When I was asked to a preview of Mrs Carey’s Concert and blog about it, I was intrigued about what the movie would be like.

I was surprised at how wonderful a documentary about the MLC concert could be.

As an MLC old girl, I could relate to the student’s side. Mrs Carey started at MLC when I was in Year 10. Her passion about music and how it would change our lives if only we rehearsed for hours and made it our life (regardless of whether we’d elected to do music or not) was overwhelming for a teenager. As one student in the movie says ‘The process is a bit tedious’. Although Mrs Carey does seem to have improved her process in the last 2 decades since I was at MLC, there was still that awareness that it was many hours of rehearsing (as is required for a concert), often with students that weren’t enthusiastic about it.

Now having to encourage a team of my own, I can also relate to the teachers side. That difficulty in communicating: If only you could see how involving yourself in this, you will see the world differently, grow and understand why I’m trying to get you to do this.

What the movie communicates so well is the journey that the staff and students go on to create the concert. You will laugh, feel their pain, and their joy. As the staff try to get the students to understand team values and leadership in the lead up to the concert the students are resistant, but all that really matters is that they get the feeling on the night of the concert.

There are some great aspects about what the teachers were doing that could be implemented in a business situation. Communicating in large groups, small groups, and one on one, are all important. Identifying students with specific talents and fostering that shows their leadership and facilitated the students learning to be leaders themselves. That sometimes you just need to walk away from the difficult students resistant to your various approaches to getting them to understand what they are a part of, so that your energy can be focused in the right places.

I won’t spoil the ending of the movie, but can say that when we did the concert while I was a student, I think most of us did get it on the night – the value and power of the team. I remember not singing at one point, listening to it all and thinking, this does kind of rock what we’re creating. In the movie Mrs Carey says ‘they take it for granted until they get out of here’ and I think there is truth in that. At the time the lasting memory is the tedious nature of the rehearsals, and looking back you remember that quite clearly as well, but you also remember it was a special thing to be a part of. I also clearly remember thinking that I shouldn’t have a career as a singer.

Formed over a decade ago in Melbourne  the Flinders Quartet have two subscription seasons in Melbourne and one in Sydney, as well as performing at festivals and other projects.

I’m interested in the business of a quartet as they have similarities and differences to other SMEs. I think we can learn from each other, if we learn more about how each other operate.

Podcast series explores the business of the Flinders Quartet.

In this podcast Zoe Knighton talks about the business of the Flinders Quartet – how they formed a group of advisors to assist them strategically, income generation, how they are growing their tribe.

Key insights

• The main pressure is time to rehearse, and develop as musicians and artists.
• It is easy to think that what your doing doesn’t matter and an advisory group is invaluable for changing that.
• Advisory groups provide different perspectives, even in off the cuff remarks.
• Growing the pie for everyone – is competition or industry wide growth more important?
• Sharing, educating and providing additional insights engage the audience more increasing their appreciation.
• Manage decisions through diplomacy when you have four owners. Key rule is that if one really doesn’t want to play a piece they don’t.

Listen to the podcast

Podcast length: 17:23 minutes

Listen to other podcasts in the series

• Introduction to the series of the business of a quartet
• Branding exercise – how would you describe the Flinders Quartet?
• Erica Kennedy (first violin) – exploring, uncovering and driving change in music
• Matthew Tomkins (violin) – juggling full time orchestral role and quartet
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – adding motherhood into the mix
• Helen Ireland (viola) – complementing interests & collaborations improving insights

Find out more about the Flinders Quartet: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy tickets to their concerts: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House | Montsalvat, Eltham Victoria | Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne Recital Centre

There were so many communication themes that came through in this podcast. Do you communicate back to those that have given you ideas? It is an essential aspect to the feedback cycle. Find out more about giving your tribe a voice.

Formed over a decade ago in Melbourne  the Flinders Quartet have two subscription seasons in Melbourne and one in Sydney, as well as performing at festivals and other projects.

I’m interested in the business of a quartet as they have similarities and differences to other SMEs. I think we can learn from each other, if we learn more about how each other operate.

Podcast series explores the business of the Flinders Quartet.

In this podcast Helen Ireland talks about Feldenkrais and how it complements being a musician, collaborations that the Flinders Quartet have undertaken, and an innovative CD recording.

Key insights

• Feldenkrais method helps performance through physically and mentally relaxing you
• Collaborations provide a different perspective from other experts that add to your own knowledge and experience
• Innovative ideas, such as recording a CD of short pieces, are not only an interesting journey to create but offer greater exposure to music than what is currently available.

Listen to the podcast

Podcast length: 9:32 minutes

Listen to other podcasts in the series

• Introduction to the series of the business of a quartet
• Branding exercise – how would you describe the Flinders Quartet?
• Erica Kennedy (first violin) – Exploring, uncovering and driving change in music
• Matthew Tomkins (violin) – Juggling full time orchestral role and quartet
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – Adding motherhood into the mix
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – The business of the quartet

Find out more about the Flinders Quartet: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy tickets to their concerts: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House | Montsalvat, Eltham Victoria | Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne Recital Centre

One of Tribe Research’s collaborations, is with Dr Ken Hudson from the Speed Thinking Zone. We host and analyse The Innovation Benchmark 3 Factor, Speed Thinking Benchmark and Meeting Benchmark. The benchmark results on their own are insightful and Ken can work with you to establish ways to overcome the gaps identified in the benchmark. Find out more about how you can benchmark innovation and thinking in your organisation.

Formed over a decade ago in Melbourne  the Flinders Quartet have two subscription seasons in Melbourne and one in Sydney, as well as performing at festivals and other projects.

I’m interested in the business of a quartet as they have similarities and differences to other SMEs. I think we can learn from each other, if we learn more about how each other operate.

Podcast series explores the business of the Flinders Quartet.

In this podcast Zoe Knighton introduces her son and talks about fitting motherhood into a musical career and how it changed her perspective of being a musician (in a good way!).

Key insights

• Requirement to focus career with roles that allow for flexibility.
• Rehearsing less but more productively because of new time demands.
• Renewed joy for playing because a new appreciation that it is about enjoyment  not achievement.
• Keeping things in balance is a constant challenge.

Listen to the podcast

Podcast length: 8:29 minutes

Listen to other podcasts in the series

• Introduction to the series of the business of a quartet
• Branding exercise – how would you describe the Flinders Quartet?
• Erica Kennedy (first violin) – exploring, uncovering and driving change in music
• Matthew Tomkins (violin) – juggling full time orchestral role and quartet
• Helen Ireland (viola) – complementing interests & collaborations improving insights
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – the business of the quartet

Find out more about the Flinders Quartet: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy tickets to their concerts: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House | Montsalvat, Eltham Victoria | Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne Recital Centre

Are you starting a business and need help visualising yourself in the business? Find out more about Kate’s Starting Your Tribe Coaching.

Formed over a decade ago in Melbourne  the Flinders Quartet have two subscription seasons in Melbourne and one in Sydney, as well as performing at festivals and other projects.

I’m interested in the business of a quartet as they have similarities and differences to other SMEs. I think we can learn from each other, if we learn more about how each other operate.

Podcast series explores the business of the Flinders Quartet.

In this podcast Matthew Tomkins talks about how the quartet manage their time – coordinate time constraints of other members of the quartet and other musical commitments.

We also discuss a philosophical relationship between cricket, research and music.

Key insights

• Coordinating multiple musician diaries requires developing a schedule a year in advance.
• When a quartet or team have been together for over a decade they understand each other and this improves management of being time poor.
• Test cricket is an evolving story in a similar way to research and a symphony.

Listen to the podcast

Podcast length: 10:27 minutes

Listen to other podcasts in the series

• Introduction to the series of the business of a quartet
• Branding exercise – how would you describe the Flinders Quartet?
• Erica Kennedy (first violin) – exploring, uncovering and driving change in music
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – adding motherhood into the mix
• Helen Ireland (viola) – complementing interests & collaborations improving insights
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – the business of the quartet

Find out more about the Flinders Quartet: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy tickets to their concerts: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House | Montsalvat, Eltham Victoria | Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne Recital Centre

Do you get offsite to communicate and plan with your team? Tribe Research can help you get a clear head so you can drive change.

Formed over a decade ago in Melbourne  the Flinders Quartet have two subscription seasons in Melbourne and one in Sydney, as well as performing at festivals and other projects.

I’m interested in the business of a quartet as they have similarities and differences to other SMEs. I think we can learn from each other, if we learn more about how each other operate.

Podcast series explores the business of the Flinders Quartet.

In this podcast Erica Kennedy discusses how they explore the music and uncover what the music is saying so they can drive change in the emotions of their audience. It is interesting how market and social research and understanding music has some parallels.

Erica doesn’t only perform classical music and she discusses how she switches between the styles.

Key insights

• The performance is mostly about their interpretation, similar to how research insights are largely up to the interpretation of the data, but everyone will interpret differently
• Everything needs to be worked on and discovered in its own context
• Everyone takes away their own perspective of your interpretation depending on their own experience and what has happened before they are experiencing your interpretation
• Variety of activities complement each other

Listen to the podcast

Podcast length: 10:45 minutes

Listen to other podcasts in the series

• Introduction to the series of the business of a quartet
• Branding exercise – how would you describe the Flinders Quartet?
• Matthew Tomkins (violin) – juggling full time orchestral role and quartet
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – adding motherhood into the mix
• Helen Ireland (viola) – complementing interests & collaborations improving insights
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – the business of the quartet

Find out more about the Flinders Quartet: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy tickets to their concerts: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House | Montsalvat, Eltham Victoria | Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne Recital Centre

Have you explored the views of your tribe recently so you can uncover new directions and drive change? Tribe Research can help you to get to know your tribe.

Formed over a decade ago in Melbourne  the Flinders Quartet have two subscription seasons in Melbourne and one in Sydney, as well as performing at festivals and other projects.

I’m interested in the business of a quartet as they have similarities and differences to other SMEs. I think we can learn from each other, if we learn more about how each other operate.

Podcast series explores the business of the Flinders Quartet.

In this podcast each member of the quartet responds to the  question:

In a sentence or two how would you describe the Flinders Quartet?

What is great about this exercise was how consistent they were in their description. Would your team be this consistent?

Key insights

• Four friends that love playing chamber music.
• Melbourne’s longest running quartet.
• Expanding their audience at their subscriptions.
• They were very consistent in their description!

Listen to the podcast

Podcast length: 1.43 minutes

Listen to other podcasts in the series

• Introduction to the series of the business of a quartet
• Erica Kennedy (first violin) – exploring, uncovering and driving change in music
• Matthew Tomkins (violin) – juggling full time orchestral role and quartet
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – adding motherhood into the mix
• Helen Ireland (viola) – complementing interests & collaborations improving insights
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – the business of the quartet

Find out more about the Flinders Quartet: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy tickets to their concerts: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House | Montsalvat, Eltham Victoria | Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne Recital Centre

A simple way to find out the words your team use to describe your business is using our CloudMaker Mini Survey and ask: When you think of our business, what are the first 3 words that come to mind?. You can then create a word cloud like the one above.

Formed over a decade ago in Melbourne  the Flinders Quartet have two subscription seasons in Melbourne and one in Sydney, as well as performing at festivals and other projects.

I’m interested in the business of a quartet as they have similarities and differences to other SMEs. I think we can learn from each other, if we learn more about how each other operate.

Podcast series explores the business of the Flinders Quartet.

In this podcast I discuss why quartets have to develop an interesting business model with some different and some similar challenges as other SMEs. Is your business model similar to the eMyth or quartet model?

I also introduce the Flinders Quartet.

Listen to the podcast

Podcast length: 7:14 minutes

Listen to other podcasts in the series

• Branding exercise – how would you describe the Flinders Quartet?
• Erica Kennedy (first violin) – exploring, uncovering and driving change in music
• Matthew Tomkins (violin) – juggling full time orchestral role and quartet
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – adding motherhood into the mix
• Helen Ireland (viola) – complementing interests & collaborations improving insights
• Zoe Knighton (cello) – the business of the quartet

Find out more about the Flinders Quartet: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy tickets to their concerts: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House | Montsalvat, Eltham Victoria | Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne Recital Centre

Want Kate to speak at your next event, have her present a webinar, or participate in a podcast? Read more about Kate’s experience.

Nicole Forsyth, violist from Ironwood, was the pre-concert speaker for the last Musica Viva Young Professionals event.

She shared some great insights into chamber music and gave me permission to share some of them here. Her talk was longer than the snip-its below, but these were some that I found interesting.

Chamber music seems like a rarefied art form – but it’s actually not.

Anyone, playing any instrument, in their bedroom, in their lounge, with one or two other people – that’s chamber music – perhaps with the exception of air guitar – or air bassoon (look it up on YouTube!).

Things like string quartets and piano trios generally start out as fun groups – music students getting together to read their way through the old favourites – Mozart and Beethoven Quartets, Arensky and Rachmaninov Trios, Brahms Sextets, Mendelssohn Octet, Schubert ‘Trout’ Quintet.

Lots of summer music camps and festivals feature afternoons and late evenings of free time – put classical musicians together in one place with a library of music and some free time, and chamber music reading will ensue, usually in combination with good wine and food. Unsurprising that some of the best chamber festivals in the world are held at wineries! (such as the Huntington Estate Music Festival)

Development of chamber music

The piano trio and the string quartet are two of the fairly standard combinations of chamber music, which developed during the mid 18^th century. Chamber music, was initially designed to be played in a chamber (drawing or music room) rather than today’s modern concert hall. In the early to mid 19^th century chamber music moved from private concert room into the public space of the larger concert hall.

Early chamber music in Sydney

For a private chamber music space in early Sydney, think the front drawing rooms of Vaucluse or Elizabeth Bay Houses, and for a mid 19th century public chamber music space, think what is now the fabulous Belgian Beer Café down on Harrington St or the Art House Hotel on Pitt St. One of Sydney’s earliest public concert spaces was in fact a pub – Barnett Levey’s Theatre Royal was attached to his pub on George St. The first public concerts in the 1820’s, with tickets sold to all comers – who fought, drank, cat called and were generally more unruly than you’ll ever hear in a modern concert hall – were held in the Tap Room of Barnett’s pub. Think of a chamber music concert with the audience as wildly enthusiastic as you might see for the headline final act of the Big Day Out, and you begin to see the importance and relevance of new, unheard and incredibly exciting new compositions to a 19th century audience.

Mendelssohn bewailed the fact that Viennese audiences of his lifetime were unfamiliar with Mozart and Beethoven, such was the aesthetic for new work during this period. Western art music only gained its museum piece reputation during the 20th century. Perhaps we’ll be seeing the end of this particular aesthetic as well, as concerts in the 21st centurybecome an exciting ‘cabinet of curiosities’ once more – new work and old mixed together, informing each other, and making new connections across time.

Interested in learning more about chamber music?

Musica Viva have selected 3 concerts from their 2011 season to be included in the Young Professional program. This program is for professionals new to chamber music wanting a friendly introduction. The night starts with a talk and drink at 6pm, followed by the concert starting at 7pm. If you’re going, then introduce yourself to me!

I’ll continue to post segments from the pre-concert talk here so you can still feel a part of it.

Post 1 in a series about connections

I thought the best way to start a series on connections would be sharing a conversation I had with grandpa.

Grandpa was a great connector.

I believe we’ve made it too complicated. So did he.

Generate good-will because you want to help

Grandpa almost always greeted me by saying: Have you generated any good-will recently?

He asked it so often that it became ingrained in my thinking.

It also meant I always needed to have a response of: Yes, I’ve…

His response would be: Well if you’ve generated some good-will then it will come together for you.

Understand what you’re passionate about and how you can assist

Grandpa was a lawyer by trade. He was passionate about it. He was even more passionate about the arts and knew he could use his skills as a lawyer and passion for the arts to help. In turn his experience with arts organisations helped his business as a lawyer.

Know what is work to you and know when to offer it for free

When grandpa did property law, it was work (that doesn’t mean he didn’t enjoy it). When it was using his skills in the arts it wasn’t. I’m not saying that all property work was charged, he had pro-bono clients. However, when it came to the arts he didn’t charge, he received rewards in other ways, which were sometimes just pleasure.

Communicate

As Kim Williams said at a celebration of grandpa’s life:

I’ve been a periodic recipient of thoughtful letters from him. Some of them unusually long in that beautiful copper plate hand writing of his… At times they were welcome; and others caused me to pause and reflect with considerable care in response to their striking observations which I can assure you were rendered with disarming candor. I am sure that many others have receive similar precious communications with the sort of direct observations which we all too rarely experience in the course of life.

The key aspects to what Kim said about letters from grandpa (he was pre-internet in terms of communication) was that we ‘all too rarely experience’ it and that they had ‘striking observations’. More importantly they were received by enough people that when Kim told the story there was fond laughter from the audience.

Grandpa, sat down to write letters to people on a regular basis. To touch base or share his views… he communicated and that created a great connection to a broad range of people.

He didn’t see it as networking. It was just the right way to live. He didn’t understand the term networking because it was just good practice.