The Beatles As Outliers
The Beatles As Outliers
Today, we draw from a marvelous new book called, "Outliers: The Story of Success," Malcom Gladwell, Little, Brown & Company, 2008. This book, by the way, is NOT specifically about the Beatles. So let's see what Mr. Gladwell is talking about . . . .
OUTLIER: (noun) 1) Something that is situated from or classed differently from the main or related body.
The book is about people who do things that are out of the ordinary, that is to say, these people lie outside of the normal parameters and algorithms of life and living. Hence the term Outlier.
When we hear or read either autobiographies or biographies that are constantly being published each year by or about hugely successful billionaires/entrepreneurs/movie stars/rock stars/celebrities, etc., the story line is fairly similar for all: our hero was born of very modest means, circumstances growing up were hard and by virtue of the grit, brilliance and determination of each hero, he/she rose to greatness. Seldom does that story change.
Not neccesarily so says Gladwell. These people all make it look they they did it by themselves but invariaably each had hidden advantages, extraordinary opportunities and cultural issues that conspired to help them along. Thus; where, how and when people grew up has profound impact on how some achieve greatness. It is not enough, therefore, to ask what successful people are like. More importantly, where they are from is a more accurate way of unraveling the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't.
Some time ago, the author and his wife were watching a Canadian Junior Hockey Championship game. They noticed that the bulk of the players from both teams were born between January and March. Other studies were undertaken and the logic began to unfold: kids born early in a year at the age cut off are invariably bigger and that much more mature than kids born in say September or later of the same year that reach the same age. Thus, these slightly bigger kids got better coaching, more ice time, played with better kids and in the process developed much better and went farther into the hockey system. This observation was true for all levels of soccer and hockey. Latent talent always helps, but the extra practice with a better support system was afforded to the kids born early each year. On to the next point:
The 10,000 Hour RULE:
Numerous studies have mirrored the following story/study: At Berlin's elite Academy of Music, the Academy's Professors divide up the violinists into three groups: a) the first group consisted of what the Professors deemed to be the stars of the class, the ones thought to be capable of being world class soloists. b) the second group had the good students. c) the third group had the pedestrian students who were deemed to be average or below and would be better suited to teaching music in grammer school. All of the students were asked the same question years later, Q: Over the course of your entire life since the day you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practiced and played all together? *Each kid started around the age of 5. The Best group added up to having practiced over 10,000 hours by the age of 20. The Good group came to an average of 8000 hours and the future music teachers just over 4000 total hours. The same results were obtained with piano playing students. In fact, researchers have settled on what is believed to be the magic number for true expertise; 10,000 hours of practice and/or playing. This also holds true for athletes. The striking thing about these studies is that rarely are there any so-called "naturals," musicians or athletes who floated effortlessly to the top while hardly ever practicing.
The crucial difference in what distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. Furthermore, people at "the top" don't just work harder than everyone else, they work MUCH MUCH harder.
Even so called "prodigies" can't escape the 10,000 hour rule. Take Mozart for example; he famously started writing music at the age of six. Or did he? According the Michael Howe in his book Genius Explained,
"By the standards of mature composers, Mozart's early works were not that outstanding. The earliest pieces were all probably written down by his father, and perhaps improved in the process. Many of Wolfgang's childhood compositions, such as the first seven of his concertos for piano and orchestra are largely arrangements of works by other composers. Of those concertos that only contain music original to Mozart, the earliest that is now regarded as a masterwork (No. 9, K 271) was not composed until he was 21. By that time Mozart had already been composing concertos for ten years."
Music critic Harold Schonberg goes farther by saying that Mozart actually developed "late," due to the fact that he didn't produce his greatest work until he had been composing for over twenty years. Again, we see the 10,000 hour rule come into play even with an alleged prodigy.
All of which brings us to the Beatles. The story is generally familiar to most fans by now, especially if they have been reading this blog! John Lennon and Paul McCartney had been playing together since 1957. Americans got and eye and earful on the night of Feb. 9, 1964 but by then, the Fabs had been working or at least practicing virtually non stop for seven years together. The crucible for them was the Hamburg experience. As original drummer Pete Best so well put it, "Once the news got out about that we were making a show (jumping around like loons on stage), the club started packing them in. We played seven nights a week. At first we played almost non stop till twelve-thirty, when it closed, but as we got better the crowds stayed till two most mornings."
That opinion is consonant with every interview any of the Beatles ever gave about the Hamburg experience. The pay was lousy, the accomodations nearly sub human, the hours too long; but, they LOVED it and couldn't get enough. The band traveled to Hamburg five times in all between 1960 and 1962. On their first trip, they played 106 nights at 5 hours or more per night. The second trip consisted of 92 gigs. Their third trip got them 48 nights of playing. All told, the five Hamburg trips yielded 270 nights of performing in 1.5 years at eventually 8 hours/night. Add to that, all the gigs Manager Brian Epstein got them as they became famous in England. They were playing nearly seven nights/week AFTER the Hamburg experience. By the time the Beatles invaded the United States, it has been estimated they had played at least 1200 gigs. It is a staggering number of engagements. Most bands wouldn't play that number today in their entire careers and the FAbs did it in a few years time. Multiply 1200 by say 7 hours/night the figure comes to 8,400 hours of playing. Since they were a group of 4 (5 counting Stuart Sutcliffe, the orginal bass player), and not an individual, the GROUP thus played 33,600 man hours of music by 1964. Hamburg made them as John Lennon readily admitted to Rolling Stone Magazine in 1970. "I was born in Liverpool but I grew up in Hamburg," he famously said.
But it was a series of extraordinary circumstances that brought them to where they ended up: 1) born during WW II so that they could rock the world teen market who had been born just after WWII during the mad, teen driven swinging 60's. 2) They all happened to be born near each other and thus, the collective of their group genius could be melded together. 3) Their first manager Alan Williams just happened to bump into Bruno Koschmider in London and Koschmider needed British bands for his clubs, the Beatles were sent over by Williams as the second British band. 4) They fell out with Williams and then Brian Epstein came along. 5) Stuart Sutcliffe quit allowing Paul McCartney to take over on bass and reduce the band number to it's famous four peice ensemble and in the bargain go on to become pop rock's greatest bassist. 6) Epstein finally meets Dick James who put him (Epstein) in touch with George Martin at Abbey Road Studios. 6) Martin likes what he hears and liked the band as people and offered them a contract. Suffice it to say, in the opinion of your humble correspondant, the Beatles were the greatest group of all time for several reasons, not least of which, they were the hardest working band in history, bar none. **No real surprise then, that by 1970, Lennon had just about had it with touring, gigging and "being a performing flea" as he put it.
Of course their innate genius for songcraft was crucial but the events leading up to their big time status were just as crucial for their success. There were other stories too such as the fabled story of Bill Gates and Microsoft but we're going too long to get into that today and keep this blog reasonable. The gist of the book is that Outliers tells us that success follows a predictable course. Nor is it necessarily the brightest that go all the way. It is about those who have been given opportunities and who have had the strength and prescience to reach out and seize the day; "Carpe Diem" as Robin Williams told us in "The Dead Poets Society." In the case of the Beatles, an otherworldly genius for songwriting didn't hurt the cause either. But without the numerous happy circumstances that continually occurred in front of them; had they not seized upon those circumstances and sweated out the extraordinarily long hours, musical history would most definitely be different today.
By John Haberstroh (Bassists for BeatleTracks) Find us at www.beatletracksband.com
Today, we draw from a marvelous new book called, "Outliers: The Story of Success," Malcom Gladwell, Little, Brown & Company, 2008. This book, by the way, is NOT specifically about the Beatles. So let's see what Mr. Gladwell is talking about . . . .
OUTLIER: (noun) 1) Something that is situated from or classed differently from the main or related body.
The book is about people who do things that are out of the ordinary, that is to say, these people lie outside of the normal parameters and algorithms of life and living. Hence the term Outlier.
When we hear or read either autobiographies or biographies that are constantly being published each year by or about hugely successful billionaires/entrepreneurs/movie stars/rock stars/celebrities, etc., the story line is fairly similar for all: our hero was born of very modest means, circumstances growing up were hard and by virtue of the grit, brilliance and determination of each hero, he/she rose to greatness. Seldom does that story change.
Not neccesarily so says Gladwell. These people all make it look they they did it by themselves but invariaably each had hidden advantages, extraordinary opportunities and cultural issues that conspired to help them along. Thus; where, how and when people grew up has profound impact on how some achieve greatness. It is not enough, therefore, to ask what successful people are like. More importantly, where they are from is a more accurate way of unraveling the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't.
Some time ago, the author and his wife were watching a Canadian Junior Hockey Championship game. They noticed that the bulk of the players from both teams were born between January and March. Other studies were undertaken and the logic began to unfold: kids born early in a year at the age cut off are invariably bigger and that much more mature than kids born in say September or later of the same year that reach the same age. Thus, these slightly bigger kids got better coaching, more ice time, played with better kids and in the process developed much better and went farther into the hockey system. This observation was true for all levels of soccer and hockey. Latent talent always helps, but the extra practice with a better support system was afforded to the kids born early each year. On to the next point:
The 10,000 Hour RULE:
Numerous studies have mirrored the following story/study: At Berlin's elite Academy of Music, the Academy's Professors divide up the violinists into three groups: a) the first group consisted of what the Professors deemed to be the stars of the class, the ones thought to be capable of being world class soloists. b) the second group had the good students. c) the third group had the pedestrian students who were deemed to be average or below and would be better suited to teaching music in grammer school. All of the students were asked the same question years later, Q: Over the course of your entire life since the day you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practiced and played all together? *Each kid started around the age of 5. The Best group added up to having practiced over 10,000 hours by the age of 20. The Good group came to an average of 8000 hours and the future music teachers just over 4000 total hours. The same results were obtained with piano playing students. In fact, researchers have settled on what is believed to be the magic number for true expertise; 10,000 hours of practice and/or playing. This also holds true for athletes. The striking thing about these studies is that rarely are there any so-called "naturals," musicians or athletes who floated effortlessly to the top while hardly ever practicing.
The crucial difference in what distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. Furthermore, people at "the top" don't just work harder than everyone else, they work MUCH MUCH harder.
Even so called "prodigies" can't escape the 10,000 hour rule. Take Mozart for example; he famously started writing music at the age of six. Or did he? According the Michael Howe in his book Genius Explained,
"By the standards of mature composers, Mozart's early works were not that outstanding. The earliest pieces were all probably written down by his father, and perhaps improved in the process. Many of Wolfgang's childhood compositions, such as the first seven of his concertos for piano and orchestra are largely arrangements of works by other composers. Of those concertos that only contain music original to Mozart, the earliest that is now regarded as a masterwork (No. 9, K 271) was not composed until he was 21. By that time Mozart had already been composing concertos for ten years."
Music critic Harold Schonberg goes farther by saying that Mozart actually developed "late," due to the fact that he didn't produce his greatest work until he had been composing for over twenty years. Again, we see the 10,000 hour rule come into play even with an alleged prodigy.
All of which brings us to the Beatles. The story is generally familiar to most fans by now, especially if they have been reading this blog! John Lennon and Paul McCartney had been playing together since 1957. Americans got and eye and earful on the night of Feb. 9, 1964 but by then, the Fabs had been working or at least practicing virtually non stop for seven years together. The crucible for them was the Hamburg experience. As original drummer Pete Best so well put it, "Once the news got out about that we were making a show (jumping around like loons on stage), the club started packing them in. We played seven nights a week. At first we played almost non stop till twelve-thirty, when it closed, but as we got better the crowds stayed till two most mornings."
That opinion is consonant with every interview any of the Beatles ever gave about the Hamburg experience. The pay was lousy, the accomodations nearly sub human, the hours too long; but, they LOVED it and couldn't get enough. The band traveled to Hamburg five times in all between 1960 and 1962. On their first trip, they played 106 nights at 5 hours or more per night. The second trip consisted of 92 gigs. Their third trip got them 48 nights of playing. All told, the five Hamburg trips yielded 270 nights of performing in 1.5 years at eventually 8 hours/night. Add to that, all the gigs Manager Brian Epstein got them as they became famous in England. They were playing nearly seven nights/week AFTER the Hamburg experience. By the time the Beatles invaded the United States, it has been estimated they had played at least 1200 gigs. It is a staggering number of engagements. Most bands wouldn't play that number today in their entire careers and the FAbs did it in a few years time. Multiply 1200 by say 7 hours/night the figure comes to 8,400 hours of playing. Since they were a group of 4 (5 counting Stuart Sutcliffe, the orginal bass player), and not an individual, the GROUP thus played 33,600 man hours of music by 1964. Hamburg made them as John Lennon readily admitted to Rolling Stone Magazine in 1970. "I was born in Liverpool but I grew up in Hamburg," he famously said.
But it was a series of extraordinary circumstances that brought them to where they ended up: 1) born during WW II so that they could rock the world teen market who had been born just after WWII during the mad, teen driven swinging 60's. 2) They all happened to be born near each other and thus, the collective of their group genius could be melded together. 3) Their first manager Alan Williams just happened to bump into Bruno Koschmider in London and Koschmider needed British bands for his clubs, the Beatles were sent over by Williams as the second British band. 4) They fell out with Williams and then Brian Epstein came along. 5) Stuart Sutcliffe quit allowing Paul McCartney to take over on bass and reduce the band number to it's famous four peice ensemble and in the bargain go on to become pop rock's greatest bassist. 6) Epstein finally meets Dick James who put him (Epstein) in touch with George Martin at Abbey Road Studios. 6) Martin likes what he hears and liked the band as people and offered them a contract. Suffice it to say, in the opinion of your humble correspondant, the Beatles were the greatest group of all time for several reasons, not least of which, they were the hardest working band in history, bar none. **No real surprise then, that by 1970, Lennon had just about had it with touring, gigging and "being a performing flea" as he put it.
Of course their innate genius for songcraft was crucial but the events leading up to their big time status were just as crucial for their success. There were other stories too such as the fabled story of Bill Gates and Microsoft but we're going too long to get into that today and keep this blog reasonable. The gist of the book is that Outliers tells us that success follows a predictable course. Nor is it necessarily the brightest that go all the way. It is about those who have been given opportunities and who have had the strength and prescience to reach out and seize the day; "Carpe Diem" as Robin Williams told us in "The Dead Poets Society." In the case of the Beatles, an otherworldly genius for songwriting didn't hurt the cause either. But without the numerous happy circumstances that continually occurred in front of them; had they not seized upon those circumstances and sweated out the extraordinarily long hours, musical history would most definitely be different today.
By John Haberstroh (Bassists for BeatleTracks) Find us at www.beatletracksband.com
Just finished reading this book. An excellent read. And the section on the Beatles underscored the old saw:Q:How do you get to Carnegie Hall? A: Practice!
Vince C (from Vienna)
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