Jazz Practices: In the Shed and Big Ears

In our last post, Greg shared our four Principles—Individual Excellence, Antagonistic Cooperation, Shared Leadership, and Ensemble Mindset—principles which are the bedrock of high-performing jazz groups. Principles that provide guideposts for the collaboration, trust, and synergy that makes jazz an exemplary model for the intensive demands of the 21st century business of life.

In today’s post, we’ll look at how those Principles are put into action through Jazz Practices. Specifically, we’ll start with two: In the Shed and Big Ears.

In The Shed

In the Shed, sheddin’, in the woodshed — these are phrases commonly used by jazz musicians to refer to their habit of consistent practice. Preparation and practice to improve and advance their level of skill on their instrument. For a musician serious about his or her craft, shedding is the pathway to mastery. In the woodshed, musicians work on basic skills, find their way through problems and mistakes, and develop their unique sound.

But this process isn’t just simple repetition. It is consistent, deep, and deliberate. In fact, as psychologist and scholar Anders Ericsson details, practicing deliberately is the key quality to achieve expertise. In his work Peak: How to Master Almost Anything, Ericsson says that when most people practice, they focus on the things they already know how to do. Deliberate practice differs because it entails specific and sustained efforts to do something you can’t do well. It’s purposeful, requiring focused attention and discipline, allowing you to move beyond your comfort zones. With deliberate practice, you both improve the skills you already have and extend beyond your current range and reach.

Science reveals that our brains are built to take on deliberate practice. Highly targeted practice builds skills at an accelerated rate, developing a network of neurons and neural pathways, making our living circuitry faster and more accurate when we repeat the tasks correctly and consistently.

Practice what you believe because practice yields insight. Insight yields embodiment, and embodiment yields manifestation.

—Rev. Michael Beckwith

Your greatest potential as a self-leader can be realized by going deep in the shed to discover gifts unique to only you. Continual development of new capabilities, overcoming challenges, and growing emotional intelligence brings a clarity of direction and critical self-awareness.

Big Ears

The thing that sets Roy apart from other musicians is that he listens so well. He teaches you to listen carefully and to respond accordingly, to put things in perspective, not to simply go out for yourself.

—McCoy Tyner, describing drummer Roy Haynes

Grandmaster drummer Roy Haynes

Central to the success of a jazz performance is the ability of the musicians to listen deeply and carefully to each other, a practice, when done well, that jazz musicians call Big Ears. Having big ears in jazz isn’t an insult! It means that a musician listens closely to be able to respond with agility and acuity. A basic example is a musicians hearing the form of a song, the chord changes or progressions, so that if an ensemble member pivots or does something unexpected, they are ready to shift smoothly, with seeming ease. Big Ears also means that you adjust well to mood, feeling into the field of the room, also influencing the mood and field of energy in a positive way.

We engage in different levels of listening depending on the circumstance and the importance of the information to us. From the perspective of the Jazz Leadership Project (JLP), there are three ascending levels of listening for meaningful communication:

Active Listening: truly present and attentive

Empathetic Listening: heart-centered listening

Generative Listening: open-heart and open-will listening to the others’ best self

For a leader to be truly effective and to garner the trust of the people she works with, conscientious listening is vitally important. As a leader, you should be truly present, taking in the possibilities the person is bringing to you with rapt, generous attention. Truth be told, we must listen to learn and be willing to receive new information while suspending judgment. I’d venture that all of us could benefit from more of this type of listening.

So, we’ve touched on two of the JLP practices. In coming posts, we’ll delve further into the other four practices—Your Sound, Syncopation, Improvisation, Swingin’—to complete this integrated platform that we believe nurtures creativity and inspires innovation.