step one: do what you love. step two: share.

 

a portion of this post was originally published in:

 

version 1
step one. do what you love.
step two. share.

version 2
step one. create a ritual based on what you love.
step two. teach it to the people you love.
step three. share

version 3
step one. invent a reason to spend time with people you love.
step two. discover an action that expresses your connection to this group of people.
step three. share.

version 4
step one. find a place you love and go there once a week.
step two. do what you love in that space.
step three. share

version 5
step one. dedicate your life to doing what you love and get as good at it as you can.
step two. surround yourself with others who share your practice.
step three. find a place to meet regularly with this group of people and explore your common practice.
step four. experiment with ways of sharing what you do with a wider group. take notes and revise.
step five. create a reward system for the members of your group who do extra work. create a system of recognition for everyone who contributes. build-in a way of checking-in with everyone to know if they are getting what they expect from the experience. agree on what the expectations should be and help each other adjust to that reality. decide on your method of organization. is it based on a personality? a few charismatic individuals? is there a system to it that everyone understands? is it hierarchical? who are the leaders? are they being taken care of? how do you invite new people in to the organization? is it non-hierarchical? if non-hierarchical, how are decisions made – simple majority vote – consensus? find agreement on these issues, make the system EXPLICIT.
step six. share.

notes:

If you happen to be an interdisciplinary marching band and are based in Chicago, you may want to practice out of doors in the parking lot of an old steel mill where you can do as much honking and booming as you want and not worry about bothering anyone. If you meet on Sunday morning at noon, you should probably provide champagne and doughnuts. It will help in the beginning.

If you wear polyester uniforms and store them in plastic tubs with lids, they will mold – extreme mold will cover them and destroy them. Spray them with vodka after every performance, and hang them in the sun. Even then they will probably still smell really bad. Under no circumstances should you ever allow one of them to catch on fire. Never! Fire awakens all the smells of history and the history of smell. Like a rancid ghost from hell’s sewers the smell will overtake an entire room and drive you to your knees. You don’t know the power of stink until you are made to run from it! Avoid this disaster at all costs.

When you arrive at a performance space, observe the architecture carefully. Note entrance and exit points, natural performance areas, such as elevated surfaces and natural band shells. If you stand with your back to a wall the sound will focus and project outwards. If you are over-crowded by onlookers, you will need some height so the sound doesn’t get absorbed by all the bodies. If you are marching by a hot dog stand and you can’t avoid the temptation, you will find yourself in an impossible situation. You can approach the stand but the vendor will not be able to hear your order or may think you’re joking and even if you get the hot dog, you will not be able to eat it while you are playing your instrument.

Relieving yourself while performing is possible but only under rare circumstances. For example, if you are marching at a festival, you may march by a row of Jiffy Johns that happen to be lined up just like a marching band. You may be able to choreograph your group so that a quick turn to the left or right will put you inside the Johns. With practice you may be able to keep the music going and then continue on your way after the detour. If you are in a nightclub and you finish your set and leave the stage, you may be asked by the audience to come back and do an encore. If one of your trumpet players has already started to change out of his uniform and is wearing only his boxer shorts, he should not be allowed to put his pants back on before entering the stage. If he objects, question his courage and dare him to play the encore in his underwear.

If you travel with a big group, you’ll want to make friends in other cities with large sleeping areas – lofts, schools, churches and funeral homes do just fine. You’ll also want to keep a record of who is allergic to cats, who has a drivers license, who doesn’t like the smell of perfume etc. and arrange traveling and sleeping accordingly.

If after a while the project becomes more work than fun, sit down and make a list of all the wonderful things you have done and discovered together. Thank each other for the shared beauty and joy. March away in your separate directions bringing the lessons with you wherever you go.  And share.

Mark Messing | Published in Rarely Has Reality Need So Much To Be Re-imagined | A Mostly True History of the True/False Film Fest