This entire article is going to be me ranting and venting, so if you're looking for a happy uplifting article today, you're out of luck. Let the ranting begin!
So recently this old guy had started coming to my church, and he has joined the music team. This guy is an excellent musician, but he is probably one of the most arrogant and abrasive person I have met. For the rest of this article, we will call this individual, Mr.Arrogant. Ever since he has joined the music team, he has been driving some people crazy. I am not part of the music team, but I support this team as a sound technician.
Anyways, I started noticing problems when he was lecturing one of our drummers. The drummer was doing his thing, and Mr.Arrogant remarks that the drummer's timing is slightly off. They resume playing for a bit, and Mr.Arrogant stops again saying the drummer's timing is off again. Only a super picky person would have picked up on the timing issue. So, Mr.Arrogant starts treating the drummer like a baby and decides to "teach" him how to do it. The drummer at this point is fairly ticked off. Here we have Mr.Arrogant who just joined the team, with no credibility to his name, and he's telling people how to do their jobs.
Another week goes by, and I'm at their sound check rehersal, and I notice Mr.Arrogant wandering around the stage giving people orders and what not, even though he's not the worship leader. Anything that is not 100% perfect, he'll tell you how to do it better. And he never says please, thank you, or anything, he just says... do it this way, not that way.
I think this guy has to learn how to work effectively in a team environment. He also needs to understand that a lot of people are VOLUNTEERING to do this, and many people are not professionals at what they do. So, the worship music isn't going to be perfect like a professional performance. But THAT IS NOT WHAT WORSHIP IS ABOUT! It is not a show, it is about worshiping God.
Anyways, this guy eventually crossed paths with me. So one Sunday I was sitting upstairs, and I was the backup sound technician for the day. Therefore, I wasn't involved with the sound that day. After church, I run into Mr.Arrogant in the hall, and he starts saying, "you have to watch the piano levels during the slow songs, my wife said she couldn't even hear it at all. You see son, you have to be a sound engineer and listen to the mains and the monitors at the same time." I smile, and I tell him.... uhhh.... I wasn't doing sound today, if you have a problem talk to the guy that was doing it. He doesn't seem to listen and goes on, "and you have to listen to the monitor mix, and when you hear people playing wrong notes, you have to take them out of the mix because it's very distracting for me. For example, today (some person) was playing all the wrong notes during this song. And this (other person) was wrong during the middle of this song."
Why are you telling me this?! Don't eliminate the symptons of the problem, ie cutting people out of the sound mix (that's mean anyways), go address the root of the problem. Mr.Arrogant wasn't that great on the mix either. His instrument isn't in the sound system, so we can't control his volume, so he ends up drowning out most people anyways.
So the next week, I help set-up the computer and sound. (Now for some background, monitors are the speakers that the musicians on stage listen to, mains are the speakers that the audience listens to.) Again, I am not the sound technician that day. The sound guy turns off the main speakers so that the musicians can hear unbiased sound from their monitors. While the musicians start practicing, Mr.Arrogant stops playing, and decides to walk around where the audience sits. He starts yelling at me about the sound being too quiet and muffled in the back of the house, and the equalization of the sound not right. I tell him..... uhhh... that's because the main speakers are off, you're hearing an echo of the monitor's sound. He probably feels pretty stupid at this point. He returns to the stage, and he's again telling people to do things.
The rest of the show, I sit as backup again, and once again, NOT INVOLVED IN SOUND. After the show, I go up to the stage to recover some microphones, and out of the corner of my eye, and I see him approaching me. I'm thinking..... crap, here comes another brilliant lesson in sound technicianing 101. So he starts blabbing on about the piano mix isn't quiet enough and it is over powering his instrument, and blah blah blah. I tell him again, SIR! I WAS NOT ON THE SOUND BOARD TODAY. He then keeps going on and on about who's fault it was for which song.
I have the feeling that he tells me how to do my job because I'm this young guy who doesn't know anything about sound. He doesn't bother the other sound technician because he's a deacon of the church, and you don't mess with deacons. For the record, I have been in the sound business for almost ten years now, and I have over a thousand shows under my belt.
Anyways, gah! This experience has taught me that a modest person with modest skill is superior to an arrogant person who has superior skill. I am sick of this new guy just coming in and ordering everyone how to do their job. He has no established credibility or authority to do what he is doing. The music team is about worship, it is not a show where you're trying to show off your skills. Anyways, this situation is a time-bomb waiting to go off, some people are going to quit because of this guy. It sucks when being on the worship team isn't fun any more. I'm tempted to tell this guy, if you don't like the sound mix, perhaps I could quit, and you can take over the sound duties.
Anyone have any suggestions about dealing with this guy?
I'm done ranting.
