Supervision quartets.

Lovers of classical music may disagree about many things, but if you ask them to name the ideal musical form they will almost all say it is the string quartet. There are many reasons why the quartet has this revered place in the musical repertoire. The intimacy of the form allows composers to express profound ideas and emotions that are more diluted in their symphonies, concertos and operas. Probably because of this, a number of great composers have turned to it to produce masterpieces, particularly in later life. These include Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Dvo rak, Bartok, Shostakovitch, Britten and Tippett. The sound of a quartet usually demands a small auditorium, leading to a closer sense of connection between the players and their listeners. The harmonies and counterpoint of a quartet performance may also recall our most intense human conversations. It may be no coincidence that the four string instruments playing together seem to resemble the archetypal nuclear family of mother, daughter, son and father. Indeed, many famous compositions appear to evoke this metaphor intentionally, in the way that the separate musical voices put forward their statements and respond to each other. It may also be no coincidence that in everyday human encounters it is probably a maximum of four peopledfive at mostdwho can all pay attention to each others’ views at the same time. This appears to be a constant across many different contexts and cultures. Beyond that number, a conversation will easily veer off in random directions, with two or more subgroups starting to talk to each other independently, sometimes with the formation of alliances, factions and rivalries. When four or five people are gathered together, there is conversational synergy. In a meeting of six or more people, you need a chair or facilitator, rather like an orchestral conductor. Although the similarity between musical and conversational quartets has struck me only recently, I have some experience of both. One of my close friends at university was a brilliant cello player who founded a string quartet. I have followed his ensemble from their early days performing in draughty suburban halls, to admiring them now at major venues in central London that are fully booked a few months in advance. Meanwhile, in my own career, I have been part of a team of educators who have introduced a kind of conversational counterpart into postgraduate medical education: the four-person peer supervision group, or ‘supervision quartet’.