Sleeping with the Enemy - Achieving Collaborative Success : This is how a collaborative person works: 5. context, context, context
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Sleeping with the Enemy Achieving Collaborative Success Sharing collaborative and partnership working best practice.
Friday, 31 March 2017
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This is how a collaborative person works: 5. context, context, context
Sleeping with the Enemy - Achieving Collaborative Success: 5th Edition Now Available at Amazon
(This post draws heavily upon the experiences of Paul Macalindin as described in his book Upbeat, which chronicles his inspiring work with the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq.)
'An excellent book that outlines the value and benefit of collaborative working...' This book is about collaborative and partner...
'In the cycle of endless correcting of mistakes, we nailed down one, and another popped up. We thought this had something to do with pushing the players' concentration to the limits. However, it was often difficult for them to come from a small group rehearsal and hold onto the learning when they sat down in the next room with the full orchestra. The context, and how closely they felt they were being watched, changed the way they retained learning.' From Upbeat: the Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq by Paul Macalindin
Paul is describing the process of rehearsing with his players. There is a crucial insight here: rather than continuing to assume that the players were struggling because they were being pushed to the limits of their concentration, Paul and his colleagues soon realised that it was the context within which they were rehearsing which was affecting their ability to learn and improve. A small group setting enhanced the players learning and a large group setting eroded it. As Paul says, one of the reasons for this was the perceived level of scrutiny: how closely the players felt they were being watched. Other likely factors would have been the increased pressure players felt when rehearsing in front many people, the potentially intimidating size of the orchestral rehearsal room, and the necessary formality required for managing and rehearsing a large number of people within a large space. The crucial word here is 'felt'. It is the players' perceived level of scrutiny and pressure which affected their ability to learn within different contexts.
Charles M Lines
The crucial questions are as follows: Why did the players feel this way? What was/could have been done to make the players feel more comfortable within the large group context? Arguably, there are three main reasons why the players felt the way they did: 1. Because the attitude towards western music in Iraq was often at best ambivalent and at worst very hostile, the players were accustomed to practising alone and in secret, perhaps even muting their instruments with blankets so neighbours would not be able to hear. Therefore practising in a small group, let alone a large one, was very unfamiliar to them and probably felt very uncomfortable and risky. This would have been an almost conditioned response. 2. There was a cultural element at play which meant players were very reluctant to lose face by being seen to make mistakes and having to admit to them. This tendency understandably increased as the amount of people watching and listening increased. 3. The Western/European approach to classical music involved methods of rehearsal and performance which were new and alien to many of the players. This added to the discomfort players were already feeling as a result of the two previously described aspects.
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Paul and his colleagues did the following to address the above aspects: They encouraged their musicians to play together in small groups as much as possible,
http://cuttingedgepartnerships.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/this-is-how-collaborative-person-works.html
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