Backstage with Def Leppard

This past week, I had the wonderful opportunity to stay in Florida and watch a Def Leppard concert, paired with performances from other great rock groups such as Cheap Trick and Journey. I was given the opportunity to hang backstage with the band, through a connection with the drummer, Rick Allen.

Though I'm not as familiar with rock as I am jazz, I was still able to appreciate the musicianship of the band, in specific, Rick Allen. Rick and I spent a lengthy car ride together on the way to the concert, coming from the same hotel–talking to him, I could see an apparent passion for music, as we were able to spend 50 minutes in traffic without a moment of boredom. It was easy to relate to each other through our unique experiences as musicians, though connected through a general enjoyment of playing improvised music. The importance of listening, our individual influences, how we practice; the discussion culminated into a reveal of our respective identities as musicians, and it was clear that Rick had given that lots of thought.

This was a conversation that I need to have, serving as a peek into the professional music industry. There's a myriad of universal questions that aspiring musicians have: "How did you start playing at bigger venues?", "How did you make a name for yourself?", "How did you always make sure you were improving at what you did?". This list of inquiries troubled my musicianship too, but talking to Rick answered this.

I found that the key determining factor on whether someone is a "good" musician or not is their love for music. Listening to music, playing music, discovering music–the affinity for that process will automatically make you better, as you are constantly trying to stretch the bounds of your musical knowledge. And more simply, you will want to play music more. There is a Ted Nash video (an alto saxophonist with the JALC Orchestra) where he discusses practicing, and he proposes the rhetorical question, "How do I find the motivation to practice"?

To this, he says "if you need to 'find motivation to practice', think about why you are practicing." As musicians, we practice to improve our playing because we ultimately love creating music. So the motivation to practice is simply the motivation to play–in other words, loving music.

When Rick plays, you can tell that he enjoys what he does. There is a wide grin stretched from each end of his face, laying down a groove that fits perfectly in time with the rest of his band. Sitting in his chair, all he's thinking about is creating music in that moment. And maybe that's the key: knowing that whatever you're doing, you're enjoying it and doing it for yourself. Loving it.