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My Little Society, My Orchestra Experience Part 1. - Organizational Structure of an Orchestra
. A story about the orchestra and just my experiences and things that I thought were helpful in society Part 1.
. A story about the orchestra and just my experiences and things that I thought were helpful in society Part 1.
Not long ago, I took the stage with an orchestra and finished a performance. It was a concert I participated in as an alumna of the club I’d been a part of throughout my college years. Every time we rehearsed, old memories came flooding back, and the sense of accomplishment from pulling off the concert added another healing memory to my collection.
My experience in the orchestra was quite precious. It wasn’t simply because I played an instrument. Rather, the moments I spent deliberating and taking action as a member to achieve a common goal were the very experiences that shaped who I am today in my professional life. I really wanted to reflect on those experiences, even if it meant just reminiscing about that time. Since there’s so much to cover, I’ll be writing this as a two-part series.
In this post, I’d like to explore the characteristics of the “orchestra” as a community and how it resembles a corporate organization.
After entering the workforce, I realized that an orchestra is actually very similar to the structure of a corporate organization. Both have specific goals, and both involve many different sections collaborating (playing together) to achieve those goals.
Let’s take a look at the characteristics of an orchestra as an organization and the ways in which it resembles a company!
In a traditional orchestra, the conductor undoubtedly holds the most important position. The conductor interprets the piece, and the sections move accordingly. Since the conductor holds the greatest authority, orchestras are generally classified as “vertical organizations.”
However, these days, it seems that the conductor’s authority isn’t always so prominent. In fact, the “Going Home Project” group, led by Son Yeol-eum, doesn’t even have a conductor.
At Son Yeol-eum’s concert, I was initially surprised by the absence of a conductor, but there was not a single flaw in their performance. I wondered how much discussion must have taken place among the leading masters in each field (here, “field” refers to instruments such as the violin and flute) to bring the piece to completion. At least from the perspective of instrumental performance, it also takes on a highly horizontal form.
As Drucker pointed out, an orchestra is, outwardly, clearly
a horizontal organization (due to the simplification of hierarchy). However, an orchestra is by no means a democratic or autonomous organization. Rather,
it is a dual-structure organization in which two opposing (paradoxical) structures—namely, centralization and decentralization—coexist.
- Art and Organizational Development: Focusing on Collaborative Organizations (2019), Kim Ho-seop
Even this aspect bears some resemblance to the structure of a company. Each company has its own unique culture and structure, and as a result, it may be either vertical or horizontal.
As a university club or amateur orchestra, the school orchestra was operated in a slightly different way than professional orchestras. Rather than any one person holding authority, each member—even the conductor—performed their assigned duties well in accordance with their respective roles and responsibilities (R&R). Even among orchestras where horizontal and vertical structures coexist, the horizontal aspect was more prominent.
Interestingly, an orchestra bears a striking resemblance to today’s IT companies, which blend functional and mission-oriented structures. Here’s why I feel they are similar:
현악기 > 바이올린 > 1st 바이올린 / 2nd 바이올린 / 3rd 바이올린. There is also collaboration with other sections.Our orchestra held two concerts a year: the regular concert and the graduation concert. To prepare for these, we held two Music Camps (five-day residential rehearsals, also abbreviated as MC. one during summer break and one during winter break).
In particular, we considered the regular concert to be our main goal for the year. This was because it was a concert organized entirely by us. We had to handle everything on our own: selecting pieces, regular rehearsals, section rehearsals, organizing the Music Camp, booking the performance venue, contacting sponsors (though we only did this during our freshman year), producing content, and managing sheet music. As a result, as we advanced through the grades, we took on more roles and prepared for the concerts with a sense of responsibility in our respective positions.
From new members to the conductor, even as everyone carried out their own “duties,” preparing a concert involved endless coordination and trial and error because we were a group of people with different thoughts, values, and (instrument-specific) tendencies. It wasn’t much different from a project at a company.
As an undergraduate, I thought I was part of a fairly large community for a club. (Looking back now, it was an organization of about 50 to 70 people—not small, but not particularly large either 😁.) And given the nature of our school’s orchestra, I felt it bore a strong resemblance to a corporation. Now that I’ve reflected on it, the structures are actually quite similar, and thanks to that experience, I didn’t feel out of place when I first started my professional career.
In the next post, I plan to write about the roles I took on and the tasks I handled during my six years in the orchestra, as well as the communication skills I developed through those experiences
!
Next post 👉 The Micro-Society I Experienced: My Orchestra Journey, Part 2.