Leadership:Q- how would you describe yourself as a leader and give an example of a situation where you had to take a decision in a leadership Position;

When leading a band or a section in a performance context my number one priority as a leader is to be clear. Communicating clearly and effectively is, I believe, the most important quality a bandleader can have. Other strengths I posses that I think are important are:

An ability to quickly recognise potential problems during performance and quickly direct the band to adapt (eg. Vocalist skips a line of the verse)

Excellent aural skills that allow me to monitor each musicians part and quickly react to any issues and direct accordingly (eg. An instrument is playing the wrong section)

Some leadership decision making examples:

Leading horn section

Last week I was leading the horn section for a 14-piece band. The horns had charts but rest of the band did not. This involved me constantly monitoring the band and the vocalist and directing the rest of the horn section when to come in at certain sections, which sections to repeat, when to go to the CODA etc.

Delegating roles in a trombone section

Each year I sit on the audition panel for my state’s Honour Band. Once the players for the trombone section has been chosen, it is then up to me to choose which player will be principal, who will be second, which chairs to double etc. I always try to choose a combination that draws on the strengths of each player. For eg. A strong leader playing principal paired with a second player who is a great listener sensitive to section balance.

Conflict resolution

As leader of an originals band I recently had an issue where one member was becoming increasingly unavailable for gigs and rehearsals. The other members of the group wanted to permanently replace this member. Instead, I organised a one-on-one meeting with the member in question and raised the issue of his availability and level of commitment. He confided in me that even though he still valued working with the band, it was true that this band was no longer a priority to him. We came to the agreement that the band would seek out and rehearse a replacement for him, but we would still offer gigs first to the original member.

Technology:Describe how you would proceed to operate the following tasks on Ableton live: 

Modifications to songs in the show:  length (add a chorus), 

Assuming the show is set to run from the session view with each scene (or group of scenes) being one song in the show and assuming that the added chorus is to be a permanent lengthening of the song, I would make the changes as follows:

1. Copy the song’s scene from the session view to the arrangementview (click and drag).

2. Select all tracks and create a split at the point where the chorus is to be added.

3. Select all tracks from the split point to the end of the song, then click and drag to create space for the extra chorus (eg. 32 bars).

4. Select the chorus (32 bars) that is to be repeated and copy-paste into the space just created.

5. Select entire song and click and drag back into the corresponding scene in session view.

alternate versions (Plan B version without the central section of the juggling act (shorter), 

Again, assuming show is set to run from session view, I would have two scenes set up to run the juggling act. The first scene would act as the “Plan A” (long version) scene. That is, it would run complete from start to finish as planned. Below that I would create a “Plan B” scene which, when triggered, jumps to the beginning of the CODA (or at the beginning of whatever section of the song comes immediately after the section that is to be cut). During performance, if the song needs to be shortened, I would cue the band to jump to the CODA then count them in and trigger the “Plan B” scene. To create this “Plan B” scene in Ableton:

1. Select “Plan A” scene in session view and click and drag into arrangement view.

2. Select all tracks and create a split at the beginning of the section immediately after the section that is to be cut.

3. Select all tracks from the beginning of the split to the end of the song and click and drag into seesion view, creating a new scene directly below the “Plan A” scene.

addition of an instrument.

1. Click and drag all tracks into arrangement view.2. Assuming new instrument is an audio file, or it is an instrument to be recorded, create new audio track (CMD+T)

3. Either import audio file or record instrument into the arrangement. 4. Click and drag all tracks back into session view.