Hello--
Here is the link to the video you should watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZbJOE9zNjw
*This is clip that should be listened to loud
After watching this four minute clip please spend five or so minutes responding to the clip: you might want to consider the following ideas--
1.) Is Gustavo a leader? If so why? How does he lead?
2.) Is Gustavo powerful? Or does the power come from his leadership?
3.) Are there rules that Gustavo must follow as leader--if he breaks them does he become less powerful or less successful as a leader?
I will leave you with one of my favorite Gustavo quotes:
"I have this conception of music that it is a river--that, like life, it is the particular place where the water is going, but the water is the music."
So for now--here is to finding that river and acknowledging the natural power it possesses.
Good luck and I hope you have a good day.
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A Class Blog for the English 9A Class At Berwick Academy
14 comments:
A leader is someone who guides or inspires others. By this definition, Gustavo is a leader. He guides the orchestra so that they know what tempo to play each note, and when to come in on each instrument. Gustavo is not ruling over the orchestra powerfully, he is simply guiding them. They have the power to ignore his cues, and if he messes up, the orchestra has the capability to not follow him. This is an example of a true leader and not a powerful person. Gustavo only has power from his leadership position as conductor. He, along with everyone else is merely part of the orchestra. Gustavo should direct the orchestra by what the composer of the piece wanted, like a horn player who should play the notes on the sheet music as they are written. This is an example of a rule Gustavo should follow, but if he breaks it, he will only become less successful as a leader because the orchestra will not trust him as much as before. His position as conductor is only recognized more than the other positions in the orchestra because HE is the only one, and HE stands at the front of the orchestra making the audience assume HE is more powerful than all of the other members of the orchestra, which is a fallacy.
1.) Gustavo Dudamel is a leader because he conducts the symphony, therefore accepting the role of the commander of the performance. Dudamel leads by guiding, unifying, and organizing the orchestra. He does this by keeping the right tempo and instructing and initiating the proper time for various instruments to enter the piece.
2.) Gustavo’s power comes directly from his leadership because he is a conductor, and a conductor needs an orchestra to lead in order to be sucessful and gain the wealth, stature, and force to be considered powerful.
3.) Every leader has rules to follow, and Gustavo is no different. A leader is supposed to be a good role model for his or her followers, and must therefore abide by any laws they created. Gustavo follows the same standard as his orchestra; he wears the same clothing, he has a duty to perform, and he is performing in front of the very same audience who have the real power over Gusto and his orchestra. However, if a leader rises above the law then they are no longer subject to it, creating an omnipotent monster for a short period of time. Individuals who have stood above the law have never lasted in the long run, such as Julius Caesar who’s hubris led him to take over the Roman Government and establish himself as absolute dictator; Caesar died within a span of five years.
Chris Richards
Of course Gustavo is a leader, he is being paid for people to follow him, with the process of leading comes following they go hand in hand. He leads the band of musicians together, with out him there might be chaos, but just might. In a trained orchestra case, they could play by themselves after practicing hours and hours for weeks and weeks, by the end, they’ve listened to their mistakes so many times they are easily avoidable. So that one night while they are on the stage they could do it by themselves, but the time in between it is helpful to have a third ear. Gustavo could easily mislead him and created a train wreck, then he does not deserve the power. He can misuse it but so can we all responsibility is power’s best friend. The musicians are his followers and are comforted by his leadership but could move independently. There are rules he must follow to insure the success of others because he is selfless, like the banks of a river- sacrificing himself for others, because if something goes wrong than he will be drained away.
Jon Malloy said...
Leadership and power can coincide and they cannot; it all depends on the situation, and in this situation Gustavo is a leader over the orchestra which causes him to have power over them. He has power in the fact that he is telling them what to do with his hand signals and if they don’t do what he tells them to do, then they will most likely not be a part of the orchestra anymore. He leads with his actions and the movements he makes unjulates into what the musicians play which end up making the right sound. Gustavo is deffinitely powerful because that’s the only way he would be able to actually be the conductor and be able to do what he wants when he is on stage. His power comes directly on how well he leads his orchestra and how well his orchestra performs in direct route back to Gustavo. Gustavo probably has never been given direct rules about how he has to do his job but he knows what he should and shouldn’t do if he wants to gain power. If Gustavo did things such as messing up his commands or something like that, then he wouldn’t have as much power and we wouldn’t be talking about him in this blog post.
Gustavo is a leader, but not in the sense that a president, general, or prominent political or military figure would be. He is a leader in the sense that he is a guide, someone who shows the other musician the directions they need. Without him, none of the orchestra would know where to come in.
The reverse is also true. Without the rest of the orchestra, Gustavo would have no one to guide. He would just be a man waving a baton on stage. Therefore, Gustavo’s leadership comes from the people he leads, and there acceptance of him as the leader. The acceptance of the leader is crucial to him, because why and how could he lead if no one followed him?
As a leader, Gustavo does not have rules to follow, but responsibilities for the people he leads. He has to conduct the symphony properly, or else people would come in at the wrong times. Therefore, the people give him leadership, which he can use to gain power, but in return for his power Gustavo has to give back to the people he leads in order to be a successful leader.
Gustavo appears to be a leader who has power over his musicians. He tells them when to play, and guides them with his tempo. These qualities define him as a true leader. Gustavo is boisterous and devoted to his conducting which forces people to perceive him as powerful. This assumption is partially true, his power and leadership are not concrete and depend on the trust and loyalty of his musicians. The musicians choose to offer their submission to his power because they are all working towards the same goal. The musicians could decide to force their power over him and cease to play, but because they are all working together this does not happen. Gustavo is a conductor who leads his musicians, but does not specifically direct them. He has been placed in a position of power and does not abuse that power.
If defining a leader comes down to categorizing it as someone who steers people into happiness or purpose then Gustavo is a leader. Gustavo is first of all in a position of power because he is the head of the orchestra and others use his guidance and fallow him. Gustavo had received and acquired this power through his place in the orchestra. The conductor is the head of the orchestra and he or she is allowed to tell the other musicians what to do, through this authority, Gustavo has got power. But like Spiderman always said, “with power comes responsibility”, and usually responsibility comes from a form of rules. Gustavo has to balance his responsibility with his power. If he changes the music, that could make or break the performance, so to a point, Gustavo has to fallow rules and those are rules for the general good. If those rules get broken then Gustavo’s followers will be disappointed and he loses some power.
If defining a leader comes down to categorizing it as someone who steers people into happiness or purpose then Gustavo is a leader. Gustavo is first of all in a position of power because he is the head of the orchestra and others use his guidance and fallow him. Gustavo had received and acquired this power through his place in the orchestra. The conductor is the head of the orchestra and he or she is allowed to tell the other musicians what to do, through this authority, Gustavo has got power. But like Spiderman always said, “with power comes responsibility”, and usually responsibility comes from a form of rules. Gustavo has to balance his responsibility with his power. If he changes the music, that could make or break the performance, so to a point, Gustavo has to fallow rules and those are rules for the general good. If those rules get broken then Gustavo’s followers will be disappointed and he loses some power.
Gustavo Dudamel is the leader of the symphony, in the idea that he is the most recognized member of the group. People think of him as the genius of musical instruments over the performers, but in reality, the performers are the ones making the music, not Gustavo. I have always thought of conductors as people who are just for show, not people that truly affect the music. The conductor shows the group when to play and when to not play, but the performers don’t really need that guidance. They have practiced and performed that particular piece of music that they are performing many times and know it by heart, plus they have the detailed directions right in front of them. Even though I don’t think the conductor is a necessary part of the group, I think that they are good additions, even if they are there merely for reassurance and guidance.
-Hallie
Gustavo is a leader, because he commands a large orchestra, and they all follow him faithfully, and do as he tells them to. He leads showing them what to do- how fast to play, how loud to play, when to come in to a certain extent, and when to begin and end. Gustavo's power comes from his leadership. It is also his position that gives him power. The orchestra knows that without him, they won't be able to play to the best of their ability, and as a conductor, he allows them to gain that next level of prowess. Gustavo also has rules that he must follow as a leader. He must make sure that he follows how the music is written, and also directs to the needs of the orchestra. If he doesn't do these things, then it detracts from the quality of the music. When this happens, it also lessens his power, because the faith in him that his followers have diminishes with each careless mistake made. Gustavo is a leader and has power, but without his position, his power means nothing.
Gustavo is leading this orchestra because without him the music would be all off tune. He directs people when to play and when not to play keeping everything intact giving him ultimate power.
Gustavo is powerful in music sence, and gets his power from being the conductor. Hes the leader of the orchestra there for he has the power over everyone in his orchestra.
Gustavo has rules that he has to get the orchestra to play the song, he does not have rules as to if he wants to possibly mix it up and put a little change in he can. Primarily he wants to follow the music and lead his orchestra to play. As a leader he's succesful if he can do his job well enough if not then he becomes unsuccesful but only if he doesn't do his job.
The last entry was Ricky's
Andrew Waterhouse said...
I think that Gustavo is a leader because he takes each instrument's part and synchronizes them together to bring an amazing pleasure to the ears. Each one of these parts by themselves would sound terrible. I know this for a fact. For instance, in this year in chamber music class, Ms. laforce gave us the sheet music for a piece called "Chorale and Shaker Dance II." I started playing my part by itself and I thought it sounded absolutely horrible but once we played it with the rest of band it sounded wonderful. Gustavo is most certainly a leader in my mind because he keeps a masterpiece from falling to chaos.
Gustavo is powerful because people rely on him to save them and their masterpieces from falling apart He "catches" them, one might say. Since the structure and beat of this music is held up by Gustavo's conducting.
I think that if Gustavo breaks these rules (doesn't conduct properly) it would make him less successful of a leader, but more powerful of a Leader if he purposefully broke them because it would just be Guitars exercising his power.
While leading this Allegro, Gustavo gains power by the leadership position he was given. Although being powerful and being a leader are two different things, the power that is awarded to him gives him a greater chance to become a better leader. Learning from experience is the key to gaining any new attribute. Gustavo's position is an example of how hard work can gain you power because this power requires the skill of conducting which he probably has been practicing for many years. Corruption is tough to be evident in this situation because the conducting skills of someone must meet the high enough standards to play an Allegro without failing. Even though it doesn't appear Gustavo is taking many risks, if he makes one large mistake, his invitations towards orchestras like these could become less and less. The power he has doesn't necessarily make him a leader, but it definitely gives him the opportunity to prove his leadership skills.
~Conor McFarland
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