Sun Tzu’s The art of war for choral leadership

Sun Tzu the author of the Art of War of who was known as one of the geniuses of martial strategy in ancient China. Who was influential not only for his military strategies but also his exemplary ideas that were borrowed to facilitate practical operations of business and management in both Eastern and Western cultures (Wee and Combe, Business journey to the east: an east-west perspective on global-is-Asian. McGraw-Hill Company, Singapore, 2009). In this chapter, the author attempts to determine the nature of equivalence between the generalship of commanders in the battlefield and the leadership of choral directors in the choral training ground. According to Sun Tzu, a commendable general must process five fundamental qualities or attributes, namely, wisdom, faith, compassion, courage, and rigor. The article is unfolding the multi-facets of effective choral leadership in the Eastern world, which is based on a well-connected relationship with mutual concerns and understanding. Copyright © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.