About Ricks example of an orchestra as a place for healthy competition:
I talked with my brother, who is playing the violin in an orchestra about
this issue. His comment is about the following:
- The purpose is to make good music. Some make better music, when they aim
for a "better" ranking, others would be lost for music, if they set
themselves under such pressure.
- Usually the young musicians are driven by the vision of career. When
they become older, most have to learn, that they will not become a star or
get the chance to go to the best orchestra. If they can manage to still
love the music just because of the music itself, they build the
experienced fundament of the orchestra, the other pole to the conductor.
If music becomes just routine, they are also lost for the orchestra.
- Every single musician contributes to the whole of the orchestra. If the
situation becomes too competitive, this is a sign, that the conductor
didn't manage to promote a shared vision of what music is for this
orchestra. This is when personal frustration of single members (mid aged,
dealing with above mentioned crisis) amplify, which can destroy the whole
orchestra. The only chance is usually to get a new, strong conductor as a
leader to align the orchestra to a new, fascinating view on music.
- The real competition for an orchestra today is the competition for the
audiences attention and the necessary public support. This is a task of
the program to play, to find a satisfactory compromise between challenging
music and the public taste that asks for endless repetition of the same
old evergreens.
- Playing in an orchestra is always a bit of sitting on a bomb, you never
know when it will explode. On the other hand it is like surfing. Sometimes
you get a wave and then it is the greates thing on world, because you
share this wave with the whole orchestra and the audience.
Liebe Gruesse,
Winfried
--"Winfried Dressler" <winfried.dressler@voith.de>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>