Spring Concert Reflections

This last semester, I was privileged to direct our annual Spring Orchestra Concert. This orchestra includes instrumentalists from Lancaster Baptist School, Lancaster Baptist Church, and West Coast Baptist College. The tireless effort of the music educators in the Antelope Valley Music Academy truly makes this event happen. Each semester, this orchestra performs a concert using seasonal music, film scores, art music, and some musical theater. Through each performance, this music provides not just a challenge for these musicians, but also an enriching musical experience for the audience emphasizing concert etiquette and formality and a broad musical taste.

Before I reflect on the experience, I want to thank the incredible people who participated in the orchestra, whether in playing their instrument or helping to organize. I could not have done anything without their faithful help and commitment. If any degree of success was achieved, they definitely get the credit.

Since this was my first time directing the concert, I thought I would take some time and reflect on the experience from both a musical and a leadership perspective. Here are the reminders I received from the experience.

Never stop improving.

In every new experience, there is great potential for growth and great risk for failure. Both the potential and the risk were apparent to me from the start. I knew from the beginning that I had much to learn about the people in the orchestra, the music, and the concert preparation. The fear of not being everything I should be as the conductor was, at times, overwhelming. Looking back, I learned some important lessons about self-improvement.

1. Humbly recognizing your insufficiency is the first step of improvement.Before I could grow and improve as a conductor, I had to recognize that I needed to grow. It’s easy to view the opportunity as confirmation of the ability you already possess. In the best case, this leads to ignorance of your own shortcomings. In the worst case, this leads to pride. Both ignorance and pride are roadblocks to improvement.
2. If you are to improve, you must involve the experience and expertise of others.If I recognize my need for growth, I must then understand that the information, skills, or experience needed to improve are only available outside myself. There was no amount of reflection or personal desire that would bring about true growth. I needed to employ the experience, skills, and feedback of other people. As often as I requested help from others, they were always more than happy to give.
3. There is no improvement without hard work.There were at least two out of our ten or so rehearsals where I felt under-prepared. I couldn’t answer questions with accuracy. I didn’t fully understand the music. I wasn’t even sure what exactly I wanted to happen. That was not a good feeling.I had to realize very early in the semester that the success of all the musicians and the concert as a whole would be directly linked to my work and preparation in score study and personal rehearsal. In other words, it was just plain hard work.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

I alluded to this in my opening comments, but let me reiterate that any measure of success attained through the concert was the result of the team effort among the incredible musicians and staff. It may sound cliché, but teamwork really does make the dream work.

Reflecting on the concert season, I noticed several characteristics of our teamwork that contributed to our success.

Open and honest communication

We were not always on the same page about who was in charge of what. However, we avoided a great deal of confusion and last-minute panic because each of us was willing to communicate our uncertainties and questions.

Patience and understanding

We all tend to be frustrated by different personalities and idiosyncrasies. What made our team great was that they were incredibly patient and understanding when the best answer I could offer was, “I don’t know.” As long as I was willing to turn around and do the work to find the answer, they were understanding and patient.

Ownership of responsibilities

Whenever a task or area was assigned to a section leader, staff member, or volunteer, each of them took personal responsibility to see it through to completion. This was invaluable because of the many details other than the music that goes into a concert.

So as I reflect on the teamwork that took place during concert season, I’m filled with gratitude for the incredible concert team.

Sometimes, you have to get creative.

Not every detail of your plan always works out like you hoped it would. That was certainly the case for me this semester. The amount of time we were dedicating to each individual piece was sufficient, but there was no wiggle room to neglect any one piece in favor of another one. When it came time to make a decision about a piece, most of us believed there to be only two choices: play the piece or cut it.

Perhaps you know the feeling of working extensively on a piece only to cut it at the last minute. In this particular case, it happened to be the one piece I really wanted to conduct. The thought of throwing away all that rehearsal and in some ways hurting the morale of the group bothered me.

Then one night it hit me. I had other options. I didn’t have to choose between completely doing it or completely cutting it. In the end, we were able to play those parts that we did best and tie it into the overall theme of the evening through an interactive time with the audience.

The point of this reflection is simply that we are too often bound by the limits we impose on ourselves. There are barriers, “rules,” or perceived limitations that are often left unchallenged because they are “what we’ve always done.” It is only when we challenge the status quo that our minds can be opened to new possibilities and ideas. It is risky (I didn’t know how everyone would take it), but it can be quite rewarding.

Perhaps I’ll share more reflections in another post down the road. For now let me challenge you to never stop improving, be a team player, and be creative.