*the deliberate termination of an idea in its gestation period

In the 2014 movie Whiplash, J.K. Simmons plays the band teacher from hell. Towards his students he lets loose some of the most foul and vulgar tirades that will make you never want to buy Farmer’s Car Insurance again. He throws chairs at his students, insults their mothers, tells them how worthless and awful they are. Near the end of this film he’s explaining to a former student the reason behind his extreme methods. He says, “You have to push people to do more than is regularly expected of them, otherwise they’ll never unlock their own greatness.” His student asks, “Is there a line that can be crossed where instead of pushing people to try harder you discourage them from trying at all?”

“No” says Simmons, “a truly great player would never be discouraged”.

***

I recently sat down with a friend who is graduate of West Point and we discussed some of the training methods they use on Army cadets. He told me that looking back on it now, he can see the point of it all. Combat is inherently stressful, so learning to function normally amid stress is a key outcome of their training.

Another friend, a member of the elite Army Green Berets, said an important part of their training was to find out exactly where ones’ limits were. They push you to the edge, so you’ll know how to handle yourself in active combat. We later watched Whiplash together and even he thought Simmons was hardcore!

Being shot at is not really like playing jazz standards, I think. (I’ve actually never tried either) Both can be stressful, but surely there’s a difference between training for war and doing scales? Yet Simmon’s character ratchets up the psychological pressure, as if his flute section is about to be airdropped behind enemy lines. He screams obscenities at his band members, while they play jazz. This supposedly makes them try harder. If this is so good should he take it up a notch and use the Army’s methods? Fire blanks over their heads while they play? Or not allow them to sleep for 3 days then order them to sight read music?

His spoken and unspoken feedback to his students is “You suck. You’re trash. Everything you do is terrible.” Simmons has a nearly perfectionistic standard for his students. Multiple times in the movie he alludes that he is “Trying to find the next Charlie Parker.” Charlie Parker, the legendary Saxophone player, is a King on the musical mountain. Simmons tortured search is the Green Beret standard of Jazz: if you’re not the best you’re utterly worthless.

His star student, a drummer played by Miles Teller, ends up being pushed beyond what many could psychologically bare. In the end, the drummer endures it all and comes out on top. He becomes the jazz band version of Rambo. He’s a highly motivated and extremely talented young man who will endure mental abuse to achieve his goal of being a great drummer. In the final scene of the movie, Miles Teller’s character achieves his “breakthrough moment”, a baptism of sorts where he dies to mediocrity and is reborn to greatness. He passes through the caldron of vitriol and stress, to emerge as a talent beyond artistic reproach. As viewers of the film, we vicariously live this experience of rebirth and celebrate his accomplishment and gritty determination.

Yet, what of the other band members? Some of them end up quitting music altogether. The stress of training has made them hate the thing they loved. They will never reach their musical potential, even if their potential wasn’t so-called “greatness”.

***

In January my wife and I moved to a community in Detroit that has a bunch of artists living in one area. On our block alone there are painters, musicians, performance artists, poets, artists working with textiles, and writers, just to name a few. We meet semi regularly to share projects we’re working on and give feedback on the art. As a comedian, it is so fascinating to hear the opinions of others who are working in such vastly different mediums. They are viewing my work through another kind of artistic lens. It can be helpful for comedians to hear feedback from people besides other comics.

One of the members of this group is particularly adept at giving feedback on others work. I’ve nicknamed him “Miracle Grow” because he will sprinkle feedback on someone else’s work and make it grow fuller and richer than the person originally imagined. He draws connections you did not know were there, asks good questions, and is always encouraging the work along.

Miracle Grow and J.K. Simmons’ character are at odds in their ideologies toward art. Simmons has a war mentality towards music. It is winner take all. Some will live in greatness and the rest will die in obscurity, so he trains his students like it’s boot camp.

In some sense, the perfectionistic and self-critical voice of Simmons sits on the shoulder of every artist. His voice is haranguing its target, “You’re non-Charlie Parker, you’re non-Dave Chapelle! It’s trash, don’t bother making it! It’s a waste of time!”

***

Is Art like war, a struggle that only the strongest survive? Or is Art more like a child – needing to be nurtured and sheltered? The concepts you’re dreaming are like a tiny fetus – all the small components are present, but fruition is still years away.

Miracle Grow is more like a midwife than a drill sergeant. Far be it from him to smother a creative idea in its infancy. He will look for what’s already there and add to it. This is not a flat refusal to burn the chaff to get to the wheat, but rather an acknowledgement of every person’s need to express themselves creatively. I do believe that Grow would embrace the broader definition of who is an artist given by Questlove in his book Creative Quest:

“I want to reverse this whole movement of separating artists from each other, of saying one man or woman is more or less of an artist than another one. For that matter, I want to broaden the definition to include anyone who is making something out of nothing by virtue of their own ideas. I include the dad who likes doing craft projects in the garage. I include the mom who sings on weekends and has started after twenty years to write songs again. I include armchair poets and sideways thinkers. I include the world, not because every creative project is equal in conception or in execution, but because every creative project matters to someone. Time will sort out the difference between whales whittled out of balsa wood, and Moby Dick, and Wale. I’ll just say that while there is a difference, it may not be as great as some people believe.”

This is a radical way of thinking and perhaps offensive to the ears of “professional” artists (defined as: others will exchange money for your services or work). We may feel it somehow diminishes the self-label of “artist”. We view it as cheapening the experience of attaining a certain level of mastery over our medium.

In comedy, the chaff will inevitably be burned away. Let the stillborn jokes perish before the silence of an unmoved crowd. Who cares? It can’t all be gold.

***

Resist the logic of the angry band teacher. His voice that says if your work won’t be admired by a million admiring eyes, it’s a total waste of time. Perfectionism cannot override the need for ongoing experimentation, because art is for expression and enjoyment. Creation is an inherent part of the human experience, whether you think of yourself as artsy or not. You’re not at war, so there’s no need to commit concepticide.

Concepticide*