Studio Drummer – Dealing with Attitude

*THIS IS ANOTHER RULE THAT YOU MUST BEAR IN MIND.  THE ARTIST MAY HAVE TERRIBLE COMMUNICATION SKILLS BUT YOU ARE STILL REQUIRED TO HAVE THEM!*

 

You’re going to run into artists that have a lot of attitude.  It’s inevitable and just a matter of time.  A couple of buddies of mine were doing a gig with Kenny G and they walked into the rehearsal and there’s Kenny standing there with his saxophone playing away doing his circular breathing thing while he’s meeting all the players!  Circular breathing technique allows you to continuously play without stopping.  So he’s standing there blasting away on his horn while shaking hands with these guys.  And apparently that was just the beginning of the attitude!  At one point he yells at the drummer, “Drummer here’s your tempo!”

So there are times when you have to steel yourself against the negative vibes.  You truly put on your game face in these moments.

 

But back to a studio setting, artists still are the boss.  The artist is always right in the end!  It’s their product and they are footing the bill. This is a rule that you have to internalize.

 

You never want to disrupt the forward motion of a session and the creative atmosphere!

 

The artist or producer may also ask you to change or adjust your part or go in a completely different direction.  You may completely disagree!   I know of one session player who actually started debating with the producer about the merits of his change.  What a terrible mistake.  His overbearing position was the end for him.

 

The other thing to remember is that session players and producers are always a tight knit group of people!   You can go to any city or music center and the people that do the bulk of the session work are a relatively small group of professionals.   It literally only takes one infraction of the sort I’ve been talking about for it to be over for you.  And on the same token good news travels quickly.  Producers are intensively aware of a musicians’ ability to interact with artists and their handling of difficult communicative situations.  A musician who can deftly handle these relational situations and retain the positive energy in the room as well as bring their A game to the table as a player are gold to producers and good news travels!

 

But remember, an experienced producer will go with someone of slightly lesser talent but who has the ALL elements necessary!   People skills are absolutely the key essential!

 

On the flip side of this issue though is this.