Flute Quartet
At Unbound we do a couple of team days each year. A few weeks ago we did something a bit different. There were 3 things that made it effective.
- I didn’t tell anyone what was going to happen, which in retrospect was a really good idea. It’s easy to get cynical about ‘team days’. All I said was to get to the office at ten and bring an open mind.
- The other problem with team days is getting too hung up on the outcome. I genuinely did not expect there to be one, which is probably we why we ended up having such a thought provoking time.
- I tried not to say very much. This was hard but it’s important to let people find their own conclusions. It’s very easy to take over but this is when the boss should take a step back.
One of my favourite bits of the day was seeing everyone’s faces as they arrived. Of all the things they expected to see, it wasn’t this.
Helena (flute), Matthew (violin), Jonathan (cello) and Andreas (viola) smiled as the team appeared and took their seats as the musicians tuned their instruments to prepare for a rather public practice session. I’ve worked with Hilary (not pictured) before and it was his idea to bring the quartet into the office so the Unbound team could have the chance of watching other people, from a very different profession, work together to get a shared outcome.
The musicians had never all played together before, which was one of the things that most amazed us. Over the next half an hour they played a piece by Mozart over and over again, stopping to question the way they were playing. Pausing to go over key sections, asking each other to stop playing occasionally so they could all hear specific parts and how each made up the whole. Talking about the pace, tone and tempo. As the session progressed, each contributing tweaks and ideas, the music, literally, began to soar.
After that we did a short Q and A so we could ask them all questions about how they played together. We noticed that they seemed to watch each other just as much as the music, Jonathan explained that for him to truly hear one instrument among the ensemble he had to watch the person playing. Helena explained how she sometimes used her eyebrows to communicate to the others when she needed to take a breath and they would alter their own playing very slightly to accommodate her. We asked how they knew they all had the same idea in their heads, or ears, about how the piece ‘should’ sound. It turned out that outcome depended in no small part on the make up of the musicians and what they brought as individuals. You had to be flexible within the constraints of the music on the page. They talked a great deal about how ‘little’ was actually on the page, which surprised me. It turns out there is no ‘right’ answer in how it should sound but there was a unique answer that only the four of them playing together could achieve. Jonathan pointed out that they were all a similar generation and if much older Russian or eastern European musicians were playing the piece it would sound very different.
They then played again, but rather than sit in the audience we were encouraged to crowd around them all as they played and have a much closer look at what was going on.
Breaking down the space between audience and performer was liberating, not just for us but the musicians themselves. It also gave us a much clearer sense of how they played together.
The final session was the most fun. Hilary asked us to come up with ideas about how we could put the musicians off. We asked them to play each other’s music, which was hilarious and genuinely unsettling for them. After that we asked them to play without looking at each other. One or two of them seemed to enjoy this, suggesting it’s actually a good way to practice because it forces you to really listen.
In the afternoon the musicians left and we asked the team to get into groups and just chat about what they’d seen. There was no ‘work’ beyond having a conversation to see where their own ideas had taken them. We then got back together and had a conversation as a group with Hilary posing questions and pushing back on some of the answers.
It was a liberating conversation, and it’s not for me to say what conclusions each member of the team came to, but you could tell everyone was conscious in a different part of their minds than the perspective they usually adopted on a rainy Monday.
My big takeaway were two words. Practice and Breathe.
- Practice. The musicians had all reached a level of aptitude that meant they could turn up and ‘go with it’ without fear in their professional environment. I suppose this is because they had mastered their instruments. It occurred to me that musicians are lucky in the sense that their ability and aptitude can be discerned by listening. None of them questioned their right to sit in one of the chairs. How many of us feel that confident in the chairs we occupy at work in our jobs, or at home as husbands, wives, mothers or fathers? The reason the musicians have confidence is because they practice. They work hard in their own time to be that good and that work enables them to relax professionally. It made me think I needed to do the equivalent in my life. As a boss, husband and father. I then spent a fun few hours devising what ‘practice’ meant in each context and again took by cue from music, deciding it was probably something to do with listening. That would be a good starting point anyway. I’m still working on how I can ‘practice’ being me.
- Breathe. Helena explained that for her to play she has to breathe. She has to pause in the moment. Without breathing she can make no sound. That led to a fascinating discussion about what it means to breathe — stopping in the moment — in each of our lives. For some it might be reading, going horse riding, or having a run in your lunch hour. Mine is walking in nature. That always re-sets my metaphysical balance. I resolved to make the time to ‘breathe’ and value it rather than feel guilty for taking a few moments for myself. Our office is by a canal so that ones a bit easier.
Thanks to Hilary, Helena, Matthew, Andreas and Jonathan for coming and filling our office with Mozart, laughter and provoking lots of new perspectives and ideas.
For more info or an intro to Hilary email dan@unbound.com
