What is The Music Paradigm?

The Music Paradigm uses a symphony orchestra as a metaphor for any dynamic organization. Whether an organization is looking to raise its performance to a new level, or is undergoing a period of exceptional challenge or change such as a merger, a restructuring, new leadership, or rigorous change initiatives, The Music Paradigm can be customized to fit any group’s objectives. During a session, the executives are seated among members of a professional orchestra. The conductor leads the musicians through a series of carefully crafted exercises that help illustrate key qualities and practices of high performing business teams—strategically designed to be in line with the needs and context of the executives in the room. The session is a high-impact learning experience, a powerful personal and team journey, and exciting instructional entertainment.

The themes and content that can be addressed in a session are limitless since each event is tailored around the sponsoring organization's circumstances. Some of the more common possible benefits include:

• Reinforcement of key strategic messages
• Examine and develop leadership skills and approaches
• Build momentum for addressing critical issues through a shared experience
• Clarify strategies that may seem vague or complex
• Provide executives with a safe environment for rethinking their assumptions and behaviors

Each session provides a highly memorable group experience that generates fresh insights long after the meeting is over, and lessons that can become part of your organization's internal dialogue and culture.

How The Music Paradigm Works

After seating the executives inside the orchestra, Maestro Nierenberg asks the musicians to do more than simply perform. He leads them through a series of exercises that demonstrate basic and important truths about the functioning of an organization. The effectiveness and relevance of those exercises stems from the preparatory meeting Mr. Nierenberg has in advance with the leadership of the sponsoring organization, to explore their issues and goals. From this meeting a desired outcome for The Music Paradigm session is determined. Only then does Mr. Nierenberg design the appropriate exercises to be demonstrated by the musicians in order to best reflect the content of that discussion.

Maestro Nierenberg has worked with over 90 different orchestras and thousands of professional musicians to create The Music Paradigm sessions over the years. As a result, he has an extensive network to draw upon and is able to bring The Music Paradigm to any city, in any country. When working in a situation where English would not be the primary language, the session can easily be adapted to incorporate simultaneous translation.

The interface of the musicians with the conductor is similar in many ways to the relationship between an organization and its leaders. The conductor may be viewed, for example, as a CEO or team leader, and the instrumental families (strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion) may be business units or teams. Together, they find the best solutions for working together and producing an effective outcome. As the session progresses, executives develop new insights and gain fresh perspective about their current situation and their working relationships with organizational leaders and colleagues.

In brief, The Music Paradigm creates a learning environment that animates messages, turns audience into active participants, and doesn’t just describe possible outcomes, but demonstrates results in a tangible way.

Creator Roger Nierenberg

The Music Paradigm was created by American conductor Roger Nierenberg in 1995.

After a distinguished career at the helm of two American orchestras, Roger Nierenberg emerged as a creative force for innovation in the presentation of symphonic music. For 14 years, he led the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Florida, where he succeeded in building one of the great concert halls in America. The pinnacle of his time in Jacksonville was the orchestra's appearance in the Carnegie Hall Festival of American Orchestras. During his lengthy tenure with the Stamford Symphony in Connecticut, the orchestra developed a reputation as one of the finest in New England.

Nierenberg has guest conducted many of the most distinguished orchestras and opera companies in the United States and abroad, as well as led performances at some of the world’s most prestigious music festivals including:

• Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• St. Louis Symphony
• Baltimore Symphony
• Indianapolis Symphony
• Atlanta Symphony
• National Symphony Orchestra
• London Philharmonic
• Residentie Orkest (The Hague Philharmonic)
• Irish Chamber Orchestra

• Vienna Radio Symphony
• Prague Chamber Orchestra
• New Zealand Symphony
• Swedish Radio Orchestra
• Mostly Mozart Festival
• Opera Theatre of St. Louis
• Dallas Opera
• Prague Spring Festival
• Beijing Festival
• London Mozart Players

Nierenberg is the creator of the highly successful experiential learning event, called The Music Paradigm, in which an orchestra is used as a metaphor for any dynamic organization. With participants seated among the musicians, Nierenberg leads a series of exercises, carefully crafted to address the sponsoring organization's specific themes and issues. The Music Paradigm provides a creative framework for rethinking leadership style, philosophies, teamwork, and effectiveness. Since its inception in 1995, The Music Paradigm has held sessions for hundreds of major companies, government organizations, leading educational institutions, and global consulting firms throughout the United States, Europe, South America, Asia, and Latin America with over 90 different orchestras. It has been the subject of reports on ABC, CBS, CNN, and PBS and was the sole feature of an hour-long broadcast of the BBC's Money Programme.

Maestro Nierenberg’s recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra can be found on Sony Classical Records and his recent book Maestro: A Surprising Story about Leading by Listening is published by Portfolio, a division of Penguin Books, USA. It is available in a growing number of languages, including an e-book version, and was honored in 2009 as the Best Leadership Book from 800-CEO-READ.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the steps in the planning process?

Your organization selects the date and venue, and then determines the approximate number of executives.  If you have a multi-day event, we'll help you determine where in the overall agenda would be the optimal time to place The Music Paradigm.  Once those factors are in place, we will then hire the orchestra. Within a reasonable amount of time prior to the session, conversations between the client sponsor and conductor will be held to discuss goals, overall themes, and your context so a session can be custom designed to powerfully reinforce the overall message.

How is the orchestra engaged?

The Music Paradigm staff handles all of the arrangements associated with the musicians. There are certain meeting facility considerations that must be taken into account, but these are discussed with your meeting planning group in advance. We always work with experienced, professional orchestras in the region where the meeting is being held and with the many years Roger Nierenberg has been presenting The Music Paradigm, he has built up an extensive network of orchestras and musicians with which to collaborate.  The number of musicians involved is directly related to the size of your group.

How many executives can participate in a session?

The session can be designed to accommodate groups as few as 25-30 attendees.  There is no set upper limit and our sessions have been presented for 500 people, 1500, and larger.

How long does the session last?

Sessions are generally 90 minutes long, without a break.   Each session is then typically followed by an in-depth discussion led by Maestro Nierenberg, without the orchestra present, ranging from 15 to 45 minutes.

Can the session be presented in other languages?

Yes, sessions have been presented throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.  Sessions are generally held in English, but can be conducted using simultaneous translation into another language.

How much does a presentation cost?

Each Music Paradigm session is fully customized, both in content and scale. Please contact us for a specific quote.