Engineer's Perspective: A New Year, A New Leaf 1/30/08

Once again the New Year begins, and we as customarily take this opportunity to reflect on our lives, the lives of others, and the world around us. We reflect and wonder what it is we can do to make all these things better. The New Year represents to us a turning of a new leaf, another chapter, a catalyst for change.  And in this spirit, (and the convenience of a long break) The Berklee Performance Center has under gone a transformation.  For those of you who don't know the BPC recently changed those beloved and uncomfortable green sets for new ones. And most exciting for me, is the installation of a new speaker system.  I won't get into any of the geeky details, suffice to say it sounds great!  With all of these new changes I feel it is only appropriate that an effort be made to change the way we (and by we I mean both engineer and performer) make an effort to make the concert experience better for all involved.

 I once talked with a musician who compared the musician engineer relationship to the Israel/ Palistine conflict. The analogy is perhaps a little extreme but the point he made is vivid. The performer/engineer relationship is plagued with a complete lack of communication, fueled by old grudges and an unwillingness to compromise.  And while I'd like to pretend that I am at all times professional and open-minded, the truth is that I am human and imperfect and probably difficult to work with at times.  But this is a new year and in the spirit of resolutions and in the constant pursuit of self-improvement, I am approaching this new school term with a clean slate for myself and for the various concert leaders I'll work with this year. 

            It is difficult in this business to receive criticism, I know this as a giver and taker of advice.  As artists we need to develop a thick skin, let stuff roll off our shoulders, take everything with a grain of salt, right?  This provides the necessary buffer to allow us to stay positive and keep going.  The drawback of course is that once this buffer is in place it is hard to take it down when it could be useful.  It's easier to keep on trucking; lay blame elsewhere.