Paul macalindin: the story of the national youth orchestra of iraq

Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

15/08/2017, 23+08

Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

15/08/2017, 23+08

A: I was five years old and I was sitting in the passenger seat in my

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dad’s car. It was by accident that we were listening to classical music,

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and at that moment I told my dad, “I want to do that”. My father said,

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“ok”, and he bought a piano for me, and I started to learn how to play

Aug 10 · 8 min read

piano at the age of five. Why conducting? Because I grew up both as a piano player and a ballet dancer. To me, music is a very physical

Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

thing, and I have to move to think and express myself. When I went to university to study music, I found myself too restricted by just playing an instrument. I wanted to physically move much more, and so I decided to combine music with ballet thus becoming a conductor.

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iscovering his passion in music from an early age, Paul Q: What triggered you to join the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

MacAlindin took the role as the conductor of National Youth

Orchestra of Iraq in 2008. As a lover for classical music, MacAlindin has

as the conductor after seeing the article? What was the thought

constantly tried to find ways to use music as a way of communication.

process for you especially knowing that Iraq was dangerous at the

During his time as the conductor of the orchestra, he saw the power of

time?

music to unite two conflicting powers together and create something A: In 2008, I saw an article about a seventeen-year-old pianist,

that nobody had ever thought of.

Zuhul Sultan, in Baghdad, and she wanted to create a national youth orchestra of Iraq to bring all the divided young people who

. . .

were playing classical music together. The question that immediate came to me was who are the Iraqis and what types of music do they play? Since we had all seen a great deal of media coverage about the

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war there, we didn’t know who the actual victims were. For me, I was very honored to help found a new national youth orchestra in a

A=Paul MacAlindin

country that was experiencing war because I was able to create this reconciliation force from music to bring all the young people from this

Q: How did you first discover your passion in music and

war together.

conducting? What was the first instrument that you played?

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Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

15/08/2017, 23+08

Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

15/08/2017, 23+08

Zuhul Sultan

Q: You have listed 3 paradoxes in your TED talk, what do you think Q: Through your interaction with the teenagers in Iraq, what was

the idea of “paradox” has played a role in our lives? And what are

one thing that has affected you the most? Have you learned

your suggestions for people who face paradoxes?

anything especially from conducting the orchestra?

A: As a westerner, I don’t normally think paradox is important because A: I have learned that music is an incredibly powerful force to

we have a linear thought process, which is more to do with logic.

maintain peace. Also, I have learned that music communicates

However, I think the power of paradox is to build a container for

without language. This is very important because the Kurds in Iraq

things that appear to be illogical and incompatible. The container

don’t speak Arabic, and Arabs in Iraq don’t speak Kurdish. Therefore,

serves to make the opposing forces work together to create something

the only way of communication between them is music. These

new and exciting. The Kurds and the Arabs in the orchestra have had a

teenagers would sit next to each other playing violin or clarinet, and

long history of war and genocide as well as centuries of hatred, yet

they would play the same music to communicate.

they were sitting in an orchestra playing music together because the framework of an orchestra is highly disciplined and very structured. As

I have also realized the importance of paradoxes through

the conductor I serve as an authoritarian model for creativity.

conducting the orchestra: the idea that conflict is destructive is not

Therefore, the role that I had was to create a safe space, which people

always true. I see it as similar to the concept of yin-yang, in which you

could pour their energy through music, not through talking or physical

can have two opposing forces, but if you contain them properly they

violence, and sit down to play Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert.

can become very powerful force. So, I have learned to contain conflicting and complex energies, which is what the players wanted, to

Thus, I think if you are facing a situation that appears to have conflicts,

create a peace through the orchestra.

you can have the choice of accepting the potential of violence of that conflict or you can look for a creative model to bind those energies together, creating something surprising and new that nobody thought could exist.

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Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

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Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

Q: At the very first stage when you were conducting the orchestra,

Q: After becoming the conductor of the orchestra, what do you

how did you persuade the youth to join the orchestra, and to build

think it takes for other countries in the world (that are undergoing

trust among each other?

wars) to establish organizations like this to help teenagers to have

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an opportunity to learn and play music?

A: Trust is a very important factor, and it is the key to success for the orchestra. I think initially, Zuhul had a network of friends who

A: Initially, if those countries don’t traditionally have classical western

played classical music, and she was able to contact them through

music in their cultures, then they need to import somebody like me and

Facebook, email, and through her friends in Baghdad to persuade them

teachers. Teachers are the most important thing because in classical

to create videos and upload them to YouTube so I could see them as

music, particularly, or any type of music, you physically need a teacher

auditions in Germany. Their trust and faith in Zuhul were very

to stand in front of you to show you how to hold the instrument or how

important, as the idea that Iraqi youth could have hope simply isn’t

to breathe properly. My players were downloading information from

true due to the corruption and the despair in that country. So, they’re

the Internet, and copying musicians from YouTube. However, that can

very cynical. From my point of view, as the leader of the orchestra, it

only take you so far. Music is one of those things where you really need

was my job to promise something and then to fulfill that promise,

a physical teacher standing in front of you to get you playing the

because if I didn’t I would break their trust. For me, it was all about

instrument well and properly. Also, the teacher needs to have a good

promising and delivering on that promise. As a result, over the

pedagogy and the will to teach. The initial step is to find the

years the trust would build up because people knew I would do

teachers through organizations, bring them to that country and

what I said.

start exploring what the people want and how to help them better do what they love doing.

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Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

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Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

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project manager of a team in which the young members have given up, the only thing I can offer is hope. Another important thing you need to work with is faith. I don’t mean religious faith, but rather when you are working on a project with no obvious answers you need deep belief in what you are doing even if it is nearly impossible to think how to run this project logically. Management by faith is simply trying out over and over again until 1% of your effort works. You have to learn to fail a lot in order to find that tiny little step forward that is successful. It takes a lot of hard work and it takes faith in yourself to find the answers. Although you may have no evidence that this can work, you still need to believe in yourself and believe the people you are working with even when they don’t believe in themselves.

Q: How do you view the current trend of music, especially classical music as well as the presence of orchestra?

A: The current trend of classical music is a worldwide culture, and orchestral music is part of the culture. If we listen to a pop group, we

Q: In 2016, you published your first book. By writing your first

can often listen to an orchestra playing in the background. I don’t think

book, what messages are you trying to convey to the audiences?

orchestras are going to die out; instead, I think the presence of the orchestra is very stable and it is a very conservative, joyful form of art.

A: The message is about having hope and faith in yourself. When you

I think one of the reasons why Middle Eastern people like classical

are running a project, especially an international project as complex as

music is because the conservative nature of classical music fits their

this, a lot people you are working with have no hope. Then, hope is the

culture, and its joy is that which they desperately seek. Being a classical

most powerful thing that you can offer because that is the thing will

musician is all about listening and collaborating with other people.

take you one step further in life even when there is no evidence that

Moreover, it is about a lot of hard work and practicing with discipline.

you can get help. Also, you need to understand the desperation and the

Also, the music connects to your emotions because there is a lot of

tragedy of the peoples’ lives in Iraq; they really have no hope. As a https://medium.com/@Tezign/paul-macalindin-the-story-of-the-national-youth-orchestra-of-iraq-d23b4d13dfaf

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Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

15/08/2017, 23+08

Paul MacAlindin: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq

15/08/2017, 23+08

emotional intelligence in learning classical music. In total, I think classical music has a very strong presence in the 21st century.

UPBEAT (@Upbeat_book) | Twitter The latest Tweets from UPBEAT (@Upbeat_book). Paul MacAlindin's epic adventures with the National Youth Orchestra of‌ twitter.com

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