Facilitating a New Song

[lovepulse]

Although I might have an idea of where I want to go at certain junctures - Its been proven to me that the instrumentalists may have better ideas (since they know they're own repituares). We have fallen short of having fights but have had hurt feelings, passive aggresive behavior, etc. due to different choices. I'm a good facilitator but I'm seriously thinking about starting a new band (or 1 by 1) and having them sign artistic deferal contracts or even better does anyone know of any pre-band commitment/contracts templates/what should be included? Any advice

[tjwhitejr]

Wow! Why not just form a corporation, become the only stock holder and President and you can call all the shots.

Seriously, contracts and all? That just seems a bit - sterile. If you study group dynamics and apply that to song writing, you may be in for a real mess. Like an artist painting a picture, many painters will probably a) Never finish and b) It will be crap. But not always. If you find a painter that mixes colors like no one else, one that sketches the framework perfectly and a few more that apply brush strokes with more talent than any single person ever could, it could be a great creation.

Sounds like you (or someone) needs to learn to mine the talents of each person in the group. Sometimes this approach works, sometimes it does not. A better approach may be to write on your own and tweak things with the group.

Musicians are often (always) headstrong and not very good at critical comments aimed at them. One must use a lot of tact to tell a musician their idea, riff, tune, words, etc. suck.

Very few "group" efforts work well writing songs. The best dynamic is usually one writes the lyrics and one writes the music. Then everyone gets together to make it work.

Most cover bands that are playing someone else's music break up over "creative" differences. It is almost impossible to keep 4 or 5 musicians together for very long unless the project is fulfilling their artistic needs.

My point is, every group of people you may put together will have a different dynamic and you must learn to deal with it. Find something that works with the folks you have, or replace one or more of them. If you have to keep replacing all of them on a regular basis, that will also tell you where the problem is.

When you get to the point that you have the money and resume' of a Paul McCartney or a Bruce Springsteen, then you can own the creative control.

Disclaimer - If the writer is actually Paul or Bruce, my apologies.