In life, as in music, there is always a certain degree of conflict. What one does with that conflict, how one responds, makes all the difference!
At our music school in Midland, Texas we believe that music is more than sound, it is relationships.
What is good book or movie without a strong antagonist? The stronger the bad guy, the better the ending, when they are overcome. When there is a fight, and the good guy wins, the win is commensurate with the size of the opposition.
In music, we call this dissonance/consonance. And as in everything that is music and art, context matters. What is dissonant in one instance sounds consonant in another. What sounds loud in one setting, sounds soft in another setting.
At our music school in Midland, Texas we endeavor to help students understand the value of these relationships through ensemble playing, where they can experience contrapuntal musical textures.
So, it’s like a language with its own rules. The comparison of one moment to another creates the undulating fabric of tension and release. And within that dynamic relationship, the unique language style emerges. Each composer has their own expression of this. In a serialist composition, tension and release will be quite different than in a 19th century lieder. Nevertheless, tension and release is part of the artist’s expression of emotional meaning.
In musical counterpoint, point against point (Lat. punctus contra punctus) the various lines, or parts, weave independently with or against one another. In a Bach Chorale, the soprano line may descend, while the bass line ascends in contrapuntal motion. The alto line may ‘clash’ into the tenor line momentarily, then resolve to a harmonically pleasing minor or major third. All of this undulating movement creates the fabric of the composition. If Bach were to make each part congruent with one another, without bumping into one another, two things would happen: 1) the listener would lose the awareness of the strength of the individual lines, and 2) the harmonic fabric would instantly lose its flavor, becoming overly congruent and passive.
In life, and in relationships, the strongest of ties are formed not when there is constant agreement of weak personalities following a strong one, but where each member of the relationship is strong in their own right.
If I ever am asked my opinion in the relationship-forming of a young couple and one of them makes a statement resembling, “but this other person completes me,” a red flag instantly goes up in my awareness of their courtship. I usually try to get across the idea that no one should be completing anybody, because everyone is imperfect, and a relationship built on someone else’s strengths or weaknesses jeopardizes your own unique value to make your own decisions and alone bear the consequences of those decisions. This is maturity, when you are willing to become responsible for your own life. Immaturity seeks to shift responsibility onto another party by using them as a crutch if things go awry.
The strongest relationships are when two people, before entering into marriage, are uniquely strong. This creates a synergistic relationship and a multiplication of power.
The same can be true in leadership of any kind, a family or an organization. When a leader is so insecure that they cannot handle some criticism or disagreement, it creates a weak organization. The strongest organizations are those who have leaders that are not trying to hold onto power, but rather to disseminate the power to make decisions with autonomy. When leaders makes an effort to empower the people in the organization to have as much autonomy as possible, the organization becomes almost unstoppable.
At our music school in Midland, Texas we hope to help students experience the value of listening to others in ensembles.
I once heard a wonderful statement by John Maxwell, “Unity is not defined by the absence of disagreement, but by the presence of a reconciling spirit.”
The go through life trying to avoid disagreement should not be our goal. Each individual has value and has lived their own unique life, with the life-experiences that go with it. If we try to force everyone into a cookie-cutter version of what we want them to be, it only serves the leader’s ego, but not the organization.
One of the most important things we, as teachers at our music school in Midland, Texas can do for our students is to help them see their unique strengths and value.
I view it as a VEN diagram, where I’m a whole person (represented by a complete circle, and the other party (or parties) is a whole person. Where our circles overlap may only be in one slice of both of our circles, but that one small area is the area of consent. We both can maintain our uniqueness, while at the same time finding commonality.
We may only have 1% we can agree on, but we can then take that 1% and give 100% effort and energy to that place of agreement, to maximize it.
What does all of this have to do with music?
True music involves community, a relationship with either an ensemble member or an audience. Without relationship, there is no music.
In order for a relationship to form, all parties have to bring something to the table. The individual must come prepared for the rehearsal, be practiced, be proficient. But it doesn’t stop there. The other party must do the same. When both participants are strong, something wonderful begins to happen. They start becoming aware of each other’s uniquenesses. Each of them has strengths, as well as weaknesses. When they listen for the strengths and lean to them, a partnership of strength begins to form that is greater than what they could have achieved separately. In this way, community is formed, not through autocracy or bureaucracy, but through relationship.
At our music school in Midland, Texas we want our students to experience the power of synergy when uniting in music making and collaboration.
When they start making music together, each part has its own uniqueness, its own value. There may be dissonances and resolutions through the strength of each line maintaining its own value. And the strength of the lines becomes the strength of the composition, as a whole.
It’s not the moments of dissonance that make the composition and ensemble great, nor is it the consonance, but rather the willingness to listen for the beauty and strength of each line. The expectation of the good is forefront in everyone’s mental and emotional awareness.
At our music school in Midland, Texas we have a deep sense of the value of each student, and want them to sense that value for themselves.
The ability to see through the other player’s eyes and experience, even while maintaining your own unique voice is called empathy.
We live in a world literally starved for this ability. It is only through learning to see our differences in a way that brings strength, can we rise above our disagreements and multiply beauty in a world so desperate for it.