Music has developed over a long period of time into a culture that has its own language. One example is that there are many music groups such as choirs, choruses, bands, orchestras, ensembles, and others that are excellent examples of teams, but the word “team” is never used to describe them. A band, for example consists of musicians who each play different instruments and different music but blend so well together that it sounds like a single instrument. Each part is equally important to the quality of the sound.
Music groups are coached by persons called conductors or directors who are not only responsible for teaching the members how to work together, but use arm movements to control the timing of their participation during the performance of the music. In music, the plan for the performance is usually carefully written ahead of time by a composer. Thus the musicians have very little freedom and are required to stick to the plan or score. An exception is jazz music in which the musicians have more freedom.
At different times in my life I have played in bands and sung in choirs, so I know what it is like to have that wonderful feeling of being part of something important and wanting to contribute my part as well as I possibly could. For a very long time Christianity has been teaching teamwork through its music groups and while they were not called teams they have always been excellent examples of teamwork.
Robert C. Frank
Author of: Christ’s Team
