by Zachary Thompson and Michael T. Eubanks
A Case for
Creative Collaboration
W
in
Music
We have come to realize that the most profound and
Not all collaboration will lead to effective results, how-
memorable music experiences for our students and for us
ever. In fact, poor collaboration is worse than not having
the process of the students and teacher working together,
creates effective and disciplined collaboration with their
have been the result of collaboration. This is not simply but it is the creative teamwork of a music director with other colleagues from either within or outside of music.
This article will make the case for and offer examples of
effective collaboration for music directors to create excellent experiences, products, and performances. Why use collaboration?
any collaboration. It is therefore essential that the director
colleagues. Morten T. Hansen (2009) explained, “The idea of disciplined collaboration can be summed up in
one phrase: the leadership practice of properly assessing when to collaborate (and when not to) and instilling in
people both the willingness and the ability to collaborate when required” (p. 33).
Patrick Lencioni (2012) wrote, “Not finance. Not strategy.
Collaboration for Music Ensembles
competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful
of creative collaboration that have resulted in profound
Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate and so rare” (Lencioni, 2012, p. vii). It is through this powerful use of teamwork that music directors can create
experiences for both the performers and the audience that will far outreach experiences created by the music
director alone. Although it can often be simpler to have total creative control of the concert, recording, or other
event, the result of collaboration justifies the extra effort.
When you choose to bring other people into the process,
they can add their areas of strength and expertise that can complement your areas of weakness.
12 F l o r i d a
Music Director
I (Zachary Thompson) would like to offer two examples experiences for my choirs. In the first example, I worked
with my former high school choir teacher to combine both of our choirs to perform Vivaldi’s Gloria with an orchestra and soloists. This was a great experience that resulted in
choirs from different states coming together to learn from
each other and experience a timeless masterwork. Due to the relatively small size of our choirs, it would have been very difficult for each choir alone to perform this work.
By combining our resources and our singers, we were
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