a leader who has the function of organizing and maintaining order of the group. That lead is designated as the leader by the group. That leader may delegate their power to another person for a moment, but the accountability remains with the designated leader.
Front Person (setting dependent). There is a person who is responsible for leading the experience of the audience - the front person. That person commands, curates, and cultivates the crowd’s interactions with the band and within the crowd. That person could have a leadership task, but might not be the “Leader”.
Side musicians. Side musicians are accountable for consistently and effectively executing their parts and to serve their basic functions in the group. Though they, like the front person, may have a leadership task, they take their cues from the Leader.
Things go wrong when any one of the above decide they are more important than the whole.
A musician plays too much - imagine someone at a meeting that doesn’t leave room for others;
A player attempts to outshine the Front Person - “one upmanship” at its finest. It’s annoying.
The Leader power trips - it’s the same in music - tyrannical and abusive (listen to the Buddy Rich tapes).
What can we glean from the experience of musicians? How might what we learn impact us now?
Every thing in nature has a function - to do something - understand the function of things. Activists, politicians, judges, leaders, team members, executives - they all have functions.
Leaders are designated. Someone is designated with the accountability of leadership. Know what your leaders are responsible and accountable for - and hold them to account. (Same goes for you).
Talk less and listen more. The most effective bands listen the best.
Lift others up. The musicians I call role models know (and knew) how to lift up those around them.
Our power is our ability to come alive, bring “our thing” to the culture, be self-accountable for what we decide to do and how, to not speak, and show that love to others.
