Symphony

Next up on Daniel Pink’s six senses, or essential aptitudes for success, is symphony.

Symphony: Left-directed thinking analyzes; right-directed thinking synthesizes. This synthesis is  looking at all the components and using them to create a symphony.

A major component of symphony is the ability to see relationships between relationships. One must synthesize rather than analyze in order to imagine how pieces fit together. Sometimes this is called seeing the big picture.

Some suggestions for improving one’s symphony aptitude:

• Listen to great symphonies (Mozart, Hayden).
• Draw – consider taking a drawing class.
• Use metaphors to explain relationships. Keep a log of metaphors you encounter.
• Read magazines you’ve never read before and look for connections to your own life.
• Create an inspiration board – would be a nice use of visual literacies.

Students can consider how to integrate the various pieces into a whole instead of breaking the whole into various pieces. Some of the above bulleted items would make great Writers’ Notebook entries.