"In Step Teamwork" by Madeline Frank, Ph.D., DTM

Andrew Carnegie said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” Are you getting the most out of your team? Does each person on your team work well together?

How would you like to see an example of teamwork at its very best? If you were with me, as an audience member, during the live broadcast from Russia of the Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra’s production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the AMC Theater, you would have seen the very finest example of teamwork in the world.

In the first scene the audience was transported to the Masked Ball in Verona, Italy where Romeo, Alexander Volchkov, a handsome young man and Juliet, Anna Nikulina, a beautiful young woman meet for the very first time and dance together at the ball. The couple were smiling and danced together with energy, enthusiasm and joy. When Romeo lifts Juliet in the air you felt her trust and passion for Romeo. She knew she could rely on Romeo to catch her. Their timing was impeccable.  It was as if they had been dancing together forever.

During this scene the Corps de Ballet, all handsome and beautiful dancers were smiling at their partners as they danced as couples with energy, commitment, and enthusiasm with impeccable timing.

Every gesture and movement of the solo dancers and the Bolshoi Corps de Ballet was done as a team with enthusiasm, conviction, and commitment. Each member knew their part, encouraging and supporting the other, and could be relied on to catch the other in a jump or any movement.  It was poetry in motion. A dialogue of dancing with gestures and facial expressions, without words.  

The audience witnesses the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet and their secret wedding with Friar Lawrence marrying them. The soloists and the Bolshoi Corps de ballet worked together as a team with the step-by-step choreography of Yuri Grigorovich from the original music score of Sergei Prokofiev's 1978 production.

During the intermission the audience was invited back stage to watch the soloists and Corps de ballet, dancers, practicing the sword fight scene and other parts of the ballet with their partners. Dancers were working together as a team concentrating on making each movement together so it was seamless. Dancers practiced with energy, enthusiasm and joy dancing together with their teammates. Their movements were fluid, in perfect rhythm and harmony. These are athletes of the highest caliber who enjoy their work.

The audience also saw during the intermission, the orchestra members practicing their parts with joy and enthusiasm. We heard orchestra sections practicing together and principle players playing their solos. Each musician was concentrating and working to do their very best work with their team members to make this “Romeo and Juliet” production special.

Throughout the entire ballet , each member of the ballet company worked as a team member and knew their part. Precision was in every scene including when Juliet takes the elixir to put her to sleep and the scene when Romeo thinks she is dead and takes poison to join her.

Many years ago, I had the pleasure of playing in the viola section with the Bolshoi Ballet’s Orchestra when they came to play at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. They were a joy to work with as the Bolshoi musicians and dancers loved working together as a team to make the “Romeo and Juliet” Prokofiev production memorable , special, fresh and new for the audience.

What are the three lessons on teamwork you can learn from the Bolshoi Ballet’s production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”?

    1)  As a team have a clear vision and picture of what you want each member of your team to do and have a step-by-step plan to do it. Soloists and the Bolshoi Corps de ballet worked together as a team with the step-by-step choreography of Yuri Grigorovich from the original Sergei Prokofiev’s production of 1978. The orchestra also worked as a team with its Conductor Andrey Anikhanov, Concertmaster, and other principal players of each section of the orchestra working together with a clear big picture of how they wanted to play for their dancers.

    2)   Each member of the team has a job they are expert at doing, they know their jobs well, and they work with their teammates joyfully with precision.

    3)  Each team member can be depended on, is committed to doing their best, is encouraging, works with energy and enthusiasm to support their team members to reach their goals.

So, remember to choose the members of your team wisely, make sure they are experts and enjoy working with your other team members. Make sure everyone on the team understands your organization’s vision and has a picture of what you want your goal or dream to look like. And also have a step- by- step plan of action  just like Yuri Grigorovich and the Bolshoi Ballet.

Zig Ziglar said it best, “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”

Madeline Frank, Ph.D., DTM, John Maxwell Team Member, and Certified World Class Speaking Coach is an Amazon.com Best Selling Author, sought after speaker, business owner, teacher, researcher, and concert artist. She helps businesses and organizations "Tune Up their Businesses". Her innovative observations show you the blue prints necessary to improve and keep your businesses successful. She writes a monthly newsletter "Madeline's Monthly Article & Musical Tips Blog" and a monthly radio show "Madeline's One Minute Musical Radio Show". She has just published her new book "Leadership On A Shoestring Budget" available in print or as an e-book.

To contact Madeline for your next speaking engagement: mfrankviola@gmail.com

A Classical Deterrent to Criminal Activity by Madeline Frank, Ph.D., DTM

What is one method that has been so very effective in stopping crime? What’s the key to unlocking the potential of today’s youth? 

Enza Ferreri wrote “Why criminals are afraid of Classical Music” that 7- Eleven stores in Canada, companies such as McDonald’s, shopping malls, transport authorities, and Co-ops around the world are playing “classical music to drive away teenagers who were loitering outside their stores.”

Jessica Duchen in her article “Mind the Bach: Classical Music on the Underground” said, “TfL did a survey of 700 commuters, “they overwhelmingly agreed that hearing classical music made them feel happy, less stressed and relaxed”.

Ms. Duchen also said in London,“Classical music has been part of Vauxhall station’s way of life for some time now, … to reduce crime and antisocial behavior by piping such music through stations has been so effective that it has been extended to ..locations across the network.”

I taught classes in a “Summer Intervention Program” for students, with potential who had made bad choices. I asked these 80 middle school and high school students the following question:

“How does listening to Rap music make you feel?”

A teacher in the classes stood up and said, “Tell her the truth!”

Then the students in the class said, “It made me angry!”

“It stresses me out!” “It made me unhappy!”

Some students had a lack of interest or concern and said, “I don’t care!”

During the classes I played excerpts on my viola from classical music and ask them, “Have you heard this piece before?

For example: When I played “The Lone Ranger Theme from the William Tell Overture” by Rossini, members of the class raised their hands and said, “They had heard this piece while watching cartoons.”

After they responded, I would then ask them, “Did you like the music?” The responses depended on whether they had heard the piece before.

“All the students liked Rossini’s “Lone Ranger theme”.

Each piece selected was played before re-telling the story of Alicia Keys, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Louie Armstrong, and others, who are such excellent role models for the students. The classical piece that I played was a favorite of each.

By the time the classes ended the students were smiling and getting ready to take their first step forward. Each student was full of hope for their future, armed with a Mozart or Bach CD, and a tool kit including my “Ten Secrets to Make Middle School and High School Students Smarter”. I asked each of the students to circle number 10 which said, “Dr. Frank asks her children to remember one thing “If I take this action will it make me proud?”

Student Homework after “Summer Intervention Program”:

Students were to put on their CDs in the background while doing their homework, while relaxing, working, or exercising for 30 minutes.

What does listening to classical music do for students?

The classical music relaxes its listeners, calms them down, and helps them to concentrate and think clearly by organizing and exercising their brains with this complex mathematical rhythm.

What does listening to violent Rap and Hip-hop music do to young people?

Because of the relentless beat and offending lyrics of Rap and Hip hop music young people become angry, stressed out, unhappy and no longer think clearly. This is when they get into trouble.

Evidence on listening to violent Rap music:

Harry Smith reported on Friday, Jan 18, 2008, on CBS’ The Early Show the first documented evidence of a young women, Stacy Gayle, 25, from Alberta, Canada having had as many “as 10 grand mal seizures a day” triggered by listening to rap music. She began listening to this violent Rap music when she was 21. The medication to prevent her seizures could not control them.

The seizures “became so bad she had to quit her job at a bank”.

She finally realized the rap music she was listening to  was triggering the seizures on July 2006 . The doctors at first “did not believe that a rap song could induce an attack so Gayle proved it. At the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Stacy had a video EEG” that showed she had “three seizures” triggered by listening to the rap song by Sean Paul “on her iPod”.

Medical Evidence:

Dr. Louis B. Cady, Psychiatrist and former concert pianist states: “Heavy metal rock music, the even more potent acid rock, and gangsta rap have insidious and devastating effect on the minds of young people. Most people don’t realize that youngster’s brains are growing and developing until they are at least twenty-one years old.”

“When kids and teens subject themselves to a constant “mental diet” of suggestions that sex, drugs, and criminal activities are not only acceptable but even desirable, they are actually accomplishing a sort of “self- brainwashing” where they begin to feel that even thoughts and feelings expressed in the lyrics of the music which they might initially not consciously believe begin to become the accepted way of thinking.”

Contrast this to classical music, which relaxes its listeners, calms them down, and helps them to think clearly by organizing and exercising their brains with this complex mathematical rhythm.

What are the three benefits of playing classical  music to deter crime at your business?

1  1)   Classical music relaxes its listeners, calms them down, helps them to think clearly, and concentrate better. Psychologist Dr. Raymond Macdonald of Glasgow’s Caledonian University says, “When you look at brain scans of people listening to complex music the whole brain lights up like a Christmas tree.”

    2) Dr. Oliver Sacks, Professor of Clinical Neurology at Albert  Einstein College of Medicine, author of “Awakenings”, says classical music “has the power to organize” the brain.

    3)  Just as we do exercise for the body, classical music with its complex rhythms, mathematics, exercises the brain. The more complex the rhythm the better it is. Dr. Mike Lowis of Saga Health News says “In order to activate both sides of the brain, music needs to be complex.”

So if you are having criminal behavior outside your store try playing classical music to deter it and if you want to heal faster, concentrate better put on your classical music too!

Madeline Frank, Ph.D., DTM, John Maxwell Team Member, and Certified World Class Speaking Coach is an Amazon.com Best Selling Author, sought after speaker, business owner, teacher, researcher, and concert artist. She helps businesses and organizations “Tune Up their Businesses”. Her innovative observations show you the blue prints necessary to improve and keep your businesses successful. She writes a monthly newsletter “Madeline’s Monthly Article & Musical Tips Blog” and a monthly radio show “Madeline’s One Minute Musical Radio Show”. She has just published her new book “Leadership On A Shoestring Budget” available in print or as an e-book.

To contact Madeline for your next speaking engagement: mfrankviola@gmail.com

Emergency Driving Reminders: New Year’s Goal by Madeline Frank, Ph.D., DTM

You are in your car and it suddenly dies on a highway. Do you know what button to push in your car in an emergency? Is your car ready for a winter snowstorm? Have you decided on your "one" goal for the New Year?

Recently my almost 13-year-old car, “Little Red” died in the middle of the highway in rush hour traffic in early evening while the sun was still out. When Little Red suddenly went from the speed limit to 0, I immediately put my finger on the emergency blinker lights.

Cars were zooming around me at top speeds. I quickly called the Automobile Club on my cell phone and looked up my location on my I-pad to tell them what roads I was near so they could send a tow truck. I explained where I was and that I needed immediate assistance because of “Little Red” being dead in the middle of the highway.

As I was speaking to the Auto Club, a policeman knocked on my window and asked, “Why did you stop your car in the middle of the highway?”

I explained, “My car’s died.” 

He said. “Put the car in neutral and try it again!”   I did and it was still dead.

 He said, “You can’t stay here. Let me push the car to the right side of the high way. And he did!

Shortly after that the tow truck from the Auto Club arrived to tow “Little Red” to the dealer.

Thank heavens I remembered to push the emergency blinker lights “button”. It saved my life and all the other drivers speeding around me. The policeman was a wonderful person for helping to move “Little Red” out of the center of the highway.

I was thinking, “What if my car had broken down in a snow storm? What should you always keep in your car for all emergencies?

Experts say in addition to a full tank of gas, you should include the following in your Emergency Road Pack:

·      *Charged Cell phone: Cell charger

·      *Scraper with small broom

·     * Flash light with extra batteries

·    *  First aid kit

·      *Necessary medicine 

·     * Extra clothes, blankets, extra socks, gloves, hats, scarves

·      *Bottled water, snack food including energy bars, raisins, candy bars

·      *Road salt, Sand or Cat litter, (for extra traction), shovel

·      *Emergency flares and reflectors,

·      *Whistle

·      *Wind up radio

·      *Booster cables

·      *Emergency tire sealant

Now you know what you must have in your Emergency Road Pack in case of a snowstorm. You also know what "button" to push if your vehicle dies on the highway.

Have you finally decided on that "one thing" you want to accomplish as your goal for this New Year?

It is never to late to set your "one" goal!

Write your goal down; write down your plan of how you are going to accomplish it, and a date by which you plan to reach that "one" goal. Place that sheet in front of your computer where you can see it every day so that you can reach for that one goal.

I've decided my goal is to buy a new car that will last more than 13 years. I've already started looking for it and saving for it. I should have it in 5 months by May 1st at the latest!

So what's your goal and what date do you plan on reaching it? Get started today!

Madeline Frank, Ph.D., DTM, John Maxwell Team Member, and Certified World Class Speaking Coach is an Amazon.com Best Selling Author, sought after speaker, business owner, teacher, researcher, and concert artist. She helps businesses and organizations "Tune Up their Businesses". Her innovative observations show you the blue prints necessary to improve and keep your businesses successful. She writes a monthly newsletter "Madeline's Monthly Article & Musical Tips Blog" and a monthly radio show "Madeline's One Minute Musical Radio Show". She has just published her new book "Leadership On A Shoestring Budget" available in print or as an e-book.

To contact Madeline for your speaking engagement at mfrankviola@gmail.com

www.madelinefrank.com