Promoting orchestral performance: the interplay between musicians' mood and a conductor's leadership style

Abstract

This study investigates the degree to which a conductor's transformational leadership and orchestral musicians' positive group mood have a beneficial effect on orchestral performance. The authors study the assertion that there is an interaction effect of conductor's transformational leadership style and group mood in the orchestra. In this view, neither the conductor's transformational leadership nor the musicians' positive group mood alone foster success; only the interaction between transformational leadership and positive group mood is effective at promoting orchestral performance. An empirical study of 208 musicians from 22 German symphony orchestras reveals the assumed interaction effect of a conductor's leadership style and musicians' group mood on the artistic quality of the orchestra.

Four Types of Leadership and Orchestra Quality

“…Following the transformational leadership approach in orchestras, Boerner and von Streit () confirmed an interaction effect of selected facets of transformational leadership (charisma, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation) and musicians’ positive group mood on orchestra performance. According to Boerner and Gebert (), the functionality of a conductor's transformational leadership behaviors on artistic performance can be explained by two mechanisms: transformational leadership fosters the positive effect of ensemble diversity on idea generation and simultaneously decreases the negative effect of ensemble diversity on idea integration .…”

“…Research on leadership in orchestras has been silent (Boerner and Gebert , 347, Hunt, Stelluto, and Hooijberg , 148; Koivunen and Wennes , 53). To date, there have been only a handful studies that investigate the impact of different forms of leadership attributes (who the leader is) and leadership behaviors (what the leader does) of an orchestra conductor on the musicians and/or the artistic performance of the orchestra (Allmendinger and Hackman ; Atik ; Boerner and Krause ; Boerner, Krause, and Gebert , ; Boerner and von Streit ; Koivunen ; Koivunen and Wennes ; Köping ; Ladkin ; Rowold and Rohmann ). These studies use different conceptualizations of leadership and different approaches (see Atik ) to analyze the phenomenon of leadership in the orchestra context.…”

“…Contrariwise, a decentralized self-coordination of the musicians would lead both to time-consuming confl icts concerning the artistic standards that need to be achieved and to inaccuracies in the synchronization of playing, and might thus aff ect the artistic quality negatively. Th erefore, in larger orchestras a centralized coordination through a conductor is needed (Boerner and Gebert 2012;Boerner and von Streit 2007). Th us, the performance of classical music in a larger orchestra differs from the performance of jazz music where decentral improvisation (Kamoche and e Cunha 2001) is crucial for the "right groove" live on stage (Hatch and Weick 1998).…”

The Relevance of a Conductor Competition for the Study of Emotional Synchronization Within and Between Groups in a Natural Musical Setting

“…This is essential in studies using music and EEG, since the different features of music (pitch, tone, beat, rhythm) can influence brainwaves in a different way. The conductors will influence the whole orchestra in different ways, conveying different emotional interpretations of musical pieces and producing the aesthetic quality of the ensemble (Boerner and von Streit, 2007). Finally, the participants' responses are a reliable indicator of emotion that needs to be recorded.…”

Investigating the role of Australian Orchestral Musicians in artistic decision-making processes: two case studies

“…For this research project, the creative fulfillment of orchestral musicians is considered to be personal and comprising many elements. The elements contributing to creative fulfillment might include musicians having autonomy and opportunity to express their thoughts and emotions through their music, being given the chance to perform, and being able to contribute to musical interpretation (Boerner & Von Streit, 2007;Seaman, 2013;Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, 2015). Elements may also include participation in the decision-making processes that contribute to the design of concert programs (Boerner & Von Streit, 2007;Seaman, 2013;Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, 2015).…”