Perfect Pitch
Author
Nigel Lake
Title
Perfect Pitch
In Pursuit of Excellence
Synopsis
Have you ever stopped to think about what makes the world’s leading orchestras so special? No matter your views on classical music, you will almost certainly have loved films with powerful orchestral soundtracks. Whether it was The Godfather (Nina Rota), The Mission (Ennio Morricone), Harry Potter (John Williams) or Dune (Hans Zimmer), without the music the films would be stripped of a big part of their magic.
Unlike almost any job in the business world, a player in an orchestra is exposed much of the time – and not just when they are playing a solo. Everyone on the stage and in the hall is listening, so every single player needs to be completely on top of their musical game throughout the performance. To achieve perfection, every note needs to be played at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way, and at exactly the right volume. And every artist needs to be perfectly synchronized with every other. Falling short of this isn’t simply imperfection, as cacophony is never far away. Unsurprisingly, there are some very pertinent lessons in all this for those who work in offices, too!