A book that has been foundational for me making sense of orchestras is Reframing Organizations by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal. I use their ideas all the time when I’m trying to figure out what’s going on in orchestras.
Bolman and Deal talk about looking at our organizations – and our choices for action – through four frames: the structural frame, the human resources frame, the political frame and the symbolic frame.
They offer a metaphor to capture the essence of each frame (translated for orchestra here):
- The metaphor for the structural frame is ‘the orchestra as a factory’. Looking through this frame reveals an orchestra’s systems of roles and relationships and how the work gets made. Problems arise when the structure is not suited to the situation or challenge at hand.
- The metaphor for the political frame is ‘the orchestra as a jungle’. Looking through this frame shows where power is concentrated and folks vying for limited resources and to set agendas. Problems arise when power is wielded unfairly, is concentrated in the wrong places or is too dispersed.
- The metaphor for the human resources frame is ‘the orchestra as a family’. Looking through this frame gives us an opportunity to ask ‘what needs do stakeholders have?’ The challenge is finding a fit between individuals’ desire for meaningful, expressive work and the orchestra’s need to accomplish specific tasks.
- The metaphor for the symbolic frame is ‘the orchestra as a temple or theater’. Looking through this frame asks ‘internally and externally, what does an orchestra and its work mean?’ Problems arise when symbols lose their meaning or actors play their parts badly.
The thrust of Bolman and Deal’s work is that, beyond being a handy way to categorize various aspects of an organization, the frames are about actions – our actions within our organization. They are a way for folks to understand what’s going on, look at things differently and – through their action – offer their best contribution to their organization.
Orchestras are complex and the four frames don’t change that. Problems that have their roots in one frame can manifest and present in another. Solving problems may require different actions in a few frames. It’s still confusing. But the four frames gave me lenses to break out of habitual views and see an orchestra differently. A way to start figuring out what’s going on.
The orchestra, of course, isn’t just framed, it IS the frame, the factory, jungle, family, and temple that can be both transcendent and a confinement that sucks life out of art.
What happens when you challenge that frame, when you continue painting the landscape right onto the frame itself, and with the implication that you refuse to accept the orchestral enclosure?
Creative art forms are frameless. They imply boundless life, exploration of the unknown, the immediacy of experience, immeasurable potential and possibility. This frameless world of true art ultimately redefines what we are as humans.
That was the world of the symphony orchestra from its inception during the 1840s in Leipzig and Vienna and continued for a century to the end of WWII. A truly great run, one of the greatest achievements of the human mind.
And then something happened. The orchestra became framed. Its mainstream repertoire ceased to grow. Its performance practices became increasingly codified. Its conductors turned into jet set commodities. Its purpose increasingly narrowed and limited to a shrinking and slowly dying demographic.
Can the orchestra burst through its frames? We see countless superficial suggestions: liberalizing attire and concert etiquette, more pop and movie music, etc. This hasn’t helped, of course. Mere decorations, not substantive rebirth.
If history tells us anything, it is that genres have limited lives that they eventually die. And even if the orchestra manages to so radically change that it is reborn, it will come from an angel of death that no one wants to see, including orchestras themselves.
Thank you for the interesting blog entry.
Thanks for reading and for the comment, William. I like how you’ve taken the idea of framing in a different direction, turning it into a metaphor for all that which binds and constricts orchestras and limits their power to make art. Using the Bolman and Deal construction I was writing about, I would say that you’re looking at orchestras through the symbolic frame (what art symbolizes) and are finding them lacking – maybe even absent. I think that’s a fair criticism.
Having said that, I think there are examples out in the world of people working to re-frame orchestras. Working to redesign what orchestras say and do and how they’re seen. The El Sistema movement work is an example of that – check out Stanford Thompson’s writings here at AJ. The Gateways Festival Orchestra (full disclosure: I’ve been a member) is having a conversation with its audience about who owns this music when we walk on stage – before we’ve even played a note. You also might be interested (dare I say inspired?) by the work that Kristjan Jaarvi and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic is doing or the work of Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra that Joe Horowitz has been writing about.
You’re right that no one wants to see an angel of death. I would argue that change is possible for an orchestra without it’s wholesale destruction. That’s where, for me, something like the four frames is useful. If for instance, the people of an orchestra agreed that when seen through the symbolic frame there’s a lot about themselves they would want to change, what actions might they take in other frames (structure, human resources, political) in order to help make that happen?
It’s very true, my idea of art as something frameless is ironically another frame. I’m looking forward to the links you provide.
The angel of death that will revive orchestras might not bring total destruction, but a kind of near-death experience that brings renewal. It’s an ancient story. My perspectives are more those of a composer — someone more likely to rework musical concepts from the ground up. The solutions for reviving orchestras offered by most consultants and administrators strike me as too superficial to bring meaningful change.
Speaking of El Sistema and frames, Zachary Woolfe has an article in today’s NYT denouncing El Sistema as a propaganda organ for socialist Venezuela. Few Americans will note that it is Woolfe who is creating propaganda.