The Servant Musician
Serving Others Through Music
In these difficult times does the live musician hold the potential to help heal society?
An Open Letter to Taylor Swift was recently published by Ted Gioia on his Substack The Honest Broker. In this plea for Swift to use her influence to help a broken music business, Gioia describes a music environment that has never been as “damaged…stagnant…and exploited by outsiders”. He points out issues such as music listeners knowing very little about the music they are listening to, often not even knowing the song title or artist’s name; streaming platforms serving themselves rather than fans; creative artists making very little due to middlemen and legal battles; large businesses and corporations utilizing technology to disempower composers; and the continued suffering of live music from issues created by the pandemic.
Historically it seems that as technology provides more creative options for musicians, the same technology also creates more opportunity for those with financial interests to take advantage of musicians. Such technology has also opened up possibilities for musicians to gain information and promote themselves as Taylor Swift has done. In looking for a way to “nurture the musical culture” through increasingly difficult times, Gioia is calling on Taylor Swift to utilize her experience and power in the field to launch a cooperative that is for musicians and by musicians. Similarly, Rick Beato recently posted a YouTube Video “Why Musicians Are Broke and How to Fix It” interviewing Niclas Molinder about his app called Session Studio which is designed to help musicians to be fairly credited. More visionaries in the music business are needed to counter the culture that is squashing creativity, meaning, and purpose in our current popular music for the sake of large corporate financial interests.
However, I would like to highlight the multidimensionality of musical experiences, and consider how there remains a potential for music to exist without control by outside interests, apps, or media; but rather as a part of serving a local community and its people. Instead of a musician being the focus of musical performance, the musicians and listeners can thrive together to experience positive emotions, musical and social engagement, development of relationships, consideration of meaning and purpose, and collective achievement (see Introduction to Music Performance Design: A Positive Psychology (PERMA) Approach). So much of music in institutions is taught as providing an aesthetic experience for an audience through a spotlighted musician attaining and presenting near perfection of skill when music might best serve us all when it is utilized as a means to serve, engage, unite, and bring meaning and purpose to the collective lives of the musicians and listeners.
Gioia describes in his article “Why Did Medieval Cities Hire Street Musicians as First Responders?” how street musicians were at one time hired by municipalities to serve their communities in roles of what we consider today as first responders. Musicians would guard gates, patrol streets, and sound alarms in times of danger. Some were even required to carry a sword! The idea of musicians hired full time for civic duty is an idea of the past, but musicians continue to serve their communities. In these difficult times does the live musician also hold the potential to help heal society?
There are many ways to serve, and providing live music for private and public functions in the community is still a revered and valued service. Some are called to a higher level, a desire to lead by serving others ahead of self. Robert K. Greenleaf describes this as “servant leadership” in the essay “The Servant as Leader” first published in 1970. “The servant leader is one who serves others first, and through serving tends to the higher needs of those being served.”
As a music teacher and conductor I sought out models of servant-leadership in music throughout my career. I found meaning and purpose in working towards servant-leadership in my own teaching and conducting, but often could not reconcile between serving the student and the institution, as the institution expected priority. The institutionalization of music education has brought a tendency of distancing musicians from their listeners, focusing on the performance as the goal. However, developing relationships and engaging with listeners can contribute to meaningful and purposeful exchanges for human and societal good. After years of searching, I found what I was looking for, a true servant-leader model, and he wasn’t a conductor, director, or administrator. I found him serving and protecting the community playing music on the sidewalk just as the medieval street musicians had done.
The danger, perhaps, is to hear the analyst too much and the artist too little.
-Robert K. Greenleaf, 1970, on being in times of crisis, in The Servant as Leader
If Making Music Could Always Feel Like This...
Western Michigan based Tommy Foster, a professional musician for over 30 years, is a much loved and appreciated cornerstone of the community. When you hear the words “Tommy is playing,” everyone knows which “Tommy” and that there will be a creative, engaging, and entertaining musical experience always with something new and unexpected thrown in.
I first heard Tommy with his band The FAN Club three years ago. They were outside of a brewery in a small Michigan town where they play every Monday night throughout the summer. I honestly don’t remember much more from that first time hearing them except that the instrumentation was guitar, mandolin, string bass, banjo, and violin; a combination of which I had not previously heard live. I also remember the band playing “Summertime”, and though considered one of the most covered standards of all time, their arrangement got my attention. I was so intrigued by their version featuring the young violinist (he prefers fiddler) on vocals and fiddle, that I spent the next day listening to dozens of “Summertime” covers trying to find their inspiration. Over time I came to realize that their arrangement, like most of their tunes, had evolved as their own.
I returned to hear the band play a few more times that summer, hoping each time to hear the band play “Summertime” again so that I could analyze the chord substitutions, the form, and anything else that would explain my deepening interest in this band, only to realize the song structure wasn’t unusual. So what was it about this band that I was so drawn in by?
Like a really great song with just enough complexity to draw you in slowly over time, Monday nights with The FAN Club went from something I tried to remember to attend to an event that I couldn’t miss. How had I become so enamored, a groupie even, of a band playing the music of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Sam Cooke, Pete Seeger, Glen Campbell, Hank Williams, Bob Wills, and Pink Floyd with a little blues, bluegrass, roots, Americana, klezmer, jazz, and even a little Latin fusion thrown in? I didn’t grow up with most of the tunes that they play, as they weren’t in the “good enough to learn about” category in the over 20 years of music instruction that I received. These tunes didn’t play on my radio, or in the movies that I saw. They weren’t in the band arrangements that I was exposed to when learning music, nor in nearly 30 years of music education curriculum from which I was expected to teach. I’ll save the discussion on issues of disconnect in institutional music education for another time, but I have developed a personal sense of “missing out” on some great music because of music education, and The FAN Club fills some of that gap.
However, there are plenty of bands out there playing lots of music that can help fill that gap, and it is a rare performance of any kind that captures my attention or affects me, and even fewer that are memorable. My grandfather, also a band director, said that he didn’t enjoy most concerts anymore because he couldn’t turn off his critical teaching ear. I can relate, but I believe that it is also a product of a lifetime of institutional music training that in addition to developing the ability to listen critically, we are also taught in a more hidden curriculum to judge: good or bad, right or wrong, perfect or not perfect.
So, what is it then about The FAN Club that transcends my previous music experiences and captures my attention more than any other group that I have experienced?
It took a while before I realized which musician was the bandleader, and which musicians were the foundation of the group, as there was often a different mix of musicians and instruments for each gig. There wasn’t an obvious front man, as no one stands center stage. You also didn’t see one person calling tunes or making all of the decisions. Every band member sang, improvised solos, engaged with the audience, engaged with each other, and most contributed original tunes to the set lists. Even the instrumentation was flexible as instruments were exchanged and traded to allow individuals to play the parts they wanted with songs they sang.
Tommy Foster as Servant-Leader
As I began to recognize Tommy as leader, I observed him working also as collaborator, teacher, mentor, role-model, and coach. Working quietly and unassumingly, Tommy supported each musician in presenting their best and authentic self by highlighting their strengths, allowing them the opportunity to develop new strengths, and cultivating an environment of trust where the musicians could be vulnerable and take risks for the possibility of creating something interesting.
Tommy exemplifies servant-leadership in how he approaches his band The FAN Club. His example of leadership is the strongest and most consistent example of servant-leadership that I have observed or experienced in any field, and I have been seeking a model for decades. Tommy’s approach develops an experience of engagement, creativity, and spontaneity contributing to weekly performances that have guests arriving early and ready to battle over getting the seats closest to the band.
What is Servant Leadership?
“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” -Robert K. Greenleaf
In my years as a music educator seeking a servant leader role model, I primarily observed teachers, professors, and administrators. What a blessing it was, after years of searching, to be walking by a local hang and discover this pure example of servant-leadership in a local musician, leading his band The FAN Club, where I continue to go to observe and learn. As a servant-leader, Tommy leads through a choice to serve first through leadership. He serves both the musicians and listeners in helping them grow socially and musically while promoting connectedness, well-being, autonomy, and community.
1.
“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”
Being a servant-leader or servant-musician doesn’t begin on the stage, and like other aspects of musicianship and leadership, culminates from a lifetime of experiences. It is apparent to those who know Tommy that he lives a servant life, and anyone who speaks of him does so with a fondness in their voice representing the love, appreciation, and gratitude that those who know him share. He represents and serves his community through engagements for private and municipal events, volunteering much of his time and musicianship for local benefits. I have never heard him turn down a request, whether that of playing a song or meeting with someone who asks of his time.
2.
“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?“
A servant-leader serves his audience first by meeting them where they are, and positively influencing their state of mind through engagement and song selection. Sometimes this is by elevating the communal energy, and sometimes it is just by sitting with the audience in their current state. Tommy engages with listeners by learning their names, sometimes on break and sometimes even as part of a tune. He seeks out opportunities to meet newcomers and find areas of interest to make meaningful personal connections, sometimes then put into song.
At the same time, Tommy is serving the members of his band. In The FAN Club, I notice authenticity beaming from each band member, even new musicians sitting in. In this group every musician has the opportunity to show the best version of themselves, without predetermined roles to fit into. Every band member has an opportunity to interact, sing, improvise, suggest songs, and contribute originals. Each musician knows that they have the freedom to experiment and create as individuals and as a group and that no one will be left behind.
I watched one night as the crowd thinned due to the cold setting in. The band was getting cold too. Any other group would have looked for a way to end the gig early, and instead Tommy looked for more ways to engage and entertain. He gave the band their needed break, but Tommy remained and continued to play and interact with listeners knowing that everyone would leave if the entire band went on break. He is both serving his listeners who are sitting in the cold because of their connection to this band, while also serving his musicians who needed a break, but at his own cost.
3.
“A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.”
There are three founding members of The FAN Club, and all other positions have the potential to be filled by guest musicians. Community and visiting musicians are also regularly given an opportunity to sit in, and in this servant-leader approach, you wouldn’t know who were guests if it wasn’t announced because all are provided the same autonomy and opportunity to call tunes, improvise, sing, engage, and shine.
Each musician in Tommy’s band grows, in different ways based on individual needs and interests. Some bring original tunes to the band, or experiment on multiple instruments, sometimes switching parts and instruments with another band member. A servant-leader approach allows Tommy to encourage each band member to not only be their authentic self, but to also explore possibilities of who they can become. I watched as the fiddler, the youngest of the musicians, grew into a confident and equal role, thinking how under Tommy’s leadership this was an ideal music learning culture with opportunity to explore multiple genres, styles, techniques, technology, singing, and engagement under the guidance of extensive experience.
The FAN Club musicians play out in other bands, and my few observations suggest that they just shine brighter under Tommy’s leadership. Tommy performed in a duo with another FAN Club musician as the headliner, and I watched as Tommy took a very purposeful back seat to allow his fellow musician the space to practice leading. During the performance I observed Tommy, quietly and inconspicuously, supporting and mentoring his fellow musician while also modeling servant-musician skills, enriching the overall performance without taking away any of the spotlight. Another band member shared with me how much his music making has expanded after he began playing with Tommy.
Tommy Foster as Servant-Musician
If the servant-leader leads by serving others first, the servant-musician makes music through serving others first. Tommy masterfully reads his crowd and engages audiences in his performances. It takes a tremendous amount of experience and skill to be creating what you are about to do while simultaneously creating in the moment. Some might say it isn’t even possible as it is generally accepted that we can only focus on one new or creative thing at a time, and anything else happening is repetition of learned skill. But…I’ve seen him do it. I’ve watched as he takes a song request, converses with the requester while simultaneously locating and withdrawing the lyrics, chords, bass line and strumming pattern from his memory, employs humor based on random occurrences in the audience, and also sets up his rig for the requested song. During this time he would also have thanked someone by name who dropped money into the tip jar, asked someone else walking by how their dog is doing (referring to both by name), and let the girl walking by know that she had dropped her sweater in the street. This is all before playing the requested song which will probably have at least one verse of improvised lyrics that tell a story about something everyone listening can relate to promoting social connectedness.
Contrast Tommy’s leadership style with that which puts the musician first over those listening, where the set list is predetermined and selected based on personal factors, the focus of the musician is aimed inward and on their own promotion, and meaning and purpose are self-serving. If a musician’s attention is on self and a perfect performance then you have a very different experience than one that considers the listeners first.
Praise or Gratitude?
I often refer to this question when working with musicians, “What would you rather receive after your performance, praise or gratitude?” Praise represents a job well done with a focus on the artist’s display of technique and artistry, and is often expressed as something related to “Great job!” Gratitude represents a meaningful experience, or something done for someone else, and is often expressed as “Thank you.” There is not a right or wrong answer as to what a musician wants to achieve, but rather a way to look at personal goals and aligning those goals with performance design. The servant-leader works for the successes and experiences of others first, including their band mates and audience. Tommy’s approach to music performance garners gratitude. Note in the Facebook post below how the words “Thank you”, “Sharing”, and “These evenings with the FAN Club are exceptional” represent appreciation and gratitude.
In another Facebook post (see below) we see again the words “thank you”, and notice also what they are appreciating including “joy”, “absolute bliss”, “love”, “community”, “friendship”, and lastly, “music”. That the word “music” is last in the list is not insignificant. Music is central to the experience, and without a quality musical presentation elements such as joy may not be possible. However, it is possible to have musical performance without joy, love, community, and friendship.
Musicians have so much potential to affect the well-being of others, but perhaps at the highest level of connecting it involves less focus on self and more focus on serving others. Tommy doesn’t make music because he wants to receive thank you’s. He certainly doesn’t make music looking for praise. As a servant-leader first, he makes music because he wants to make a difference in people’s lives.
On Becoming a Servant-Leader/Servant-Musician
Meaning and Purpose for Guiding Education, Practice, and Perseverance
Servant leadership is practiced in every part of life, and what we bring to our leadership and performances is a cumulation of how we live and interact with others daily. How servant-leadership manifests for one is not the same as for others, and the path to serving others as a leader and/or musician begins first by working towards being your authentic self to understand your meaning and purpose.
Always remember that the reason why you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself that you felt that if you could manifest it in some way, you would understand more about yourself and how you coexist with the rest of society. David Bowie
Many view musicianship and social intelligence as natural talents implying that Tommy is just doing what comes easy to him. On the contrary, a lifetime of learning and practice have cumulated into an extensive musical knowledge and skill set. He probably knows over 1000 tunes, and you can ask him (dare him even) to play any of them in any style or key. This knowledge and experience combined with his noticeable strengths in humor and kindness are only part of what contribute to the foundational skills needed for creating such moving events. Tommy’s performances are a demonstration of over 30 years of exploring, learning, and merging multiple skills into a career driven by meaning and purpose.
Embracing Vulnerability for Creating Exceptional Experiences
If you feel safe in the area that you are working in, you aren’t working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you are capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don't feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you're just about in the right place to do something exciting. David Bowie
When Tommy asks for song requests and is presented with a song he may not remember completely, he will still attempt the song and find a way to create a connection with or for the requester. He will even include an improvisation that builds a connection with and among the rest of the listeners. Putting oneself “out there” in this way when you are unsure of the results is risky. Jazz and popular musicians take risks when they improvise, but often you can hear their safety net in the overuse of patterns and quotes in place of musical exploration leading you to something new and previously unexperienced. The self-protective shield is even more apparent in the way musicians sometimes separate themselves from their audience by placing themselves further back and facing away from their listeners. This presents a message, possibly unintended, of “I’m going to do my thing and you can listen if you want to.”
Contrast such guarded music making with Tommy’s approach of placing yourself 5 feet away from your audience (without sunglasses) and locking eyes with your audience for three hours. During this time you also engage in conversation with listeners to discover ways that you can make their day. At the same time you are developing how to implement those experiences all while keeping the gig going. This example of servant-leadership in music places the goal of serving others, both as individuals and social groups, above consideration of self.
Embracing Mistakes - If Mistakes Could Always Feel Like This
Openly engaging with an audience begins with accepting vulnerability and taking risks, because it isn’t always going to work perfectly, and that can be scary. A servant-musician is not focused on the mistakes, and is willing to be vulnerable because there is a higher goal, or purpose, such as connecting with listeners and cultivating positive social interactions.
Trust your gut. Don’t be afraid of mistakes because if you make mistakes you always learn from them…some of the best ideas come out of mistakes; Something that I played wrong or a synthesizer did wrong or a guitar player played a wrong chord and it really sounded good and I suddenly found out I could use this in creative ways. There is a lot of musicians, some that are afraid to really makes mistakes and everything should be perfect, perfect. Sometimes this unperfectness can actually lead to some magical stuff.
I really don’t know if Tommy makes mistakes, because you can’t tell the difference between what might be an “oops” and what feels like something crafted perfectly in the moment for our amusement. Somehow, he is simultaneously creating similar experiences for others, and you have this feeling that what you hear has been created just for you. Creating that kind of specialness for the listener takes years of building skills and testing the waters, practicing being vulnerable, and risking ideas knowing they may not work. There must have been many times over the years when something didn’t work in order to practice shifting an unexpected event into a delightful entertainment. This willingness to put yourself out there in order to create something special for your listener, even if it might come at a cost to you by revealing that you aren’t always perfect, exemplifies the role of a servant-musician.
Embracing Your Authentic Self to Serve Others
Never play to the gallery…never work for other people at what you do. I think it's terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people's expectations. I think they generally produce their worst work when they do that. David Bowie
There are three types of listeners that show up for The FAN Club on Monday nights. One group includes the casual listeners who are there to socialize and drink a beer. They appear to not be fully engaged with the band, but are still energized by the background music. I sat next to a woman once who talked so loudly, and continuously, I struggled to hear the band. As I am wondering how she could be missing such a great bass solo, she stopped mid-sentence and said, “What a great band, huh?” and then continued on with what she had been saying, still speaking loudly. This is the earliest group of listeners to move on, opening up chairs and tables for those waiting.
The second group of listeners are fans, and they are there for the band, to listen to the music and to share the experience with friends and family. They socialize some, they dance some, and show their appreciation for the band with their attention, applause and tips. This group filters in and out throughout the evening, but by dusk most are moving on to their next destination.
The third group of listeners are focused on the band. Some may be listening for how Tommy is going to improvise lyrics based on what’s happening in the audience. Others may be anticipating what songs will be combined in new and creative ways while others are appreciating the improvised solos of individual musicians. I enjoy watching the artistry of how this band communicates musically with each other. Everyone is waiting for their favorite song, which is unique for every listener as I believe that Tommy brilliantly programs in a way that every song The FAN Club plays is a favorite for someone.
Throughout the night this third group slowly moves forward as others leave until during the last 30-45 minutes of music the sidewalk is mostly empty with the remaining listeners sitting and standing in the space directly in front of the band. There is an intimacy, as though everyone was attending a chamber concert given in someone’s private home. These are the listeners who hear and appreciate the thoughtfully crafted improvised solo, catch the slight change of lyrics creating a relationship with the listeners, and appreciate the intensity of the ensemble tightness and communication that has built throughout the evening allowing for a musical environment of spontaneity and creativity.
As a servant-leader serves others before self, making artistic decisions can be difficult in a subjective field such as music. If one is to serve first, then how do you serve so many listeners with individual preferences? As David Bowie puts it, “never play to the gallery”. If Tommy programmed and performed to get the attention of an individual or a group of his listeners, he might lose the attention of others. The same as programming for any specific group of people. Understanding your audience and serving them involves first knowing your true self and showing up always as who you are. This is not an easy thing to do, and it might be easier at times to just “entertain the masses”. However, a true servant-leader also has a higher purpose for what they do, and seeking one’s own meaning and purpose places one on a path to learn, build skills, make social and spiritual connections, and serve others through leading in the way that only you in your own uniqueness can.
All three groups of listeners are receiving what they need from these performances because The FAN Club, under Tommy’s leadership, serves through music from a place of knowing their own meaning and purpose. In this case, listeners are being served with new friendships and a stronger community from performances designed with a purpose of bringing people together and lifting spirits for better well-being.
Call for the Servant-Musician
The times of street musicians being hired as the civil servants and protectors have passed, but there are the musicians who continue on, serving their communities both in times of celebration and times of healing. After 18 months of COVID shutdowns my first sense of normalcy was at the opening The FAN Club event for the summer. As I approached the sidewalk where the band was playing I began to cry, as I saw people hugging and greeting each other, sitting next to each other, holding hands, and dancing. I was so taken aback because I had not experienced people looking at each other with such acceptance, friendship, love, and sense of community in such a long time. In difficult times like these when we long for well-being and social connectedness, I want servant-musicians like Tommy Foster protecting the city, and bringing us together while holding his guitar and a sword!
Working through coaching activities with a friend or group can broaden your scope of awareness while building personal relationships.
Activities for Practicing Servant-Leadership
Consider your personal strengths (see here for a strengths inventory), values, or skills and identify one way that you could serve others by drawing on your unique abilities. Then, do something for someone. Journal the process including writing down your strengths, ideas of utilizing those strengths to help others, actions that you took, and what you notice about yourself and others during and after taking action. How might you serve others in a musical (or other) performance designed by you?
John Christensen created the FISH! philosophy in 1998 that includes the following four concepts designed to improve work place dynamics. Choose one of these to implement as an opportunity to serve. Then, journal about the experience and what you notice about yourself and others. Consider designing a musical (or other) performance around these concepts.
Be there - show up for people and be present.
Play - enjoy processes and discovery in what you do and with others.
Make someone’s day - take opportunities to make a difference for someone else.
Choose your attitude - Understand that you have control over your state of mind, and practice choosing positivity. Seeking opportunities to experience “awe” can be helpful in shifting your state of mind (see here for awe activities).
Identify possible actions that you can take to implement each of Seligman’s five elements of PERMA for serving your audience. (See here for a deeper discussion of utilizing PERMA for thriving and well-being.) Journal your ideas and experiment with them in performances, also recording your perception of the effects.
Positive Emotions - Cultivate a positive environment for experiencing human emotions
Engagement - Cultivate an environment that invites and draws your audience into your performance
Relationships - Cultivate relationships among your audience members and between you and your audience members
Meaning and purpose - Meet your audience where they are at and foster connections based on their life events and understandings
Achievement - Help your audience to experience achievement which might be through audience participation or guiding your audience to new understandings or experiences
Share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment below to contribute to The Musician Coach community experience.
Eric Engblade---who is the guitarist, banjo picker, and vocalist extraordinaire for The Fan Club---is my son. His dad and I live in Ludington, and so, we can't attend every performance. However, we leave filled with joy every time we attend one of the shows. Occasionally, Tommy even invites my husband on stage to play the harmonica! It's said that music is the language of the Spirit. Tommy Foster created something incredibly beautiful and spiritual when he created The Fan Club.