The following contains excerpts from the book, The Art of Possibility (Benjamin Zander).
At our music school in Odessa, Texas we believe that music is much more than sound, rather, it is relationships. The subject of relationships envelops the understanding of Leadership. Relationships, leadership and community are enhanced and even defined by music and the arts.
“Historically, artists have been employed by leading institutions to bring emotional truth to established principles. Yet in our new global society, not institution has the wide acceptance to create values and direction for the majority of people. Markets in free societies are rapidly replacing governments and religious institutions as regulators of the highest authority, and markets perform without values…revolutionary shifts in the operational structures of our world seem to call for new definitions of who we are and what we are here for.”
Rule Number 6
‘Rule number 6’, humorously is ‘don’t take yourself so seriously.’ “Humor and laughter are perhaps the best way we can ‘get over ourselves.’ The part of ourselves that developed in the competitive environment of the ‘measurement world’…our calculating self…When we practice Rule Number 6, we coax this calculating self to lighten up, and by doing so we break its hold on us.
He tells a story of working with a vocalist in a master-class, which was being filmed by BBC. This Tenor was confident and talented, but the piece he was singing was about intimacy, sensitivity and subtlety. “For forty-five minutes, I engaged in a battle royal, not with the Tenor but with his pride, his vocal training, his need to look good, and the years of applause he had received for his extraordinary voice. As each layer was peeled away and he got closer and closer to the raw vulnerability…his voice…began to take on a softened and rounded turn…(his) voice, now almost inaudible, seemed to reach us through some other channel than sound. Nobody stirred- the audience, the players, the BBC crew- all of us were unified in silence. Then, finally, tremendous applause.” After thanking him for his willingness to be vulnerable, Zander spoke to the those present, “Whenever somebody gives up their pride to reveal a truth to others…we find it incredibly moving; in fact, we are all so moved that even the cameraman is crying.’ I hadn’t actually looked in the direction of the camera; I was simply expressing my conviction that no one in the room could be left unmoved. Later that evening…the cameraman came up to me and asked how I had known he had been crying. He confessed that he hadn’t been able to see through his lens for his tears. ‘When I was sent on this job from London’, he said, shaking his head, ‘I had no idea that this music **** was about my life.’
At our music school in Odessa, Texas we help students understand that what they are sharing is not simply their talent or skill, but their very life-experiences, as they perform and create with authenticity.
Giving Way to Passion
“Giving way to passion has two steps…the first is to notice where you are holding back, and let go…the second step is to participate wholly.”
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is not how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it your clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.” (Martha Graham)
We wholeheartedly believe that there is uniqueness in every student in our music school in Odessa, Texas that has the potential to touch people’s lives in a meaningful way. This uniqueness, however, must be discovered and developed to its fullest potential.
Zander tells the story of working with a young pianist who was playing a Chopin etude in his class. “He was unable to convey the emotional energy that is the true language of music. Then I noticed something that proved to be the key: His body was firmly centered in the upright position. I blurted out, ‘The trouble is you’re a two-buttock player!’ I encouraged him to allow his whole body to flow sideways, urging him to catch the wave of the music with the shape of his own body, and suddenly the music took flight. Several in the audience gasped, feeling the emotional dart hit home, as a new distinction was born: the one-buttock player. The president of a corporation in Ohio, who was present as a witness, wrote to me: ‘I was so moved that I went home and transformed by whole company into a one-buttock company.”
Lighting a Spark
“Enrollment is the art and practice of generating a spark of possibility for others to share. In the Middle Ages, when lighting a fire from scratch was an arduous process, people often carried about a metal box containing a smoldering cinder, kept alight throughout the day with little bits of kindling. This meant that a man could light a fire with ease wherever he went, because he always carried the spark…Passion rather than fear, is the igniting force. Abundance, rather than scarcity, is the context. So the practice of enrollment is about giving yourself as a possibility to others and being ready, in turn, to catch their spark. It is about playing together as partners in a field of light. And the steps to the practice are: 1) Imagine that people are an invitation for enrollment; 2) Stand ready to participate, willing to be moved and inspired; 3) Offer that which lights you up; 4) Have no doubt that other are eager to catch the spark.”
We hope to inspire greatness within the imagination of each student at our music school in Odessa, Texas, offering them the opportunity to participate in something greater than themselves.
He tells the story of a failing school to Eastlea (UK) “I was helping the Philharmonia Orchestra of London land a corporate sponsor for one of our concerts, and I approached Arthur Anderson. They turned us down, citing too many other commitments…The dinner conversation turned to the company’s involvement in a government-run program to improve a group of schools designated by the Ministry of Education as ‘failing’…I who had come to see if I might obtain a sponsorship for my project, found myself fully enrolled in theirs. The dim shape of a collective project began to emerge…It was suggested that I go to one of the ‘failing’ schools to introduce students to classical music with the idea that children and teachers alike would come to believe in their own creativity through the metaphor of music. Arthur Anderson would take on the expense of bringing the entire Philharmonia Orchestra to the school for a subsequent session. In addition, they agreed to sponsor two hundred of the students who might choose to attend our concert at the Royal Festival Hall. And, oh yes, in recognition of my participation in this educational initiative, Arthur Anderson offered to fully sponsor the Philharmonia concert.”
Giving students the opportunity to participate in creative greatness is what we are all about at our music school in Odessa, Texas.
“As we arrived at the last movement of the (Beethoven) Fifth Symphony, I offered my baton to a few of the children to try their hand at conducting…I soon noticed hyperactive ten-year-old in the eleventh row, moving his whole body with the powerful rhythm of the music, and I brought him on stage. The unselfconscious reaction to the music he exhibited in his seat did not prepare me for the highly energetic, utterly convincing conduction he displayed on the podium. Astonished looks on the faces of the orchestra players made it evident that they were being led, inspired, and energized by this ten-year-old who had never before seen a symphony orchestra…For a minute and a half on the podium, this young man was a dynamic artistic force with powerful gestures and an ecstatic countenance…And that night, on the ten o’clock news, all of Britain saw Anthony conducting the Philharmonia in the finale of Beethoven’s Fifth.”
A letter from one of the students, “He came. We laughed, he played. We listened. He conquered! Vibrant, animated and cheerful, as he swept through lifting the school’s atmosphere and Confidence. Excitement rushing through the whole school (year seven to eleven) from Mozart to Beethoven. People would think that Eastenders like us wouldn’t have liked it, but as he played on his black piano the whole school was Lifted. He spoke of all the good we could achieve. Even as an underachieving school. He made me realize that education was so important to everyone, His influence on our school was phenomenal. Thanks Ben for helping me and all of Eastlea Community School.”
It is our desire to lift the lives our students and parents at our music school in Odessa, Texas. Music and the arts have a distinct ability to touch people’s lives in a profound way, and we love seeing the results, evidenced in the light we can see shining in their eyes when they have been inspired and touched in a meaningful way.