What makes a successful collaboration? This is a question I have been asking myself throughout the British Council India-Guildhall School of Music and Drama collaborative project, Different Strokes.

Collaborations are part of every creative musician’s life. Every time you get together with a new ensemble or band you are bringing something of yourself and your experience of music to the process. Like a fingerprint, no two musicians will perform in exactly the same way, so flexibility and cooperation are essential as is an open approach and confidence in your contribution to the process. Leadership and teamwork always need to be present and at various times you will find yourself taking on different roles depending on what the situation or group needs. All of theses skills are needed regardless of whether you are working with one other artist or 20 and are necessary in every style or genre in music from western classical string quartets to thrash metal bands. Exciting collaborations occur when the experience and ideas from individuals combine to develop  something new. This is what happened in Different Strokes.

The idea for Different Strokes emerged a few years ago when Sean Gregory, head of professional development at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, was invited by British Council India to Kolkata to deliver three days of creative music workshops with professional musicians, music teachers and students. The success of this visit and enthusiasm from local musicians about the potential for more creative music making signalled the start of a start of a strong collaborative relationship between the Guildhall and British Council India.

Three years on, my journey on the project began during the August monsoons when I was invited by British Council India to visit Kolkata and Mumbai to meet with musicians and music teachers to share ideas for an innovative new project. Our aim was clear: to create a new ensemble of creative musicians from different genres in each city and to provide an opportunity for a core group of these musicians to develop leadership skills in music. A question I am often asked is “what does musical leadership mean? We began Different Strokes in Mumbai with this very question and a great many answers emerged; the ability to direct ensembles, lead compositional processes, conceptualise performances and events, work with any group of musicians regardless of background or experience and many more. The Guildhall School have developed their course in music leadership over the last 25 years into the Masters course it is today and it was some of the skills and expertise taught on this course that we aimed to pass on to the musicians based in Kolkata and Mumbai.

I have already mentioned some of the elements that contribute to a successful music collaboration but when you add a cross-cultural and cross-genre element into the mix things start to become more complicated but even more exciting. The two groups we worked with in Mumbai and Kolkata couldn’t have been more different and reflected the variety of music present in each city. In Kolkata our ensemble comprised of musicians from rock, pop, western classical and traditional Bengali folk backgrounds. In Mumbai we had a strong mix Indian Classical, Jazz, rock and western classical musicians. In each city we had a smaller group of core musicians who were each invited to bring a musical idea and to take the lead in developing a composition with the group. This not only provided variety in the kind of music we produced but was also an opportunity for each musician to share something of themselves and their music with the rest of the ensemble. As with every group process an understanding of each other’s skills and personalities helps to develop strong links between individuals.

To initiate these links, we would start each session with warm up games, name games and rhythm exercises, sometimes with hilarious consequences. In Mumbai we managed to get tangled in a ‘human knot’ and in Kolkata ended in fits of laughter after attempting a free form body percussion improvisation that ended up with one group karate chopping and another doing the Dandiya. Laughter was one constant throughout Different Strokes and something that emerged from the relaxed and good natured attitude of all the musicians and British Council staff. In a profession where work is often infrequent and competition fierce, it was a real pleasure to work with two groups of musicians who were clearly as eager to learn from one another as much as to share their ideas, and for whom there was a clear enjoyment about working together.

The overriding result of this project has been strong bonds of friendship that will continue to develop and strengthen over the months and years to come both between the Guildhall and Indian musicians but also between the musicians based in each city. After one month of intensive composing, sharing, rehearsing and a fantastic gig in each city, each group has a solid foundation and has the potential for exciting new initiatives and projects for the future. The music created for each performance was not only like a tapestry that contained the colours and personality of each musician in Different Strokes, but also reflected the character of each city and the relationship that had developed between the UK and Indian musicians. Out of these inspiring beginnings anything is possible and this is what a successful collaboration should be.