Anyone who has seen Walt Disney’s 1937 animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, should remember this classic tune by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey: Just whistle while you work…Put on that grin and start right in To whistle loud and long; Just hum a merry tune, Just do your best and take a rest, And sing yourself a song . When there’s too much to do, Don’t let it bother you, forget your troubles, Try to be just like a cheerful chick-a-dee, And whistle while you work. Come on get smart, tune up and start To whistle while you work…
It is a song that is sung by Snow White and a group of forest animals as they tidy up the home of the Seven Dwarfs, and it is also the song the Seven Dwarfs sing as they work in their jewel mine. There is no recompense for Snow White and her woodland friends as they happily go about their labor of love, and still she sings a positive song. I can more readily understand why the Seven Dwarfs are singing, as they seem to have a better union than most and seem to keep to a regular schedule as they amass a fortune mining their gems.
Nature or Nurture?
It appears as though Happy, Sneezy, Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Sleepy and Grumpy have a pretty good life despite their day-in and day-out schedule of working the mine, but for all intents and purposes, I cannot quite figure out why, with life being so good, “Grumpy” is Grumpy. I assume that, just like Happy, Sneezy, Dopey, Doc, Bashful and Sleepy, he was born that way. The possibility that something happened to him when he was a child might attribute to his grumpiness or, in a worst-case scenario, his curmudgeonly temperament might just be a medical condition. Either way — and despite all of their dispositions — they keep working as a team, and even singing, while they execute their daily chores.
Throughout the years, I have met and worked with many people in our field of audio who could easily fit the personality of one of the seven dwarfs and — not to outdo a classic — but I could add a few names to the list, such as “Miserable,” “Angry,” “Lousy” and “Alky.” Maybe I’m just nit-picking here, since most of the afore-mentioned names could all fit into the “Grumpy” category, but it seems as though — unlike the Seven Dwarfs — with every crew I have ever worked with, be it in television, theater, clubs, or tours, only one of seven is not a “Grumpy,” and that’s if I’m lucky. Just so you know, I’m not lucky, “Lucky” is the other guy on the better gig. You know “Lucky,” he’s not sweating like us, pulling a 15-hour day, working with vidiots and idiots while doing a show that sucks and doesn’t pay well enough to compensate for all the aggravation caused by some accountant acting as a production manager.
Whoa, what has happened to me? I think I sound like a “Grumpy.” Okay, I admit it. I am a “Grumpy,” and I work for the audio company of Grumpy, Grumpy, Grumpy and Grumpy. When people call me up and ask to speak to Mr. Grumpy, the conversation goes like this; “May I speak to Mr. Grumpy please?” “I’m sorry, but he is out sick today,” I reply. “Well then is Mr. Grumpy there?” “No,” I tell the caller, “He is on the road.” “How about Mr. Grumpy, is he available?” “Sorry to say,” I answer, “but he too is on a gig.” “Well,” says the exasperated caller, “Is Mr. Grumpy available?” “Speaking,” I answer.
Floating Grumbles
The thing about a Grumpy is that a Grumpy usually grumbles, and if one should have a whole team of Grumpys then, during any given gig, there is an underlying grumbling that is as insidious as a 60-cycle hum. It’s not quite audible enough to be heard, but definitely loud enough to be distracting. Sometimes the grumbling is akin to a floating ground, and just as you think you have located the grumble, it moves to another section of the room before it can be eradicated. These are known as floating grumbles.
In all fairness let it be known that one does not have to be a cantankerous curmudgeon to be a grumbler. “Happy” and “Bashful” as well as “Easy” and “Breezy” have been known to grumble just as much as the rest of them, and maybe even more. Compulsive Grumbling can be viewed as an unhealthy pastime and, despite the type of gig we are on, I have found that we are all just that, compulsive grumblers. The load in sucks, the planning sucks, the gig sucks, the band sucks, the gear sucks, there’s no catering, there is catering, but the catering sucks. The bus sucks, my bunk sucks, the crew sucks and the shoes of a certain member of the crew stink to high heaven. It’s too sunny, it’s to hot, it’s too cold and now it’s raining. The six-hour layover in the airport sucks and, as a matter of fact, the hotel sucks. The hotel is nice, but my room sucks. The local crew sucks and the system is not right for the room, but my mix was great. The pay sucks, but they bumped us all up to first class for the flight to Europe. Unfortunately, they didn’t have champagne on the flight, and that sucks.
Maybe all the grumbling isn’t indicative of negativity; maybe it is just human nature to be Grumpy despite any given circumstance, whether it is good or bad. Maybe grumbling is just a way of blowing off steam, since most of the gigs go well and, in the end, everybody ends up “Happy” or “Sleepy.” Just keep an eye out for “Sneezy,” as he might have a problem. Anyway, grumpy is as grumpy does and maybe it’s not the good gigs that make us “Happy” and “Sleepy,” but, quite possibly, it’s the grumbling itself that does the job.
Dealing with Dopey
Regardless of our rationale for grumbling, I don’t believe that grumbling is an activity relegated to only our business. There is probably a low-lying grumble circulating throughout most businesses as well as just our everyday existence. Grumbling seems to be genetically a part of human nature, and this is made evident by the inundation of reality television shows that feature grumbling — if not outright complaining. Even the Seven Dwarfs could have been grumbling. After all, they have a Dopey who locks the vault and then hangs the key next to the door. Think about it, have you ever worked with someone like this? Sure you have, and boy, did you ever grumble. The Dwarfs, on the other hand, don’t grumble, they just go on working and singing, which leads me to believe that it’s the singing and whistling that is keeping them from collapsing into a grumbly mass of grumpy.
Therefore, let me be the first to suggest that it be mandatory for all crews (local crews as well) to know the song, “Whistle While You Work” and to sing it while setting up and striking events. It might even help to get a few verses and whistles in while back on the bus. In any case, it might facilitate taking the grumble out of touring. Then again, I’m sure that there will be those who grumble about the singing and how so and so is out of tune or they can’t whistle or they don’t know the words, yada, yada yada.
Okay, given our propensity to grumble, I’d like to say that I, for one, will never grumble again if just once I could arrive at a venue and hear the teamsters, stagehands and crew singing and whistling, in perfect harmony, the song, “Whistle While You Work.”
