| Talking to Audiences |
| Sunday, 01 April 2007 | |
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In this age of quick and easy information distribution, when the internet is in virtually every home, office, and school across America, is it really the performers’ duty to educate audiences on concert repertoire? And how important is audience participation? Lots of performers talk to their audiences. Imani Winds displays their sense of humor and camaraderie during their words in between pieces. If you attend a Young Eight concert, you may find yourself singing into the ear of your seat neighbor. Why do these groups engage audiences so? Are there other ways to school audiences? I can think of only five basic ways to enlighten audiences: 1. the performers talk about the music during the performance; 2. the performers and/or the Artistic Director talk to those who attend the pre-concert talks before the performance; 3. the organization has podcasts, downloadable lectures, or online program notes to educate audiences on the different parts of the symphony to listen for, or to provide insight into what the composer was thinking when he wrote the piece. This obviously takes place hours or days before arriving at the concert venue; 4. audience participants look at the repertoire list and Google the pieces/composers to educate themselves (gasp!) days or hours before the concert; or 5. the program notes need to be made as through as possible for reading at (during) the concert. Now, before I begin my rant let me generalize by stating that more often than not, instrumentalists don’t (like to) speak during performances. Vocalists usually have more to say or announce their pieces or what have you. They feel more comfortable speaking to their audience. But for the most part, instrumentalists don’t and many won’t say anything. They use the excuse of speaking “through their instrument,” but honestly, most are not taught to say anything and therefore feel nervous about opening their mouths. So this article is written from the perspective of a purposefully mute instrumentalist.
Those who hated it considered stage talking an interruption in the flow of the music and wondered why people didn’t just read their programs. They came to hear music not someone talking about the music. If they wanted to hear talking they would’ve gone to the pre-concert discussion. These are usually not the people who want to meet the performers afterwards. They want their concert-going experience like fast food—quick and easy.
2. Pre-concert discussion. I’d like to see statistics on how many people actually attend the pre-concert discussions. Since going to the pre-concert talk is completely voluntary, we can be sure that those who do indulge actually WANT to know more about the music. Good people… However, I suspect that few attend since most audience members show up in just enough time to take their seats and turn their cell phones to vibrate. Many participants enjoy dinner and cocktails before the show. Some get caught in traffic or simply caught up doing something else. Those that do attend the talks have things to look forward to in a pseudo musical treasure hunt sort of way. At the pre-concert talk, they are told to listen for, say, the brass fanfare at the end of Sibelius’s 2nd Symphony. So during the concert, they wait in anticipation of the brass entrance. It gives them something to listen for, something to do, and a sense of relief when they finally hear what they’ve been listening for. In addition, the pre-concert discussion furnishes a deeper knowledge into the background of the music, the history and social aspects behind the sounds. The audience may learn about the composer’s inner turmoil, why the piece is in a minor key or the exact moment that something elating happened. For example, they will know what’s really going on when the percussionist strikes the anvil in Berlioz’s ‘Symphony Fantastique.’ The pre-concert chat establishes a relationship between the listener and the composer, as opposed to the musicians chat which establishes a relationship with the listener and the performer. 3. What’s a podcast? Podcasts essentially distribute audio and video files directly to your computer of iPod (iTunes) using syndication feed enclosures. Unreleased music, pre-concert lectures, and historical tidbits can be downloaded and listened to at the touch of a button (and maybe an email to become a subscriber). In 2006, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum publicized its foray into the world of podcasting via the Apple Corporation. However, I’d like to see the statistics on the number of podcast subscribers… are people really tuning in? Podcasting may soon take the place of actually sitting in the pre-concert lecture. If you can take the recorded lecture with you into the car on the drive there, or listen to it on your iPod on the train while you ride to the concert hall, all the better. Two birds, one stone.
4. Google. Yes, it has been done before! Someone may be interested in finding out who Gregory T. Walker is to understand why he is on the same program as Brahms. So they might Google him or his piece (if the information is not already on the orchestra website). Also, there are so many publications analyzing music or describing a piece’s intricacies and websites touting composer biographies. It’s easy enough to Google anything or anyone… if you have the time and the desire to do so. Conducting your own web search is usually too involved for those who just want to listen to some music.
5. Read the program. When you think about it, staring at musicians who sit in the same place and do the same things for 2 hours can be rather, well, boring. If audiences aren’t all that involved in the music trying to catch the subtleties and nuances of the harmonies, or following the melody as it passes from the violins to the winds to the celli, then they will probably read the program notes during the concert. When else will they have a chance? Not before the concert unless they get there earlier enough. Not during intermission because the bar is open and the bathrooms are crowded. And certainly not when the show is over. Yes, it’s dark in the hall, but the faint glow of the stage lights may be good enough for some.
But this is just my opinion. What’s yours?
Next week’s Hot Topic! – The age requirement for children at concerts. Restrictive or Right On?
 No. 1 : Maybe program notes should be more interesting since most read like html code. And then with all of the other advertising going on, it’s really hard to even find the notes related to the concert that you’re attending. |
1. From the stage. Musicians speaking to audiences from the stage received mixed reviews when I asked people their preference this week. My research revealed two distinct viewpoints: People either love it or hate it. (Yes, it’s that simple.) Those who loved it did so because they felt more connected to the musicians performing on stage. This is understandable since many venues separate the audience from the performer—audiences sit at shoe level to the performers who, while on stage, seem distant and inaccessible. Therefore, musicians speaking from the stage put a personality to the instrumentalist. It was also helpful for older audiences who experienced difficulty reading the small print of their programs. And for smaller concerts, there may not be program notes in which case speaking from the stage is almost mandatory.| < Prev | Next > |
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