Coaching a musical mindset

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes the improvisational and innovative process that takes place among professional musicians during the extraordinary concert. The aim is to draw parallels to the professional coaching
conversation in order to examine what new angles this analogy can contribute in proportion to coaching as a practice. In other words, how can an analysis of the musician’s communication during a successful concert
shed light on what is happening in a successful professional dialogue.
The article contains both empirical data and theory. The empirical data comes to results from a qualitative study undertaken in connection with my thesis within the Master of Learning Processes Specializing in Organizational
Coaching at Aalborg University, and is based on interviews with five professional orchestra musicians from the Royal Danish Orchestra, the Copenhagen Phil and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra