The Power of Music Thinking

Conducting Design with Raf De Keninck

My guest today is Raf De Keninck, executive member, director of education, research, and organisation of the Design Academy Eindhoven - one of the world's leading design schools. And Raf is also a performing musician, clarinet player and conductor. He played, for example, at the beginning of the 2000s, 300 concerts a year. 

We start with sharing the incredible dreams he had as a child and a unique ritual he did in his adolescent years.

And we get some insights into his leadership skills, for example, the advantages of having an outside view, combined with excellent listening skills and the practice of 'not knowing' and how to let inspiration flow in two ways. So, when you are open, then people will also be open.

We talk about leading and following, and Raf explains what it means as a conductor to have a total overview and a well-defined score and how you can lead without explicitly leading. And there is another story of a conductor shouting at an orchestra and how the musicians were teaching him a lesson. 

“Every time you play, rehearse or perform, you learn something.”

 

Show notes and how to connect with Raf

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafdekeninck/ 
• Design Academy Eindhoven website: https://www.designacademy.nl/ 
• Personal website: https://www.rafdekeninck.nl/ 
• Mahler 8th Symphony (Director: Georg Solti) on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/51GmsdrdDSuwM9gTTS23Xg?si=Uyq4tbLhRGWvHAzoWZknLg 
• Ligeti Chamber Concerto (Raf is talking about the most inspiring piece for organisations and leading and following): https://open.spotify.com/album/46e15cKAuwDSwyIrTDeDk4?si=YJdzj6ZiRtua0_gfvV-H0g 
• John Cage 4’33’ recording from the first Design Thinkers Conference: https://creativecompanion.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/i-invite-you-to-listen-music-thinking-in-service-design/ 

 

Do you like books?
Check out the new book: The Power of Music Thinking and get stories, explanations and exercises to apply music thinking. Buy The Power of Music Thinking

 

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The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation. Check out their website

 

 

Modular Strategies with Rikkert Achtereekte

My guest today is Rikkert Achtereekte, customer director of sales and electronic musician. Rikkert works for the IT engineering company Schuberg Philis, which focuses on mission-critical processes. And Rikkert is a composer and performer of electronic music and gets together with some friends for a bi-monthly improvisation session on modular synthesizers.

Rikkert shares insights about his company that builds solutions for business problems, for example, with a collaborative approach they call 'system in the room'. And they are pretty successful in what they are doing; they now got the Giarte XLA award for the 16th time. And he shares with us a workshop lab setting where he uses modular synthesizers to let people collaborate better and be more creative. 
And precisely, that way of thinking - giving output and receiving input in a connected system of elements - is the essence of the Music Thinking Framework, with all the cues connected.
So if you are at home or in the office while you hear this, you might want to download the framework first and then listen to this episode. But if you listen to it while driving a car or walking in nature, relax and enjoy the conversation with many life sounds from a modular synthesizer that Rikkert brought to the show.
Show notes and how to connect with Rikkert

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rikkert-achtereekte-9694aa49/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/voltmeistermodular/ 
• Schuberg Philis, company website: https://schubergphilis.com/en 
• Voltmeister, the modular synth music group: https://voltmeister.bandcamp.com 
• Voltmeister on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1gB0NEOq2RooF3oSIoAtVv?si=aS8_YsVcStWgcrJeCy1q_w 

Do you like books?
Check out the new book: The Power of Music Thinking and get stories, explanations and exercises to apply music thinking. Buy The Power of Music Thinking

 

More like this
Please subscribe to the podcast and listen to the latest episode of The Power of Music Thinking.

 

Meet our sponsor
The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating leaders, teams and organisations in customer experience, change and innovation. Check out their website 

 

The Instrument with a smile with Dagan Bernstein - Ukulele

Today we are in Hawaii. We speak with Dagan Bernstein, a teacher and musician passionate about designing and leading innovative educational experiences. Dagan is currently serving as Capstone Coordinator at an independent K-12 international boarding school in Hawaii with additional expertise in mathematics, music, and digital media instruction. 

We speak about collaboration in the classroom, how to co-create with students and how this might be an inspiration for business people. And we talk intensively about the Ukulele, how he is using this in teaching, and some historical background, and we hear him play a tenor ukulele during the conversation like he would do at the farmers market at the weekend.

And we learn new Hawaiian words and mindsets like Malama Kaiaulu, the act of Kilo and Ike.

 

Shownotes

Here are some links to sources we mentioned in the talk.

• Youtube: Student Ukulele Ensemble
• Youtube: Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
• Peter Moon (spotify)
• Jesse Kalima (spotify)
• Eddie Kamae (spotify)

Connect with Dagan

• Twitter: @daganbernstein
• Instagram: @daganmusic and @dagan.blog
• Website: daganmusic.com  

More info

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating companies in making brand minded and people-centred decisions.

 

Buy The Power of Music Thinking book to learn and find out more about Music Thinking and how to use this in your endeavour.

See the latest episode of The Power of Music Thinking

 

The Sound of Nature with Hélène Seiyu Codjo - Shakuhachi

In this episode, you can listen to a conversation with Helene Seiyu Codjo and the sound of the shakuhachi.

Helene is a shakuhachi performer, composer and teacher.  

"In the single tone of the shakuhachi, the whole of nature can be heard whispering its secrets." Dean Seicho Del Bene

 

We talk about the first memorable concert she heard as a child (there is one recital on Spotify with Miguel Ángel Estrella); how she came to the shakuhachi and how playing the shakuhachi has also something to do with 'letting go of your ego’.

Hélène shares a beautiful story about playing the shakuhachi in nature. 

And we hear the Shakuchahi and a short recording outside in nature where we play together in a soundscape of birds, geese and men-made sounds.

 

Connect with Hélène:

• Website: https://hijirishakuhachi.com
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/lnflutes08
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shakudojo
• Bandcamp: https://heleneseiyu.bandcamp.com/
• Blogpost about playing in nature: https://hijirishakuhachi.com/2022/02/03/playing-shakuhachi-in-nature/

More info

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating companies in making brand-minded and people-centred decisions.

 

Buy The Power of Music Thinking book

 

See the latest episode of The Power of Music Thinking

 

Green Listening and how green vinyl records is revolutionising the vinyl business

Special edition: Today, we reflect on the changes in the music industry and how we listen to music, from live concerts to streaming - via vinyl, CD, and download. 

And we think about the impact of our choices, the impact on the environment and what medium and behaviour fits best to your listening experience. 

Further, we visit Green Vinyl Records in the south of the Netherlands at their factory; we hear the sounds of production of a revolutionary approach to making the vinyl record business a green business. 

And learn from them why their approach to producing vinyl records - that is, chemically not vinyl anymore - is 90% less energy-consuming than the traditional way of pressing vinyl. 

That is also the reason why the BBC, ZDF, NOS, The Guardian and The Power of Music Thinking :-) visited the factory in the last month. Watch out when you see GVR on the sleeve of your next vinyl record.

Links: 

• Green Vinyl Records on LinkedIn:
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenvinylrecords/
• Harm Theunisse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harm-theunisse-5123555/
• Setting the record straight: is streaming greener than vinyl?
• https://theecologist.org/2018/mar/16/setting-record-straight-streaming-greener-vinyl

 

Performing in Japan with Bjoern

Today we are in München, Germany, talking to Björn Eichstädt, Managing Partner & Co-Owner of Storymaker and publisher of the digital magazine “J-BIG – Japan Business in Germany”. He studied Neurobiology and was active in experimental music in the 1990s and 2000s. 

Björn takes us on a trip to Japan. From J-Horror Films, Japanese Spirits, Film music, audio innovations, sound aficionados and the Sound Design of the Tokyo Treinstation (note: I added the Yurakucho sound after the conversation).  

And he shares the business habits and the harmony aspect in collaboration, the ‘performance thinking’ of meetings in Japan and ‘the customer is god’ attitude.

But let’s start with a warning, this is by far the most extended podcast in The Power of Music Thinking history, so if you are prepared to listen to 30 minutes podcasts, you might want to pause and listen further the next day.

All right let’s dive into it.

 

Show notes

• Björn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjoern-eichstaedt-77889b2/ 
• Storymaker Website: https://www.storymaker.de/en/home-en 
• Japan Business in Germany: https://www.j-big.de/en/ 

 

Extra links to Films and Music mentioned in the conversation

Toru Takemitsu - Woman in the dunes 

Un Uomo da Rispettare (Complete) - Ennio Morricone

Toru Takemitsu graphic scores

J-Horror and Sound: Kayako Saeki sound 

J-Horror and Sound 2: Ringu Sound Design 

Vocaloid: Hatsune Miku - World is Mine ~【手描き】ワールドイズマイン【Erich von Däniken / Peter Thomas: Chariots of the Gods: Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra - Chariots Of The Gods ℗ 1970 - YouTube

Stockhausen: Sounds in Space, Osaka 1970 

Pedestrian crossings with sound in Japan! - YouTube

Gate Sounds for Boarding. - YouTube

Yamanote Line - The Comprehensive Eki-melo Database 

 

More info

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating companies in making brand minded and people-centred decisions.

 

Buy The Power of Music Thinking book

See the latest episode of The Power of Music Thinking

 

 

Finding your Side B with Paula White

Today we are in New Albany, Ohio. We speak with Paula White, a globally recognized sales leader, leadership coach and author of the book Side B: Remix Your Leadership Style.

We talk about how music can (re)charge the way you are leading and how leaders can work on their behavioural traits based on music principles. Paula shares with us the ten archetypal instruments that are based on a scientific survey. And Paula explains more about the saxophone type that came out of the survey I did before the conversation. 

Show notes

• Paula S White on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-s-white/ 
• Side B book page: https://paulaswhite.com/book-order/  
• The gracious Saxophone: https://paulaswhite.com/music/the-saxophone-gracious/ 

More info

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating companies in making brand minded and people centered decisions.

 

Buy The Power of Music Thinking book

See the latest episode of The Power of Music Thinking

 

 

Talking about the book with Xenia

Today we switch roles: Christof asked his daughter Xenia to ask him anything about the new book: The Power of Music Thinking. Because Xenia was already a collaborator on the Jam Cards, a pre-reader of the new book and worked with her dad for many years, she can ask questions no one else could or would. They talked about leadership, followership, Service Design, the difference between metaphors and analogies, and why a book?

Be ready for a pleasant conversation between father and daughter about The Power of Music Thinking.

 

Show notes

• Book page with a sneak preview: https://musicthinking.com/book-the-power-of-music-thinking/ 
• Jam Cards page: https://musicthinking.com/jam-cards/ 
• Xenia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xenia-z%C3%BCrn/ 

 

More info

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating companies in making brand minded and people-centred decisions.

 

Buy The Power of Music Thinking book

See the latest episode of The Power of Music Thinking

Brands as Patterns with Marc Shillum

Today we speak with Marc Shillum, Designer, Creative Mind and trained musician.

Marc was the founding Chief Experience Officer of Matternet, a pioneering transportation startup awarded World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. In his role, he connected the dots between Customer Needs, Hardware Design, Software Design, User Experience, Visual Design, Business Strategy and Brand Building.

Marc has written OpEds for The World Economic Forum and Virgin Unite, delivered keynotes at SXSW, the Lego Marketing Summit, Nike Design Summit, and others.

And Marc is the author of 'Brands as Patterns', a  white paper that opinion-makers like FastCompany, Contagious Magazine and PSFK have republished.

We have a wonderful conversation about analogies between design, business, the human body and music. For example, Marc shares the various roles of a trumpet player in an orchestra and his early experiences with improvising musicians like Graham Collier and Derek Bailey. 

We talk about different leadership positions, from composing, orchestrating, and conducting and how different musical styles help us understand our business. 

And we discuss the difference between frequency and cadence in an agile workspace and how brands can orchestrate their business successfully with patterns.

 

Show notes

• Brands as Patterns platform, https://www.brandsaspatterns.com
• Marc on Twitter, https://twitter.com/BrandsPatterns
• Marc on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-s-92967b2/ 
• Magazine INDEX, including a few conversations with guitarist Derek Bailey, we talked about in the session: http://www.index.works  

 

More info

The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION specialised in facilitating companies in making brand minded and people-centred decisions.

 

Buy The Power of Music Thinking book (April 2022)

 

See the latest episode of The Power of Music Thinking

 

 

Listening walk

In this short episode, we look back on some conversations from last year, share tips and short exercises like a 1-minute ritual before a brainstorm and the listening walk.  Show notes • Podcast playlist on Spotify • The Power of Music Thinking Book, pre-order • Latest Episode    More info The Power of Music Thinking is brought to you by CREATIVE COMPANION Learn more about the Book that will be published in April 22, the Jam Cards and the blog on musicthinking.com or the Music Thinking LinkedIn page. 
See the latest episode of The Power of Music Thinking Podchaser MYGDb8hJqQvdUmZja9nx