Extravagaria Workshop Wiki


CoachesAreProducers

In a previous life I spent many long hours in dimly lit rooms trying to capture the sprit and soul of the songs emanating from musicians and musical ensembles. The similarities between software projects (especially XP projects) and recording projects are many. To name a few: both create strong sub cultures with dynamic personalities, both need a way to discuss how long to work on any one part of the finished product with respect to the whole, both suffer the burden of time and budget constraints (quantity verses quality), and both share the importance of placing people over technology in order to build spaces ripe for improvisation and creativity.

XP project communities have coaches, customers, and others to help guide. Recording projects place this guidance on the producer, the engineer, and one or more ensemble members. It is the ability of these guides (in either case) to find ways to help the musicians or developers capture their best efforts. To do this the guides must help the community in many ways, the following are a few: 1) respect each others strengths and weaknesses and the way they affect the project, 2) speak to each other in a language understood by the listener (e.g. the producer might help the horn player find ways to speak the language of the rhythm section), and 3) try to define guider for each session while still allowing for inspired interpretation, improvisation, and innovative deviation.

Most of my strongest coaching tools I developed producing or teaching music. --DavidHussman