Leading an Orchestra

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So You Want to Lead an Orchestra.

Peter Drucker calls orchestras an example of an organization design that will become in-creasingly popular in the 21st century, in that they employ skilled and talented people, joined together as a team to create products and services. Drucker may hear what he wants to hear. Others say orchestras are autocratic. The conductor dictates what is played and how it is played. Rather than basking in the glow of orchestral teamwork, jokes like the following are common among orchestra members: Q. Why do so many people take an instant dislike to the viola? A. It saves time.

Job descriptions for orchestras look simple: Play the music. (Q. How is lightning like a key-boardist’s fingers? A. Neither strikes the same place twice.) Violins play violin parts; trumpets play trumpet parts. Yet one study reported that job satisfaction for orchestra members ranks below that of prison guards. However, orchestra members were more satisfied than operating room nurses and hockey players.

Exhibit 1 (below) shows the pay structure for a regional chamber orchestra. (Q. How can you make a clarinet sound like a French horn? A. Play all the wrong notes.) The pay covers six full orchestra concerts, one Caroling by Candlelight event, three Sunday Chamber Series concerts, several Arts in Education elementary school concerts, two engagements for a flute quartet, and one Ring in the Holidays brass event as well as the regularly scheduled rehearsals. (Q. How can you tell when a trombonist is playing out of tune? A. When the slide is moving.)

1. Describe the orchestra’s pay structure in terms of levels, differentials, and job- or person-based approach.

2. Discuss what factors may explain the structure. Why does violinist I receive more than the oboist and trombonist? Why does the principal trumpet player earn more than the prin-cipal cellist and principal clarinetist but less than the principal viola and principal flute players? What explains these differences? Does the relative supply versus the demand for violinists compare to the supply versus the demand for trombonists? Is it that violins play more notes?

3. What is the pay differential between the principal viola and next highest paid viola? What about between the principal trumpet and the next highest paid trumpet? Why these differentials be-tween the principal and other? Why aren’t they larger? Smaller? Why is the differential between trumpet players different than between the viola players?

4. How well do equity and tournament models apply? Do custom and tradition play any role? What about institutional theory?

 

EXHIBIT 1 Orchestra Compensation Schedule
Instrument/Fee

Violin, Concertmaster $6,970
Principal Bass and Conductor 5,070
Principal Viola 5,036
Principal Flute 4,337
Principal Trumpet 4,233
Principal Cello 4,181
Principal Clarinet 4,146
Trumpet 3,638
Principal Oboe 3,615
Principal Violin II 3,488
Principal Horn 3,390
Keyboard I 3,361
Cello 3,228
Principal Percussion 3,049
Violin I 2,899
Cello 2,882
Principal Bassoon 2,824
Violin I 2,685

 

Instrument /Fee

Violin I $2,483
Violin I 2,483
Violin I 2,483
Violin II 2,483
Violin II 2,483
Viola 2,483
Violin II 1,975
Viola 2,212
Oboe 2,206
Trombone 2,137
Viola 2,033
Violin II/Viola 1,784
Cello 1,634
Clarinet 1,548
Horn 1,548
Flute 1,455
Keyboard II 1,392
Bassoon 1,265
Violin II 1,178

Sample Solution

Recruitment took place at the beginning of a class period after permission had been granted by the instructor. The researcher then explained the goals of the study and distributed individual sign-up sheet to preserve the anonymity of the participants. Any student who wished to participate was welcome. The researcher hoped to recruit at least 15 participants in each section of the French phonetics course to meet the requirement for representativeness, but due to lack of enrollment, there were only 7 participants per group. The qualitative data from the participants provided rich enough data to obtain a credible picture and ensure saturation. Thus the requirements for the representativeness/saturation trade-off was met. Both groups received the same instruction in French phonetics and pronunciation. The phonetics course was held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for fifty minutes. Fridays were dedicated to lab work, while Mondays and Wednesdays were lectures. At the University of Illinois, French pronunciation is taught following an explicit methodology. Each phonological feature is explained in detail according to the manner of pronunciation: tongue position, jaw position, lips, etc. Data Collection Before the first phonological feature was taught, the participants completed the pre-test (Time 1). The post-test (Time 2) was completed after the instruction of the features. Both pre-test and post-test included two types of reading/recording exercises: a short text and short sentences (created by the researcher), targeting specific phonological features of French: /y/ vs. /u/, or the “silent e” (or schwa). While reading the texts and sentences, each participant was required to record themselves at Time 1 and at Time 2. The recordings took place in the phonetics laboratory at the University of Illinois, where participants can be monitored. The researcher asked the students to record themselves only once to control for repeated recordings, which may allow the students to modify their pronunciation.

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