A Symphony of Choices

CHAPTER 5CHOOSING YOUR STRATEGY

“RJ,” I said frantically, looking through the symphony library for Beethoven's Third Symphony. “Where are all the string parts?”

As the music librarian, RJ was in charge of music parts for the symphony members. Some of the pieces the symphony played were ones they owned and were available in the library. Other pieces had to be rented, and when there was a new piece, he received the parts in the mail from the composers. He had to make sure each musician received their music in time to begin practicing their parts prior to the first rehearsal.

Two weeks was the standard, but in the past couple of years, parts were missing or were not handed out until the first rehearsal. I had witnessed Fernando throwing a baton at RJ when he realized that none of the cello section had their parts.

“Well, that's a piece we own, but the parts have gone missing through the years,” he said. “Musicians don't return them after the concert, or they lose their part and I have to scramble to get them a copy.”

This was a chaotic system that wasn't working. I had proposed a more digital approach, but it seemed to have landed on deaf ears.

“We need the parts to send to musicians to have for the audition packets. I'm not even going to mail them,” I said. “I just need them to scan and then email them and have a few copies available at the symphony office if someone wants to pick them up.”

RJ was flipping through torn envelopes and folders to look for the parts. He was one of ...