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The Leadership Skills of a Music Producer OVERVIEW ESSENTIAL QUESTION How do successful music producers practice positive leadership skills? OVERVIEW Have you ever wondered what goes into creating a successful album? Or, how an artist writes a song on acoustic guitar that somehow becomes a fully orchestrated pop hit? Almost always, a successful recording is the result of a team Photo: Apple Music effort. There are dozens of ways a songwriter can funnel a song from her brain to the airwaves. She might work with other composers, lyricists, and arrangers to craft and finely tune the song. Then, when recording, she may employ any number of extra musicians to add instruments or vocals. Engineers are required to record all those instruments, and later to “mix” them into a final product. Artists, photographers and designers must create a “look” for the recording package that complements the artist and music. And, perhaps most importantly, someone will need to manage the entire process, guiding all team members toward a unified aesthetic and timely completion. That someone, most often, is the “producer.” A successful music producer will see the potential of the artists with whom they work, have a vision for how to best reach the public with the artists’ music, and, more importantly, a plan regarding the steps required to do it. The producer may take on many roles, such as choosing a recording studio, gathering ideas, helping to compose and arrange the music, selecting musicians to play on a track, coaching the artist, and leading the recording session. The producer can function as a boss, a coach, a teacher, a colleague, or any combination of the above. But being a music producer rarely just means telling people what to do. A successful producer is aware of each team member’s strengths and weaknesses, and works with each to inspire their best work. In other words, a successful music producer is a successful leader. In this lesson, students are introduced to two of the most well-known producers in music history: Quincy Jones and George Martin. By examining Jone’s relationship with Michael Jackson, and Martin’s relationship with The Beatles, students discover how interpersonal leadership skills are essential for a music producer who aspires to help artists achieve their full potential. By watching clips from the PBS Soundbreaking series and conducting a class brainstorming activity, students then further define what types of particular leadership skills are necessary to be a music producer, and how developing such skills are useful in other avenues of life. SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS OF A MUSIC PRODUCER OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this lesson, students will: 1. KNOW (KNOWLEDGE): 2. MASTERY OBJECTIVE: • Positive leadership skills • Students will be able to contrast and compare positive and negative leadership skills by • How a producer contributes to recorded learning what a music producer does. music • The relationship between a producer and an artist • The ways a producer can influence an artist’s sound • About music producer Quincy Jones’ work with Michael Jackson and producer George Martin’s work with The Beatles ACTIVITIES MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVITY 1. Use a whiparound activity to ask students in the room to name a song they like or have listened to recently. Pick a song from the students’ selections and ask: • How do you think that song was written? Do you think it was written by the performer? If not, who else do you think might have been involved? (Encourage students to consider how different parts of a song, such as the melody, the chords, the beat, or the lyrics, might be developed by different people.) • What does it take to turn a written song into a recording heard on the radio or internet, or even a music video? What kind of skilled work might be needed to accomplish this? (Encourage students to think about all the visual and sonic elements that go into a recording, and what might be needed to create them.) PROCEDURE 1. Ask students if they’ve heard of Michael 2. Tell students that some of Michael Jackson’s Jackson, and then use another whiparound most famous songs were from the 1984 activity to ask what Michael Jackson songs album Thriller, which is one of the top-selling they know. (Chances are, some students will albums of all time. Display Image 1, Robin name songs on the album Thriller, which Eggar Quote. Select a student to read the include “Billie Jean,” “Wanna Be Startin’ quote out loud, and then ask: Somethin’,” “Thriller,” and “Beat it.”) • Who might Quincy Jones be? SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS OF A MUSIC PRODUCER • What might have he done with Michael Play Clip 2, Soundbreaking – The Early Beatles Jackson that had such an impact on and George Martin. Ask your students: Thriller, Bad, and Off the Wall? • How did George Martin contribute to the 3. Tell your students that Quincy Jones was the music of The Beatles? How might one producer of the three albums mentioned in describe his style of interaction with the the above quote. If you choose, play some of band? Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” for students (Note: This links to the official Michael • How were The Beatles and George Jackson YouTube page and may begin with Martin able to work together despite the an advertisement, we suggest loading the great age difference between them? video before class.) Ask students: • George Martin is often referred to as • What do you think it means to be a “The 5th Beatle.” Why might have producer for a record? people given him this title? • What sort of skills might Quincy Jones 6. Display Image 2, Leadership Quote in the need in order to be a record producer? class, and read the quote out loud. Then ask students: • If you played “Billie Jean,” encourage students to think of the different • What are the differences between a elements they hear in the music and boss and leader? Can you think of any what role Quincy Jones may have had? experiences with either in your life? 4. Play Clip 1, Soundbreaking – What Does • Based on what you learned about Quincy a Producer Do? and tell students to take Jones and George Martin, do you think notes on a piece of paper to keep track these music producers were more of the various statements they hear about “leaders” or “bosses.” Why? producers. Then ask: 7. Tell students that to further understand the • According to some of the people difference between bosses and leaders, they interviewed in this clip, what does a will play a matching game. Print, cut out, and producer do? shuffle the the cards inHandout 1 - “Leader or Boss?” Activity. Print enough so that all • Why do you think an artist or a band students can get a card. might choose to work with a producer? (If helpful, ask students to compare an 8. Pass out one card to each student and artist’s relationship with a producer to an then display Image 3, Instructions to athlete’s relationship to a coach.) “Leader or Boss?” Activity. Invite students to walk around the room searching for the • In what ways do you think a song might classmate who has the opposite card they “get lost in bad production”? (Again, a have. For instance, a student with a card sports analogy may be useful: why might displaying “places blame” should partner a team of excellent athletes still lose?) with the student with a card reading “takes responsibility.” While students are looking for 5. Tell students they will now be watching a clip their matching card, create a T-chart on the about successful producer George Martin. board, with one side reading “Leader” and SOUNDBREAKING: EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE EIGHT-PART PBS SERIES THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS OF A MUSIC PRODUCER the other reading “Boss.” “boss” or “leader” side of the chart. 9. Have each student pair to come to the board and explain why they think their two cards were opposites. Then place tape on the back of their cards, and ask the student pair to whether their respective cards belong in the SUMMARY ACTIVITY 1. As a class, examine the chart students created with their cards. Ask the class: • What kind of qualities listed here do you think successful music producers display? Are they more “bosses” or “leaders?” • How might the the skills listed in the “leader” side of the chart be more helpful in your life than those in the “boss” side? • How might people respond to you if you often act like a boss? How about if you often act like a leader? • Can you think of a situation in your life where it is better to be a leader than a boss? • What are some situations where you feel like it would be easier to act like a boss than act like a leader? • How can you develop leadership skills? EXTENSTION ACTIVITY 1. Role Play Activity: Break students up into pairs. Tell each pair to come up with a scenario between two people where positive leadership skills are needed. Possible scenarios could be between a music producer and an artist, a coach and an athlete, or a boss and an employee. Tell students that they will be performing their scenario in two skits. For the first skit, the student in the “leader” roll will show positive leadership skills. In the second skit, the student will show poor leadership skills. The student in the “non-leadership” role should react realistically in both skits to the leader’s actions.

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