At the close of each of our emails, the footer reads “Sometimes the smallest answers have the largest impact.” It’s something that’s always always at the fore during the design process. A simple phrase that keeps both forest and trees in mind; a change in trees can effect the whole forrest.

To see one’s own perspective, presented in an unexpected way, certainly gives a sense of satisfaction and verifies the power of small moments of lateral thinking. This is precisely what occured as I read a book given to me by a client, The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander. Rosamund is a therapist, her husband Benjamin is conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.

In the final tale of the book (don’t worry I’m not giving anything away) Benjamin describes a performance given by the New England Conservatory Youth Orchestra, in a Chilean town between to other larger, more important performances, during a tour of South America:

Looking for a new way of rehearsing the by-now excessively familiar New World Symphony of Dvorak, I asked the orchestra to reseat itself on the stage, so that as many players as possible were placed next to an unfamiliar instrument…violinist stood next to timpany, an oboe player amongst the violas…One of the double bass players even put himself between the concertmistress and me. The purpose was to reveal new sounds and textures that the musicians could not hear from within their own sections…

I asked the players to imagine they were completely blind. They began to play the Svorak with eyes shut tight. After a few moments, I stopped them. It was clear to all of us that the special flexibility and freedom we had worked so hard over the many months to create had been lost, leaving only a square rigid beat that they clung to in the absense of a visible leader. “When the door of eyesight closes,” I said, “what door is likely to open?” “Listening,” was the immediate response from several members of the group. We started again.

I walked to the back…astonished to find that a new kind of music-making was emerging in that rehearsal hall like a landscpe revealed at last by the dawn. Eighty-eight musicians , none of whom had intentionally memorized the score, were playing not by memory, but by heart…

There was no leader and there were no ones being lead. Harmony was present.

Small, unexpected changes in the framework, lead to unfathomable, moving results. What a beautifully designed occasion.2f1f939c5fcd1450a9e5f90f7dbf4292->8aa654a282382e47140afede8d15e048->