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Music"s power in leadership and the development of trust has been both recognised and documented at least since the time of the Ancient Greeks. The potential impact of faceto-face meetings, as opposed to communication by other means -even aided by a battery of technological developments -is also widely accepted. The authors argue that modern quality-driven managers are missing a significant opportunity by their apparent failure to perceive and exploit the synergy between these two elements.The article commences by tracing the history of the use of music and its influence on inter-personal behaviour. It continues by exploring the various attributes of music that can be brought to bear on improving quality in meetings. Finally it describes the many tools and opportunities that managers have to exploit the power of music in targeting greater efficiency in communication, cognition and cooperation among quality-focused teams.

Purpose: Coordination of group activity is rarely more important than in a singing group that has no designated conductor. This paper aims to explore the group dynamics in an 11-man singing group whose members, all over 60, have without exception occupied senior leadership positions in their working careers. The study arose because responses to a wider research study revealed interesting perceptions of leadership issues in the group. Design/methodology/approach: All the members participated in semi-structured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis of the responses was used to process the responses. This enabled the identification of practices that support the group's success and illustrated how this group of practiced "leaders" respond to a (relatively) conductorless situation. Findings: It was confirmed that the group exhibits several characteristics of self-managed teams and string quartets. All members felt empowered to take a lead, although their backgrounds might have predisposed them to take such initiatives anyway. But the longserving female accompanist is, by virtue inter alia of her superior musicianship, which appears to overcome any gender bias, in many respects the de facto leader. In performance, the singers synchronize their singing in response to cues from each other, but this could work better if given more specific attention. Originality/value: Whereas conducted choirs have been extensively studied, such a selfmanaged group of amateur singers, all of whom are accustomed to leading in their working careers, has apparently not been studied. This study sheds some light on techniques for overcoming the challenges of creating quality performance in such a group and insights for similar groups, not necessarily musical, are identified.

A sexagenarian retired physicist (the first author) set out, with the assistance of members of a university music department, to acquire some insight into Western music theory. For a lifelong singer and seasoned autodidact, this appeared to be a not too formidable challenge, yet he experienced significant difficulty in penetrating the music theory paradigm. He discovered an entry point in the layout of black and white keys on the keyboard, which presented a "mental model" amenable to his physicist's mindset. The experience could prove valuable in further exploration of the use of the keyboard layout in teaching music theory to students of all ages with little or no exposure to the piano or other keyboard instruments. The process also suggests new perspectives of familiar learning challenges for mature candidates.

Since the mid 1970s, a group of twelve business and professional members of a male singing group have continued singing together in Pretoria, South Africa. These singers were interviewed as part of a project on Spirituality and Well-being: Music in the community. From the interview data, two overarching themes emerged, membership benefits and spiritual connections; these are discussed in this research project. Members" views of benefits related mainly to fulfilment of personal, including musical, needs, although all were gratified that their singing provided enjoyment to community audiences and benefits to disadvantaged communities, mainly from ticket sale proceeds. Most saw an association between singing and the spiritual, but only a minority identified a religious connotation, the remainder relating to non-religious factors such as the "human spirit". A deep sense of commitment and a love of music impacts positively on social engagement, benefiting and enhancing quality of life for the group members. Keywords community group singing social engagement Veblen 2013). Tsugawa (2009:7) noted in his study of two concert bands that music contributed significantly to the musicians" sense of identity as it formed "a significant part of their lives"; their rehearsals and concerts exemplify a culture of musical communication between members of the ensembles. This interaction and engagement is an essential part of the rehearsals of the group in this case study, where members look forward to seeing their friends as a form of social interaction (Coffman 2002a; Jacob et al. 2009). Membership in singing groups offers social affirmation for both the individual and the group (Davidson et al. 2014; Skingley et al. 2015) many people have experienced music offering a social rather than a merely individual identity (Benzon 2001). The members of the group feel connected as they contribute to the social fabric of their community, which is certainly the situation with the group under discussion in this research project, inter alia as they find themselves communicating with their audiences (Pitts 2005). Some of the benefits of group singing appear to have neuro-chemical origins; participation in music making leads to the secretion of oxytocin (Levitin 2010), "known to be involved in establishing bonds of trust between people" (Kosfeld et al. 2005). Freeman (2000) goes so far as to describe music as the "biotechnology of group formation". Tarr et al. (2014) have also identified an association between the self-other and neuro-hormonal mechanisms in the social bonding arising in music activities. Well-being Several studies have shown how singing is beneficial for well-being (Hays and

For over four decades 'The Oily Chart Opera Company' have annually produced and performed a Gilbert and Sullivan Savoy opera in Pretoria, South Africa. In this strictly amateur group, designed to allow busy people to participate over six to seven weeks, members undertake all the roles on stage as well as making costumes and stage sets. Unique to the group is a single music 'coach and accompanist' having served for 45 years and many of the current members having performed in all of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas more than once. Data was gathered in a survey forming part of a research project Spirituality and Well-being: Music in the community. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to code the data into four broad themes: Joining, Learning and Leadership, Benefits of Community Music, Connections to Well-being and Spiritual Connections. The findings show the typical benefits experienced by those who perform regularly in groups, although this group draws special joy from their strict focus on Gilbert and Sullivan's operas. They also understand the spiritual connection to their music in the familiar dual categories of religious and secular spirituality. This particular group of performers is keeping Savoy operas alive in modern-day sub-Saharan Africa. KEYWORDS Amateur musical theatre; community; Gilbert and Sullivan productions; social engagement; spirituality; well-being Musical theatre and group singing are ongoing practices, serving many purposes. The positive effect of performing any music for an audience, by professionals and amateurs, is a profound experience, producing positive results (Bailey and Davidson 2005). Beneficial effects on social, emotional, physical and spiritual health of participants in group singing (Clift and Hancox 2001,2010) are explored in this study of an amateur group, the Oily Chart (OC) Opera Company, which has staged a Gilbert and Sullivan (G&S) Opera each year for the past four and a half decades. The OC performs only G&S works. That this provides benefits of a shared interest in this genre as well as the benefits of singing in groups is attested to by a study of performers and audiences at the annual G&S Festival in Buxton (Pitts 2004). The G&S Savoy Operas have become popular in performances across many parts of the globe: despite being called 'fuddy-duddy relics of a bygone age … sexless and camp …racist, right-wing Olde English nerdery', 'G&S has arguably never been in better fettle' (Bradley *CONTACT Caroline van Niekerk

While mastery of aspects of music theory is relevant to rapid learning and understanding of a new choral part, many choirs comprise members with no formal education in music theory. Also, the language of music theory is not intuitive, with many terms having meanings different from those in common use, which can present obstacles for mature learners. The authors hypothesised that students joining an internationally recognised university choir might master aspects of music theory as a by-product of rehearsals. This was tested by having new admissions to such a choir complete a music theory test at the commencement and at the end of a year. The test evaluated the ability to name and write intervals and name notes and the duration of notes. Overall results did not reject the hypothesis. Subjects with no formal music training also showed most, and statistically significant, improvement in the questions related to intervals, which are arguably the most useful skills for choristers who do not sight-read. This appears to be a new finding: the literature shows occasional references to music theory skills, but their acquisition in a learning-by-doing style is not reported. Some insights into ways of enhancing choral performance are a by-product of the principal focus of the study.

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