COLLABORATION
We tend to think of creativity focused on the minds, methods, and motivations of the individual. But the limits of this focus are becoming clear. In the sciences, a great deal of the most important work is carried on by huge teams. Artistic productions on the stage or screen also involve large ensembles of personalities, often creative, often prickly, often clashing. In the area of management consultancy, teams swoop down on a company in crisis, trouble-shoot, and then issue their report and their recommendations. I call these kinds of collaborations “Hollywood-style”; large numbers of persons, often unknown to one another, come together over brief periods of time, make the necessary connections, trust one another to complete the job efficiently, and move on to the next assignment. These ad hoc groups permit the commissioning of individuals who have the precise talent that is needed, foster diverse views, and militate against groupthink or falling into a rut. But some problems and projects are better handled by a small group of individuals who know one another well and who work together regularly over a long period of time.Howard Gardner, Five Minds for the Future. Harvard Business Press, 2008
Firms will be constantly preoccupied with the search for competent and highly creative people and for management and organizational methods that will provide the best support to those people. And the staff themselves will be constantly organizing and reorganizing in a never-ending array of teams, like a turning kaleidoscope some of whose members are regular employees of the firm and many who are brought in from the four corners of the world for particular projects.Workers will have to have all the skills needed to work solo (for example, to frame the problem, set a goal, take responsibility for achieving it on time and within budget, be self-disciplined and well organized, find out what he or she needs to know to get the job done, and so on) and all the skills needed to work as a strong member of a team.
Creative people often thrive in chaos, are constant learners, value excellence, and prefer to be in stimulating environments with others like themselves.
National Center on Education and the Economy, Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New
Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, Revised and Expanded. Jossey-Bass, 2008
Intrapersonal intelligence refers to being able to access your own emotions, discern your feelings, and understand personal strengths and weaknesses. It includes good self-knowledge and analysis, internal organization, impulse control and creativity. Interpersonal intelligence refers to discerning the moods of people around you, and choosing an appropriate method of responding. Components of this intelligence includes social analytical skills, leadership skills, negotiating skills, and social connections.So how do we help nurture these forms of intelligence? Most researchers in this field agree that there are four distinct skills utilized in the development of personal intelligences: empathy, nonverbal communication, listening, and conflict resolution skills. Developing these areas is the best way to acquire successful relationship skills.
Christine Fonseca, Building Relationship Skills: Empathy, 2009
Teams need to leverage the potential benefits of various personal problem-solving styles establishing group relationships that balance varying perspectives on three dimensions:
• What’s your orientation to change? Some people are explorers and some are developers. Explorers love new, radical and wild ideas. Developers prefer gradual, incremental change that is carefully orchestrated.
• How do you process change? Is it internal and reflective or external?
• How do you make decisions? Do you look for interpersonal harmony or are you task oriented?Karlyn Adams, The Sources of Innovation and Creativity. National Center on Education and the Economy, 2005
Ensemble art forms require a balance of individual expression within a social context that requires and fosters a variety of personal and social skills, including cooperative learning, empathy, and tolerance.Arts Education Partnership, The Arts and Education: New Opportunities for Research. 2004
Ensemble skills refer to the ability to fit into and enhance an ensemble, large or small; to participate actively but as a team player. They are among the most crucial but often-neglected aspects of musicianship. It is important to develop students’ skills as soloists, which also benefits their ensemble playing, but a musician will distinguish herself by an ability to play well with others, to have an approach adaptable to the needs of different ensembles and situations. Instead of instrumental exploitation for its own sake (virtuosity), students become aware that their instruments can be used to achieve a cooperative musical result for which each member of the group is vitally responsible. With this realization the student is prepared to become a musician.The good ensemble musician relies on not one, but a multitude of skills. The most crucial ones involve awareness and listening: listening to the rest of one's section (and of course to oneself), listening to other sections (and awareness of their parts even when they don't immediately seem relevant), awareness of a conductor, awareness of the score as a whole, even awareness of the score's musicological significance.
One of the most basic things an orchestra director can do to foster good ensemble is to rotate instrument sections. We now realize that the old, ranked seating system does not achieve the best musical or pedagogical result. The most difficult chair in any section is the last: farthest from the conductor, farthest from the section leader and nearest to different instrument sections. In these cases, seeing as well as hearing the rest of one's section can really be a challenge; the first-stand players have it easy in comparison. Mixing stronger and weaker players and rotating frequently challenges all, for the best results are obtained not when players follow passively but when they participate with the conductor and section leader; in essence all are leaders.
Score awareness can also be addressed so that students learn how the piece works, rather than simply learning their part. Such groundwork helps technical issues, such as rhythm and intonation, but there are other benefits. Students take more ownership in the outcome and are able to play with greater musicality when they understand how their part fits into the bigger picture.
In the end, whether they pursue music as a career or enjoy it as a lifelong hobby, students’ ensemble experiences will always be enriched by careful preparation. A deeper understanding of the complex language of music will render their musicianship more complete. Most importantly, they will have learned the value of listening, a skill that surely enriches all human interaction.
David Sariti, “Ensemble Skills: Do We Really Teach Them?” American Music Teacher, 2007
