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Leading from any chair

Sat 02 April 2011

, Lydia Duijvestijn

Every two weeks I play the bass clarinet in an all-women woodwinds group. The bass clarinet is the second largest member from the clarinet family. I have to play the fourth voice. This is not very spectacular. The notes are simple , the focus is on the rhythm, not on the melody. Yet this voice keeps the whole piece together. It 'leads' from an unusual chair...

This is just an introduction to draw your attention to the book 'The art of possibility' by Roz and Ben Zander. I first heard about them on last year's 'Talent naar de top' meeting, where they gave an inspiring presentation. The book discusses extraordinary approaches to spot and grow talent. It is very positive and comforting. Especially chapter 3 'Giving an A' and chapter 5 'Leading from any chair' are worth reading. But of course you may have different preferences... The examples in the book come from Ben's practice as conductor of the Boston philharmonic. Hence the analogy with my own experience on the bass clarinet. However the practices can easily be transferred to companies and institutions. In the 'Giving an A' practice Roz and Ben discuss how fear for the end grade blocks the enthousiasm and creativity of the musicians who attend a master class. Roz and Ben decide to tell the musicians that all of them will be given an A. The only thing they have to do is take a white sheet of paper, pretend that they got the A and write down what they did to earn that A and where they stand when having earned it. The letters from some of the musicians that are in the book are absolutely amazing! I find this a great practice that sheds a whole new light on end-of-year performance talks. An absolute must read!