Leading & Following in Creative Collaborations - Glover Gill

This episode is a reflective conversation on the creative process with an artist I have long admired, composer and multi-instrumentalist Glover Gill.  Glover and I take a trip down memory lane as we chat about our collaboration on the making of a dance theater piece called Uno back in 2008. Glover also shares insights about leading and following in his collaborations with other musicians and with filmmaker Richard Linklater, emphasizing how great collaboration depends on mutual trust, respect, and relationships built over time.

“On a couple of movements of our piece, the writing took control of me and I just had to follow the direction that it was going.” 

“I almost feel like the best thing I can do in a collaboration is try to do just enough leading to get myself into the follower role as much as possible.”

“While I’m looking at little tiny details, he’s looking at the big picture. It’s a symbiosis.”

“Part of good leadership is identifying the right structure for the outcome that we want and for the people that we’re working with.”

“I think there may be very few things more frustrating than a leader without clarity.”

Find Glover Gill’s Music:

Siggs Lagoon, Houston
www.sigslagoon.com

Waterloo Records, Austin
www.waterloorecords.com

Episode References:

Richard Linklater, Waking Life
Watch Trailer

Tosca String Quartet/Tosca Tango Orchestra
www.toscastrings.com