All across the globe several musical productions are carried out and a lot of components make the production something to applaud or critique. For many the delivery of the musical act stands out overlooking the role of the instrumentalists, sound engineer, producer or director among other elements that make up an outstanding show. But it’s one thing to desire to make a production but a lot more goes into understanding what it entails and the music performance at large.

For Temitope Lisa professionally known as Awesome T Bass, production has given him a much broader understanding of music asides from being a music minister and bass player. He thinks through on the arrangement, musicians, sound, transitions, dynamics and most importantly, the audience experience, stage presentation and even how the music will translate outside the studio.

This makes him intentional as he understands that a great song is not only about having a great idea but the execution has to serve the idea. Whether in the studio or on a stage his production experience helps make decisions that allow the music to breathe and ensures that the artistic vision is communicated clearly.

From his experience producing concerts he has been able to observe some common weaknesses in live music performances and now he approaches those challenges differently as a band director. One of the biggest weaknesses Awesome T Bass has noticed is the lack of preparation and communication. Sometimes you have very talented individual musicians, but the band doesn’t sound like one unit because everyone is approaching the music from their own perspective.

As a band director he solves this problem by creating a situation where everyone understands the bigger picture. By working on arrangements, dynamics, transitions, cues and the structure of the performance before they get on stage a major impact can be measured right before the main performance.

His experience and craft came to a big test at the 2023 Beejay Sax Live in Concert held on the 14th of April 2023 at the prestigious Eko Hotel and Suites. Right from the kick off of the concert and right through to the very end one can attest to the beauty in the call and response from Beejay Sax and the band. The seamless coordination and balance between the person at the spotlight and the instrumentalists showed an high level of precision which made it more about creating an experience for the guests.

Sound can also be a major challenge as it’s one thing to rehearse and put in the work as a band but it’s another thing to have a sound engineer who understands the sound and experience you are trying to create. It’s even more challenging when he doesn’t have the right equipments to give a proper live mix. But the gaps were filled during this showcase as Awesome T Bass connected all the dots as at where it was supposed to be done. Working closely with other key players on the production ensured everyone had a good time serving their roles and gave the audience a great show.

Technical excellence is very important, but technical excellence alone doesn’t guarantee a memorable experience for people. A memorable performance has emotion, connection, identity and intention. You can have musicians who play every note perfectly, but if there is no connection between the performer, the music and the audience, something can still be missing.

The drummer, back up singers, talking drummers, keyboardists as well as every other participants on stage delivered complementary support to each other which further gave the whole production resounding applauses. One thing to take off this is how experiences birthed the needed intelligence to ensure the show was solid at every segment.

The 2023 edition of the Beejay Sax Live was indeed justified as a successful performance where the audience left having felt something; maybe they were inspired, encouraged, energised or simply connected with the music in a way they didn’t expect.