In this reflective article, I will be focusing on how the creative project entitled ‘Narcissist’ has enhanced my ability to adapt and improvise in unfamiliar scenarios, my ability to serve the song/band in a compositional context, and my confidence when communicating ideas. With each of these areas, I can take my new understandings into different aspects of my musicianship, such as my individual songwriting practices, to further my professionalism and discipline as a creative.

The initial stages of this project were unfortunately met with inconsistent attendance throughout the band. While this may be seen as a setback for the overall product, this did provide an opportunity to work on my improvisation and adaptability. Where I had been previously absent, my goal was to understand the new direction of the composition (and note any changes) in as an efficient manner as possible. One of my key musical inspirations, Larnell Lewis, is known for his mastery of improvisation and adaptation. Infamously, he learned the material for the entire “We Like it Here” album by Snarky Puppy, on a 7 hour flight to the Netherlands (Rose, 2016). His performances on this album have since become some of his most acclaimed. In an interview with Drumeo, he was tasked with learning a song by only hearing it once. In this task, he “takes an analytical approach and breaks down all the details, noticing patterns and themes and how the different instruments play off each other” (Drumeo, 2021). As such, while I wasn’t unfamiliar with the practice, this project inadvertently gave me the opportunity to contextualise this skill. In my absence during Session 3, Lucas had switched his focus to drums, leaving me to change to guitar, my secondary instrument. I heard a recording from Session 3 (Appendix 3), and quickly absorbed unfamiliar ideas, focusing on key differences in the melodies and textures. From this, and brief discussions with the band about a shift in time signature, I improvised a simple, arpeggiated chord sequence. Both I and my band feel this helped promote the ambient direction that was highlighted in previous weeks.

Another key area for improvement that this project highlighted was the ability to ‘serve the song’; Choosing key moments to elevate/minimise one’s own dynamics in relation to the structure of a composition, and knowing how to strike a balance between demonstrating technical ability and leaving room for others. I feel as though initially (Appendix 1), I was too subtle with my drumming, not giving the song enough rhythmic drive. This contributed to a disjointed and unconfident soundscape, which despite demonstrating interesting individual ideas, lacked a coherent structure. When asked about this topic, my bandmate Lucas highlighted that “Everyone needs to know their place”, further adding “To know when to play more/less is to simply listen to when the other band members are playing more/less” (Appendix 5). To that end, I reflected on the sparse nature of the track, and following this, in the second session (Appendix 2), I incorporated a syncopated groove that struck a balance between musical intruige and consistency. This offered a rhythmic direction to the composition without overcomplicating things. I believe that using this in future will help me with my own compositions, as I can reflect on the dynamic ranges and textures used, and tweak layers as and when is needed, with the end goal of developing more professional, and varied soundscapes/tracks.

Finally, but most importantly, I’d like to reflect on communication, something crucial to a successful group project. Here, I’d like to highlight my biggest musical inspirations, Muse, particularly a documentary of them making their album ‘The Resistance’ (Appendix 7). At 7:54 in the video, Matt Bellamy communicates to Dominic Howard about the drum rhythms in the verse of the song ‘Resistance’. Later, at 9:20, Matt compliments Chris Wolstenholme about his technique during the Pre-Chorus (what he refers to as the Bridge). Interestingly, I find it important to note how particular and precise Matt is with his dialect, which both Dom and Chris respond to immediately with musical ideas, rather than speech. This shows how a vision can almost immediately be interpreted into a musical idea through having a wide musical vocabulary, but also through a mutual understanding of one another’s workflow, as Matt tailors his descriptions to match Chris and Dom’s respective areas of expertise. As a group, we tended to lack the vocabulary to convey specific feedback or ideas. I believe we also lacked communication in the early project sessions because we were unfamiliar with one another on a personal level, unlike my previous example. As Gabryella mentions in our conversation (See Appendix 6) “Working with the same group… every week has helped” and that she “…liked the aspect of familiarising yourself with the people in the class”. Myself, Lucas and Gabyrella eventually developed confidence with each other towards the end of the project, and as such, we could confidently critique the lack of cohesion in the structure. It could also be argued that our familiarity with one another helped us relax when performing together, reducing technical mistakes. Following this, the final session featured a much more confident structure, with each member offering balanced and coherent musical ideas.

To conclude, I believe that time aided this project moreso than anything else, as it gave us the opportunity to develop crucial skills, and gain familiarity with one another. There is a stark contrast between the first and final session recordings, which thankfully demonstrates positive progress in following weeks. As an individual, I can appreciate that while I offer musical confidence and discipline, my communication skills are lacking, and therefore going forward, I will aim to offer more clarity to my colleagues when developing musical ideas, hopefully aiding a more efficient workflow and professional environment.

(959 Words)

Bibliography

Free Online Drum Magazine | The Drumeo Beat. (2021). Larnell Lewis Hears ‘Enter Sandman’ For The First Time And Nails It – Drumeo Beat. [online] Available at: https://www.drumeo.com/beat/fusion-drummer-attempts-metal-larnell-lewis-enter-sandman-metallica/ [Accessed 3 May 2025].

Rose, W. (2016). Snarky Puppy’s Holy Trinity – Modern Drummer Magazine. [online] Modern Drummer Magazine. Available at: https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/september-2016-snarkypuppys-holy-trinity/ [Accessed 3 May 2025].

Appendix

Appendix 1: Narcissist Project Session 1

Appendix 2: Narcissist Project Session 2

Appendix 3: Narcissist Project Session 3

Appendix 4: Narcissist Project Session 4

Appendix 5: Comments from Bandmate Lucas

Appendix 6: Comments from Bandmate Gabryella:

Appendix 7: Youtube – Muse: The making of ‘The Resistance’