Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 19 december 2017
Get Bach to work: Company orchestras a German tradition

By DAVID McHUGH tions, and I think there’s a
AP Business Writer connection that exactly in
FRANKFURT, Germany this field you find so many
(AP) — Can performing people who can play vio-
Beethoven symphonies lin, oboe, bassoon, clari-
together help employees net, flute or horn.
team up on projects at Anna Medina, who man-
work, too? Some compa- ages translation projects at
nies — above all in Ger- SAP and plays in the violin
many and Asia — seem to section, said music “gives
think so. you skills that you can then
A conspicuous number apply to basically any job.”
of big German corporate “It gives you a sense of ef-
names — along with a fort, that you have to prac-
handful in Japan and Ko- tice to get things right. It
rea — have their own com- also teaches you that you
pany-linked symphony or- cannot wait until the last
chestra. That means 60 or minute. You need to work
so accountants, engineers, on it all the time if you want
sales reps and computer to be successful,” she said
specialists who bring violins, before heading out on
cellos, oboes and trom- stage to rehearse.
bones and gather in their Management expert Chris-
spare time to rehearse and tian Scholz at Saarland
perform lengthy, complex University in Saarbruecken
pieces of classical music. says an orchestra embod-
The orchestras serve as In this Friday Nov. 24, 2017 photo, conductor Johanna Weitkamp performs with the SAP orchestra ies the complex blend of
public relations tools, play- in Mannheim, Germany. skills needed for business
ing charity concerts and Associated Press teams to perform at a high
livening up corporate cians filled the cavernous, Most of the orchestras Germany. Her teachers in- level.
events. 2,300-seat Rosengarten seemed to have started cluded the renowned con- “It’s team building, but it’s
But there’s more to it than auditorium in the south- from the bottom up, from ductor Kurt Masur, a future team building in a highly
that. western German town employee initiatives. The music director of the New structured way, like busi-
It’s hard to quantify, but of Mannheim with rich, SAP orchestra started after York Philharmonic. ness runs. You have the
the engineer and accoun- warm string sound, practic- Weitkamp joined the com- But after the Berlin Wall fell, activity of people who are
tant musicians — and some ing first a bouncy pop mix pany in 1997 and noticed she got another degree, specialized in certain instru-
business experts — argue of Mozart’s Prague Sym- that there were a lot of this time in information ments, who have special-
that a symphony orches- phony and Falco’s “Rock skilled amateur musicians technology, and moved ized in certain roles, where
tra is an excellent model Me Amadeus.” Then the among her colleagues. “I into the computer field. you even have some com-
for the creative teamwork brass blared out the stirring asked, who wants to join She said it’s no surprise that petition between them,”
companies need to com- opening notes of John Wil- in,” she said. people with math or tech- he said. “You have de-
pete. liams’ theme music for the Weitkamp herself is no nology backgrounds are mocracy, you have hier-
“There’s no activity in the Olympics, as the orches- mere amateur; she studied often musical: archy, you have all these
world where you have to tra prepared to play at a conducting at the Univer- “You need a high degree elements of regular busi-
react so quickly to each graduation ceremony for sity of Music and Theater of abstract thinking to un- ness in this task of doing a
other and work together the local college. in Leipzig in her native East derstand how music func- symphony orchestra.”
so well as in an orchestra,” In the SAP orchestra, am-
says Johanna Weitkamp, ateur musicians among
conductor of the sympho- SAP’s employees mix with
ny orchestra at the enter- professional musicians,
prise software company giving them a chance to
SAP. learn from more skilled
“Down to the hundredth of partners, and giving the
a second, you have to lis- orchestra’s sound a glossy
ten to the other person, re- finish. All concert proceeds
spond to the other person, go to charity.
pass the ball to each other Different companies have
— it’s a prime example of different approaches to
good cooperation among supporting employee or-
people.” chestras, ranging from SAP
Other companies with em- and Daimler, which pro-
ployee orchestras include vide company funding, to
engineering firm Siemens, BASF, where the employee
maker of trains and medi- orchestra, the Collegium
cal scanners; carmakers Musicum Ludwigshafen,
Daimler, BMW and Ford; is financially independent
auto components and and supported by musi-
electronics maker Robert cian dues.
Bosch GmbH; airline Luf- While the SAP orchestra is
thansa, and chemical firm semi-professional, others
BASF. In this Friday Nov. 24, 2017 photo, four singers perform with the SAP orchestra in Mannheim, — like those at Bosch and
At a recent rehearsal, Weit- Germany. Lufthansa — are strictly
kamp and the SAP musi- Associated Press amateur.q