Big Fish, Small Pond
Big Fish, Small Pond
by Dave Latchaw
Being a “Big Fish in a Small Pond” can bring about complacency quicker than one would want to imagine. Especially in a small community of musicians, it’s easy to become content with one’s abilities. That complacency will completely squelch creative growth and expansion of musical expression. Since not all musicians are destined to live in a large metropolitan area where competition is a regular and daily event, it is essential for the remote regional musician to be self-motivated, especially if he isn’t pushed by the musical community he lives in. The regional musician does not have the same obvious types of competition to stimulate creative growth and ability as big city musicians. For every capable musician you come across in a large city, there is a long line waiting, keen to replace them. If a musician stops being on top of their game, they can easily be replaced with such a big pool of players to draw from. This can be a great motivator for one to keep working on their abilities! In smaller communities, being replaced is less of an issue, due to the simple fact that there are fewer players available. Competition, either from others or against yourself, is necessary for motivation and the expansion of abilities and creative growth.
For the improvising jazz musician, creative growth is essential. One can learn to improvise and sound decent on a tune like “Blue Bossa”, which is great, but after that has been mastered with consistency, you have to move on to the next thing. Moving on to the next thing is a challenging thing for many musicians. If a musician is curious and open-minded about music, it’s easy for them to follow their instincts to find the next interesting challenge. Working on things that are past one’s current ability is hard, but it’s very rewarding, and essential for development. If it was easy, everyone would do it! The curious musician will tend to explore many varied aspects of making music, which leads to having a broader voice. As a musician moves on to other new challenges and then comes back to a tune like “Blue Bossa”, they will add a creative energy to their performance of the piece.
In a small community, if the musician is playing enough gigs to pay the bills at their current level of ability, it is easy to be content with that and be the “Happy Gigster”. Nothing wrong with being the “Happy Gigster”, but if you have lost your curiosity about music, you won’t be a vital, growing musician making a contribution to the improvement of all music. For the “Happy Gigster”, it is easy to get a false sense of reality about their abilities because they are “It” in their own town. Those musicians who then just kick back and no longer work at their craft are not giving music its proper respect. Ego, and/or lack of competition, will increase the likelihood that a musician will sound like an uninspired bore. If a musician isn’t challenged, from other players and their musical situation, they need to take responsibility and create their own challenges. In Smallville, U.S.A., change is scary. You can see this in communities where the same Jazz tunes are played the same way for decades, simply because it is familiar. The older players tell the younger players, “this is the way to do it”, which in more remote regions creates musical in-breeding. The music education availability for Jazz keeps improving every year, and is developing younger and better players all the time. Take advantage of educational opportunities and stay curious about music always. If you think you are “It” or you have become complacent, you are probably just in the way. Work hard. MUSIC RULES!
