Klarinet Archive - Posting 000616.txt from 2001/04
From: "David C. Kumpf" <dkumpf@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: Revelli, Perlman, and other geniuses
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 05:03:58 -0400
This has been an interesting discussion...it strikes me that it's really
about ability, vision, leadership, and management style, which are issues
applicable to many fields, not just music.
First, my own reminiscence. The band director we had for my last two years
of high school (I went to Camelback High in Phoenix) was William Sylvester,
who previously came from a high school in Bountiful, Utah. (And went on to a
university position, I believe, a couple of years after I graduated. Anyone
know where he is now?)
Anyway, "Sly" took over a band that was large (100+ members in the varsity
band), but merely mediocre. Not awful, just average. We started double (and
sometimes triple) practices. He threw batons at people. He berated them for
playing wrong notes, being out of tune, etc. (Seems to me that the
percussion and brass sections took most of the heat, but maybe I'm blocking
something. :-)) He cursed at people from the top of the stands on the
football field (during marching season). He also took time to listen to
student's individual problems and to help advise them. He helped find
first-class private teachers. We got much better. We won competitions. In
short, it was a great learning experience (though there were certainly
moments of pain).
Now, from what I've seen in the discussion about Revelli and Perlman, and my
own experience in the workplace, the interaction between these leaders - be
they conductors or CEOs - and everyone else is about two things. First,
their own ability and vision. They know what they want. They can see it.
They can hear it. And they want to realize it, which often requires the
involvement of many others (in a corporation or a musical group).
The second thing is their leadership/management style. There have been many
tomes written about this, so I won't belabor it. To use a simplification,
there are theory X and theory Y managers. Theory X says that employees
(musicians) are idiots, will slack off every chance they get, must be
watched constantly, etc. Theory Y says that employees (musicians) are
valuable contributors to the team, must be mentored and nurtured, respected
for their ideas, etc. Again, a simplification. There are many other theories
and ideas about this (e.g. Covey's books on leadership, Situational
Leadership, etc.).
It's been my experience that many people who are visionary and reasonably
capable leaders sometimes (or often!) engage in childlike behavior...temper
tantrums and the like. If they do it all the time, they might be ineffective
over the long run, since anyone who is capable and has a choice may leave
for a better situation. (But they might be VERY effective in the short
term...management by fear.) If they balance it with consideration and
listening to the needs of their staff, they build relationships and improve
the chances for long-term success.
Given what I have discussed above, let's consider a few examples:
1. The person who is the leader of some organization (musical or otherwise)
has a wonderful vision (aural!) of what they want to achieve. They also are
aware of and successfully practice the leadership and management techniques.
What a great place to be.
2. Same as #1, except this person isn't very aware of the leadership and
management techniques, and thus tends to deal with people roughly, throw
tantrums, etc. This can be a good place to be too IF the vision is so
wonderful that you are willing to overlook everything else to help achieve
it. Otherwise, it might be painful, depending on how bad the handling is.
3. Now assume that the person really doesn't have a vision, but possesses
the necessary leadership and management skills. This MIGHT be an OK place to
be IF the leader is willing to adopt the vision of someone (preferably an
influential follower). If not, it's a joke. Everyone feels wonderful about
something but no one gets anywhere...
4. Finally, the leader has neither vision nor leadership ability. Seek
greener pastures.
Sorry to ramble, but I just found this interesting and wanted to throw in my
$0.02. I'm sure that there are many views on the above. Fire away!
David C. Kumpf
President
Optimetra, Inc.
4420 Red Rock Ranch Road
Monument, CO 80132
mailto:dkumpf@-----.com
http://www.optimetra.com
(719) 481-2956 (voice)
(719) 487-0920 (fax)
(719) 964-8105 (mobile)
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Pay [mailto:Tony@-----.uk]
Subject: Re: [kl] Re: Revelli, Perlman, and other geniuses
On Wed, 25 Apr 2001 10:23:54 -0400, Spiegelthal.Dave@-----.COM said:
> The discussion of the personality traits and quirks of famous
> musicians such as Itzhak Perlman and William Revelli causes me to ask
> a philosophical question: To what extent does extraordinary talent
> permit a person to be (pardon the word) a jerk?
This may be a question worth discussing, perhaps in order to deconstruct
the assumption that underlies it, to do with whatever the word 'permit'
could possibly mean in this context.
On the other hand, I don't think that what I said about Perlman amounts
to a 'personality trait', or a 'quirk' that's capable of being separated
from the music (or the 'metamusic').
It's rather that some aspects of musical performance throw us outwards
into a contextual world that inevitably includes such things as
'selfishness' or 'conceit' -- just as it inevitably includes things like
'courage' and 'commitment'. Audiences can perceive such attitudes much
more easily than we sometimes realise.
We need to know that that's part of what we engage with when we play.
Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN artist: http://www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339
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