Canadian Musician November / December 2019 | Page 41

valuable you’ll be in any collabora-
tive effort, including songwriting.
The “muse,” says guitarist and
producer/mixer Mark Makoway,
may show up for one writing ses-
sion, but there’s no guarantee of
a repeat appearance for the next
one. I’ve worked with Makoway in
Moist for roughly three decades
and consider him to be a highly
fluid player and methodical pro-
ducer – in part a product of his
approach to practice.
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN
“Your daily practice routine
is about keeping your performance strength going, but in terms
of songwriting, it’s about the process of creation, as compared to
rehearsal, which would be honing, sharpening, and making things
shine,” Makoway says. “With regards to writing, you have to be prag-
matically-minded and prepared to go wherever an idea takes you.”
Even if that’s not ideal, he adds: “That process inevitably informs
the next and makes other ideas better just because of that journey, so
the creative process, in my experience, can’t be particularly structured.”
For song development and recording sessions, however, some
structured preparation is important. “Artists need to have a clear idea
of what the different ideas are and have worked through them to
have a sense of where they can lead,” he says, “but in a group writing
session, the worst thing someone can be is too married to an idea,
because invariably it grows to become more than you could have
imagined because of somebody else’s input.”
In short, be creatively flexible, which, in part, happens via indi-
vidual practice. “I subscribe to the idea that, in order to be sponta-
Then there are unexpected, unwanted,
but not unlikely issues that create problems
on stage. Enter the stage technician – in this
case, Armando “Yogi” Garcia, who has worked
for numerous artists and productions, includ-
ing Heart, Lou Reed, Slayer, and Lyle Lovett.
There are many horrible “what if” sce-
narios you have to be prepared for, and Yogi
stresses the importance of thinking ahead
to ensure you can get through your show if
something goes south and having backup
instruments and spares of everything break-
able – from strings to straps to kick pedals
– at the ready. Otherwise, those items going
down can be showstoppers.
Granted, even when you figure you’ve
thought of everything, fate (no doubt gig-
gling maliciously at your expense) may prove
you wrong. Yogi references a gig where,
although it was clear the backline amps
weren’t high quality, the hope was they’d
work for the gig. “Then the guitar amp shit
ARMANDO
“YOGI” GARCIA
neous, you have to really know your subject matter and be able to
play whatever you’re playing right side up, upside down, backwards,
and forwards so that, in performance, you’re not worried about exe-
cution. You’re not worried at all. You’re able to be spontaneous, react,
and take it to another level.”
For his practice regime, Makoway continues: “I like to play for an
extended period in sort of a mindless way with a metronome; basi-
cally just ‘noodling.’ That process stitches together all these different
phrases. Then you think up a new phrase and it gets added to your
vocabulary organically over time, much like the way a child learns
new words.”
Individually or collectively, practice and rehearsal aren’t just
about hitting the right notes; they’re about developing strategies
and tactics to become increasingly intuitive, fluent, and able to in-
habit the moment instinctively.
Kevin Young is a Toronto-based musician and freelance writer.
the bed. I remember going right out of the
pedal board into a DI, just to get signal.” The
FOH engineer wasn’t thrilled with the sound,
he adds, “But the show went on and at the
end of the day, that’s what it’s about: getting
through it.”
Doing so means not only having a “plan
B,” but – particularly if you don’t have a back-
line tech – being able to implement that
plan yourself without running around the
stage like your hair is on fire. Minimizing the
impact of technical issues can and should be
rehearsed. That could mean being ready with
an acoustic or piano-based number if anoth-
er instrument goes down, or creating backup
systems you can switch to seamlessly.
“That’s the other thing,” Yogi adds.
“When something’s going wrong, never let
the audience know what’s going on.” Grant-
ed, there are hiccups that the audience can’t
help but notice. In those cases, he says: “If
you react as a pro, that puts the audience
at ease. For example, I saw U2 on the Joshua
Tree Tour and Adam Clayton’s bass wireless was
messing up and finally stopped working. Bono
just went, ‘You good? You need to address this?’
That relaxed the tech and relaxed the perform-
er, so shit got sorted and off they went.”
That said, you may not have a tech,
an LD, or FOH/monitor engineer, Makoway
puts in, “So what you’d do with full crew on
a large tour, that whole process happens
in miniature during sound check, where
you introduce yourself to the house tech-
nicians and quickly develop a relationship,
then talk about the generalities and any
important specifics they should know in
terms of your show.”
Strictly speaking, troubleshooting isn’t
taught in your average music class, but
that doesn’t mean you won’t benefit from
rehearsing, if only in your head, what to do
when potentially show-stopping catastro-
phes crop up.
C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N 41