What does a conductor do when the orchestra is simply not playing up to its capability?
The general public’s stereotype of a maestro’s behavior in this situation is based on Arturo Toscanini, whose temper tantrums on the podium during the 1950s were legendary. Listen, if you dare, to his rant, which climaxes in his storming [...]
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It’s rare that you get to see a spontaneous, black-and-white contrast between the effects of two different approaches to leadership. But it happened to me many years ago, and forever changed my ideas about the power of communicating vision to a workforce.
I had engaged a very good tenor to sing a beautiful Bach Cantata. [...]
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A leader can sometimes be blind to what is obvious to everyone else. I learned this more than 25 years ago when I guest-conducted one of the most famous American orchestras in the Rumble scene from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story.
The Rumble is a violent piece, bursting with explosive, jagged syncopations. It’s tricky to [...]
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At some point in every Music Paradigm session I ask one participant to come to the podium, stand in front of the orchestra and hold the baton in her hand. I then move her arm in such a way that the musicians can read the baton’s movements. For the participant it is an astonishing sensation: [...]
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How do you exercise leadership when you don’t have any authority over the people you’re supposed to lead? This is one of the most frequent challenges I hear about as I prepare to design Music Paradigm sessions. Every time I’m reminded of a story that Mark Kiefaber, the brilliant Lead Partner at Focus Leadership, LLC, [...]
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On his last day, Pope Benedict XVI was widely quoted as saying “May the College of Cardinals work like an orchestra, where diversity — an expression of the universal church — always works toward a higher and harmonious agreement.”
I am grateful to Pope Benedict for drawing the world’s attention to the symphony orchestra. I [...]
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I recently attended the dress rehearsal of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Parsifal. I had heard great things about the conductor, Daniele Gatti, and was excited to see and hear what he’d achieved.
The Met orchestra always sounds great. But this time it seemed to speak with one voice. It was as if every musician [...]
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