Small Changes, Better Performances: Piloting the 1%

What happens when you already have a good performance, but you think one small change could make it even better?

In this episode of Intentional Musicianship, Jeff Price explores the idea of piloting the 1%. Make one intentional change to an already solid performance, test its impact, and use what you learn to decide what happens next.

Inspired by a student's observation during a recent master class, "Sometimes you've just got to change something," Jeff connects musical experimentation with the idea of a pilot used in business and Six Sigma.

Instead of rebuilding an entire performance or committing resources to an untested idea, isolate one change and determine what you expect it to accomplish.

The process starts with four simple questions:

Why am I changing something? What am I changing? What do I expect that change to accomplish? What happened as a result?

The episode looks at two different examples. Musically, a performer might pull out a section and intentionally exaggerate the phrasing, dynamics, articulation, or other musical choices to make the communication as clear as possible and determine whether the idea actually reaches the audience.

On the audience engagement side, something as simple as adding a QR code to a concert's digital media can become a pilot. If the goal is to encourage audience members to connect through social media, the response can be measured before committing additional money or resources to putting that QR code into printed programs or other materials.

The measurement follows the purpose of the change. Sometimes the result is something you hear, see, or experience. Sometimes it is something you can count.

Sometimes the pilot may even show that an idea works, but the improvement is not worth the additional time, money, people, technology, or complexity required to make it happen.

The goal is not constant change. It is intentional improvement.

Keep it. Modify it. Or let it go.