Seven Signs of Successful Ensembles – Part I

Summer has afforded me the opportunity to think some thoughts without feeling overwhelmed. My thoughts on bands continue to be at the forefront of my mind. My vision for the future of music education in public and private schools includes a strong presence of the school band playing an integral part in building musicians, shaping attitudes towards the fine arts, and building human beings with a sense of community. So begins a series of posts that gravitate towards that dynamic. While I write from a biased band interest and perspective, my colleagues and friends in choir and orchestra can certainly draw from this information. The following post is influenced by a number of leadership books, but none more important than the work of Bennett Reimer. This is Part I of Seven Signs of Successful Ensembles.

Attaining “success” in the ensemble setting is a challenge for director and player alike, regardless of age or ability level. Coordinating and synchronizing a group of minds to accomplish daily, weekly, monthly and yearly musical goals requires an investment of time, talent (the intersection of ability, passion, and interest) and temperament. Directors who excel in this area recognize that it is founded on relationships with the entire organization. Some directors may go the route of reaching success and musical excellence by providing their ensemble with a hierarchy laden with rules for every circumstance. While rules are a necessary part of any organization, rules without establishing relationships are useless and govern a group by making them live in fear. Effective directors help their groups achieve success by developing a culture that is self-regulated and committed to improving the experience for the individual and the ensemble. Successful directors embrace the challenge of instilling these specific virtues with their groups though the character, experience, perspectives and abilities of the ensemble change each year. The consistency which a director approaches and instills the virtues of respect, trust, courage, competence, cooperation, passion, and pride have a direct impact on the level of success an ensemble can attain.

Respect

As a leader, respect must be a central part of who we are, what we represent, and what we offer. In part, respect grants others (our students) a sense of worth and belonging to the ensemble. We must grant ourselves the personal respect we deserve by so we might forgive ours own mistakes of the past. This is a vital step so that we can extend that action to others. Respect of others demonstrates our humility, and that we are honorable. Respect is a very intentional manner which we view students, the profession, and events. It also reveals a deep appreciation for our artistry, the process, the product, and the ensembles we lead.

Respect is an important virtue that we must practice, instill, and mentor through word and deed. The manner in which we choose to spend our time, and in what music we invest the effort of our ensemble demonstrates our level of respect. Respect of events (no matter how local or large), concerts, projects and people is shown through thoughtful planning and action. Respect keeps the best possible outcome for all who are involved as the top priority.

Trust

A natural outgrowth of respect is trust. Simply stated, trust is the relying upon others who in turn are relying on us. As leaders of ensembles, we earn trust by simply enacting our responsibility to others, and our many duties. Within our ensembles, building trust becomes tangible as a sense of stewardship develops. When we trust students to fulfill certain roles or recognize their role in recreation of music, they can become empowered to take ownership for the joy of success, and also for the sobering feeling of failure.

When ensembles understand that axiom, a greater sense of collective responsibility permeates the group, positive traditions are reinforced, and an effective level of interpersonal accountability is established. The ensemble that learns to trust will realize in times of adversity they can be honest with each other. When an ensemble owns their decision, they will support each other until a less than ideal situation has been turned into a positive experience that is fully lived and appreciated.

Courage

Trust ultimately feeds and inspires courage in others. Developing courage inspires others to initiate a change. An ensemble or an individual instilled with courage risks making the right decision as often as making the wrong decision. Even if a student makes a wrong decision, courage allows them to reflect, and (more importantly) correct an errant choice. Moments of failure can inspire courage in others. Courage sets us apart, moves us forward, and allows our vision of what is possible become reality. Courage lets us set goals without fear of failure, and it becomes manifest in our actions as we lead.

While courage is vital to the success of ensemble, at points our students will need to encouraged – or simply granted the courage to act. We must not let fear of acting inhibit their growth or keep them from trying (e.g. audition for an ensemble, play a solo). In a sense, the only way their parachute will open and allow them to float on by is if they jump out of the plane! Skydiving is much different than having to perform a two-octave chromatic scale, but both require encourage to “go for it”.

Competence

Competence acknowledges that in part there is not a definite reliance on “talent”. Saying someone has talent may in some way diminish the work one has put in to developing skills. From my perspective, talent is often misdiagnosed as the intersection of skill, passion, and interest. No matter the field or profession, the common bond between the most successful people in it is that they were willing to work with attentiveness to the task and diligence to see it through.

Acquiring competence in any field requires work to be done. Successful directors groom and develop successful habits regularly and never shy away from the tasks that must be completed. Some disturbances and obstacles are necessary for the price of growth and accomplishment. We must embrace the process, or “grind” of our position, which means acknowledging that periods of testing and even failures will be beneficial to attaining success. Embracing the process instills discipline in our students to carry out their responsibilities in the best possible manner. While there are commonalities and differences in backgrounds and experiences, many directors acknowledge that life is a path, not a paved sidewalk. As directors, we sometimes reach a point where we must cut our own path, as there is not even a path “less-traveled” to take.

As someone who has not posted with great frequency over the last year, this is, admittedly, a lot to take in. In the coming days Part II of this post will appear. I welcome your comments via my Facebook page and certainly accept questions via Twitter. Best wishes everyone and I hope that you are enjoying the first few days of summer!