I started a band.
It’s something I’ve been threatening for decades. Whatever company I’m with, whichever project I’m on, I talk to people who say, “I play drums!”, or “yeah, bass guitar in jazz band,” or whatever. I was always hesitant, because inevitably you’ll end up with a bunch of people who over-value their singing voice, or don’t have time to practice guitar, or you get fourteen trombones and three upright basses and one mediocre bass clarinet.
But I finally did it.
As I mentioned in part I of this series, I’m in a position where I am trying to help my team members feel more appreciated and motivated, so we decided to do a Summer Kickoff Party. We scheduled food trucks, a dunk tank, sidewalk art, drones taking video, the works. And I gathered up my courage and asked around, and found enough folks to play some music.
I got really lucky.
Our Chief Engineer is a rock-solid drummer (and also has a great bonus room/rehearsal space). One of our team leads plays multiple instruments and sings. We ended up having to send out a company-wide email to find a lead guitar player, and we got one; he isn’t super experienced, but he works hard and can shred it, once he’s played through a song for a while. And he does work hard! And the list goes on.
But all of these folks, in the two months since we started, have put it countless practice hours individually, and dozens together, just for the chance to make music for some people. The Power of Music has turned us from a bunch of co-workers who (mostly) never spoke much, or at all, into a jamming sextet who really sound pretty good together, and have become much better friends.
How did it turn out? I’ll have to tell you in a couple of weeks. We’re excited, nervous, sore, sleep-deprived… and we’re a band about to do its first (and maybe only!) gig.
The topper? Our CEO is flying from Phoenix, AR to Orlando because he wants to sing some songs with us.
Oh, boy. And, Rock On!
