Leadership Styles and conducting VI: The dissonant styles

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The last two styles of leadership that Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee list in “Primal Leadership” are Pacesetting and Commanding, and they advise to apply with caution.  As far as the leadership of conductors go – I couldn’t agree more.

The concept of the Pacesetting style, is that a leader leads by doing the work him/herself to the highest standards and at the desired pace.  This is not really applicable to the conductor, because he/she is the only person on stage NOT making any sound.  We could possibly view those conductors who constantly sing along with their choirs, or who over-demonstrate as pacesetters.  Most teachers of conducting stress the importance of not singing along so that the conductor can listen intently enough.  Though the occasional demonstration can be good, if used too much it simply becomes the conductor showing off his/her voice doing things that the choir doesn’t know how to imitate anyway (unless it is a high-level group with well-trained, experienced voices) and they will most likely attempt by yelling or worse.

The Commanding, or Coercive style of leadership is a more common problem in the world of conducting.  To judge by the tales told by older musicians, we are doing much better than conductors were a generation or two ago, especially in the choral world.  The orchestra world has had a particularly difficult time ridding itself of tyrant conductors, as eluded to in the video in my first post on leadership styles and conducting, but the choral podium is not free of this style either.

Unfortunately, I seems to hear most about harsh, brow-beating conductors from singers from children’s, youth, and high-school choirs.  This is so damaging to these young people, and usually more an issue of the conductors ego than any musical goal.

Since the singers instrument is the body, which is inexorably connected to and affected by emotion, the commanding style rarely yields desired results.  ”SING IT IN TUNE,” or even worse “STOP SINGING FLAT” will tend to cause wore intonation problems.  The more a conductor yells at a choir the worse they sing because fear and anxiety cause physical reactions that affect the voice – no matter how hard they want to please the tyrannical twit up in front.

In short, choral conductors need to learn how to deal with their frustrations on the spot.  How to step back when the choir just can’t seem to get it right, and try a completely different approach.  Singers need to feel emotionally safe in order to contribute all that their voice has to give.  This kind of trust is built over time and can be destroyed in one frustrated moment, if the conductor snaps.

 

Conducting and Leadership styles V: The Democratic conductor

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The democratic style of leadership is the fourth and last of those that are listed as positive leadership styles.

The thought of talking over all of the choices that a conductor must make with a large choir is, of course, absurd.  As the authors from the Harvard business school use examples of big business, they talk about CEO’s getting feedback and advice from “seasoned colleagues ” meaning those in higher positions in the company.  Are there similar people in a choral setting?  Choirs vary so greatly that it is hard to say, but there may be board members, section leaders, or just those singers that you know are most skilled and competent, who can contribute if we will listen.

The “Primal Leadership” book talks about using this style combined with the stronger visionary style, saying that “the democratic style works well to surface ideas about how to implement that vision or to generate fresh ideas for executing it.” But the authors also warn about the drawbacks of this style, which can result in endless meetings and lack of direction/decision.

It seems like the democratic style would work better with a small vocal ensemble.  I tried this with a small group that I founded and direct.  The group has about 11 singers in it, all of whom were invited to be in the group (Several hold music degrees, and the others have substantial experience).  Such singers are very busy and difficult to pin down for rehearsal, so I send them music in advance and we work with as little rehearsal time as we can. With the competence of these singers in mind I came to them for input on decisions for the direction of the group. ”Primal Leadership” talks about the democratic style getting commitment through participation, and that was my goal.

To my surprise, they didn’t give much input.  Perhaps because this is not their job, there  is no compensation, etc., they may not want to contribute much to leadership for fear of committing to more time.  For whatever reason, there was very little response.

So I’ve come to agree with the authors of the book, that the democratic style is best used sparingly.  There have been a few times that worked, for example, the women of the group were happy to take over on the subject of wardrobe.  There have also been a few times when individuals have voiced ideas or opinions. I’ve made sure to listen and give weight to this feedback so that the singers feel that they do have a share in the direction of the group.  But, in general, my group seems to prefer having someone make a decision as the leader and then they can help work out issues that arise.

Conducting and Leadership styles IV: the affiliative conductor

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It’s been a while since the last leadership-style post, so for quick review.  I’ve looked at 2 of the 6 leadership styles as they relate to conducting: Visionary and Coaching.  Though all of the styles have their place, there is a hierarchy of what the business leadership people consider to be generally best, with visionary at the top and coaching coming in second.  At third on the list, the affiliative style is good, but falls behind visionary and coaching because it needs to be connected to those styles to be most effective (rather than standing on its own).

According to the “Primal Leadership” authors, an affiliative leader is “most concerned with promoting harmony and fostering friendly interactions, nurturing the personal relationships.  Accordingly, affiliative leaders value downtime in the organizational cycle, which allows more time to build emotional capital that can be drawn from when the pressure is on.  when leaders are being affiliative, they focus on the emotional needs of employees even over work goals.”  The book goes on to discuss the quality of empathy required for this leadership style.

The first conductor that comes to mind for this style is James Jordon.  Though I’ve never studied with him and haven’t read more than a couple of his many publications through GIA, my impression is that he puts a large focus on the emotional connection between the conductor and the choir. His books carry such titles as “the Musicians Spirit,” and “the Musicians Soul.”  I once had an opportunity to chat with a student of his.  She described mystifying experiences where Jordon would talk about loving the choir into good intonation and that, as strange as it sounded, they sounded better when he conducted them.  I’ve heard Jordan’s work dismissed by more than one conductor, but the importance of maintaining a positive emotional atmosphere in the choir and connection between conductor and singers cannot be overlooked.  It all goes with the concept of the “open loop” of the limbic system that the Primal Leadership book talks about.  (more on this later).  Singing is such a personal, vulnerable activity.  Because the instrument is the body, the emotional state of the singer can physically alter the instrument (increasing/decreasing heart rate, increase/decrease tension, and much more).

Many other conductors use the affiliative style when needed.  Recently I was speaking with one of the most successful high school choir directors in my area about his work with his groups, and he gave.me a great example of affiliative leadership.  he described a feeling of frustration with his most advanced group because they weren’t quite gelling together.  He decided to devote a whole rehearsal to building relationships among the choir.  He told the students they could bring cookies that day, which they did, and they just chatted with each other over cookies about what was going on in their lives.  Knowing the hard-work ethic of this conductor, time spent this way for a whole rehearsal was a surprise, but he said the pay-off was great.  The students started to sing better together because of the sense of trust and emotional safety that was developed.

However, affiliative leadership can be taken too far.  A choir director that is more concerned with the emotional well-being of an individual singer than with the sound of the group is prone to letting singers in to an auditioned group for the wrong reason and then suffering the sonic consequences.  Though they may regret it, such leaders may have an even harder time removing such a person from the group, for fear of what it would do that person and to the relationships within the choir.  Likewise, a regular rehearsal regiment of chatting over cookies will be just as good for the sound as it will for the waist-line.  Such team-building time needs to be used sparingly to hone the choir without getting in the way.

I think every conductor needs to keep the emotional state of his/her choir in mind and be able to use an affiliative leadership style when it will be of most benefit as they coach choirs along toward the shared vision of the choir.

Check it out

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I’ve finally posted the basics page that I wrote about in my last post.  Please check it out (the tab above, next to “home”) and let me know if it is of any help, or if you have ideas to add to it.

I just came back from the American Choral Directors Association’s 2013 national convention in Dallas Texas.  It was wonderful, with many fascinating lectures, and discussion forums and some incredible concerts.  It is worth checking out on their website ACDA.org and on Choralnet.org. If you are a choir director, you should really be a part of this organization.

Highlights of the convention for me were performances by PLU’s Choir of the West, Rajaton, Mt San Antonion College, The Mormon Choral Organization, The Thomas Tallis Scholars, The Dallas Symphony & Chorus’ performance of Brittan’s War Requiem, and many others.  Other than concerts, highlights for me included the masterclasses by a the groups Rajaton and the Songmen, and a presentation by the director of the Tallis Scholars.

The only thing I missed at the conference was CDs.  It used to be that I would find recordings of all kinds of choirs that I would never have heard of at these conventions.  With the move away from CDs to files (MP3 or other) there weren’t many of the vendors in the exhibits selling CDs.  How do I find these recordings now?  Sure I can go onto itunes and look for choirs that I already know, or go directly to their websites, but it is more difficult to find those recordings that I would never think to look for that would have been on a table at a booth at the convention in the past. Ideas?

 

quick basics

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Its moving week for me and my family and life is a little crazy so this will be a short post.

Many of the visitors to this blog so far seem to have been people who are involved in volunteer choirs, or have found themselves in the position of directing a church choir, even though they may not have a lot of experience up in front of an ensemble.  With that in mind, some friends suggested that I put a page on this website with some guidelines and resources for the less experienced conductor who is looking for some help.  I’m working on that and hope to get it up soon.

The biggest general tip I would have for someone getting up in front of a choir for the first time is the same as the concept for the blog – leading a choir is just that – leading.  The first thing many people start with when they decide they are going to lead a choir is how to flap their arms about.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the conducting gesture is very valuable.  However, a terrified novice thinking about how to wave their arms about doesn’t help anything at all.  One of my favorite conducting professors had a frequent saying, “lead or get the h@#& out of the way.”  It is much more helpful if the new conductor has learned the music, thought about how they are going to help the singers learn the music, and listens during the rehearsal for how to help next (if we’re all trying to find our notes, we don’t really care what your arms are doing).  The only “conducting” really needed is to start, stop, and get through fermatas, tempo changes and such.  Once the director can run a rehearsal comfortably it is a good time to start thinking about how to lead with a skilled physical gesture.

Next post from the new house!