Klarinet Archive - Posting 000875.txt from 1998/12

From: "Doug Sears" <dsears@-----.org>
Subj: [kl] concert decorum (was: Cynthia's Christmas Concert)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 21:26:45 -0500

Dan Leeson wrote:

>There is a great bond between the audience and the performers. We play
>better when we know that the audience is appreciative, and vice versa.

and

>No wonder that concert goers are getting fewer while those who take
>advantage of positive audience reaction are getting more exposure.

I've been wondering for some time what we as presenters of concert music
can do to keep live classical music alive, that is, to make it something
people will want to go to, listen to, and care about. If being an audience
member is mostly a validation of one's intelligence and class, as I fear
it is for many people, we (the music makers) are doomed. Our increasingly
informal society isn't going to be impressed that one owns formal clothes,
can sit still for an hour, and knows when and when not to applaud at a
concert. People who
get a kick out of this social display are getting older and fewer. Even
people
who really care about music are staying home and listening to the radio
and CDs. What can we do to make live music an exciting experience that's
more valuable to people than a CD?

Dan, do you think performers (whether orchestra conductors or members of a
chamber ensemble) should somehow encourage people to applaud whenever they
feel like it? I feel ambivalent about this, because when I'm in the
audience I like to be able to concentrate on the music without
interruption, but I'm also in favor of any feeling of connection between
the audience and performers.

I also play music for folkdancers to dance to, and in that situation I
really enjoy how you know right away when the audience is having a good
time; the energy between musicians and dancers flows in both directions.
But for "serious" concert music I don't know how to break down the barrier
we've erected between the stage and the audience.

--Doug
---------------------------
Doug Sears dsears@-----.org/~dsears

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Date: Wednesday, December 23, 1998 11:01 AM
Subject: [kl] Cynthia's Christmas Concert

>I was very touched by Cynthia's description of her emotions at her
>Christmas Concert in the Netherlands. And her story has an important
>musical message.
>
>At almost every concert that we play, a presumption is made about
>the audience decorum, and when that presumption is violated we feel
>that something went wrong. For example, it is considered inappropriate
>to applaud or otherwise express audience appreciation between movements.
>There is an unspoken understanding that requests that "you save it until
>the end."
>
>Yet this kind of behavior is not what was expected from the audience
>at a concert of, say, 1780. When they liked something, often in the
>middle of a movement, they demonstrated their gratitude right then and
>there. Mozart writes that the audience insisted on the repetition of
>a cadenza even before the movement was finished.
>
>There is a great bond between the audience and the performers. We play
>better when we know that the audience is appreciative, and vice versa.
>Cynthia has described exactly that phenomenon and it is unfortunate
>that that kind of audience behavior is seen as abberant. It takes people
>who are intellectually challenged to demonstrate to the rest of the
>concert going world exactly how audiences should behave at a concert.
>
>Can you imaging a rock concert demanding that kind of audience behavior?
>"Just sit there and shut up until we are done. Then you can applaud."
>
>No wonder that concert goers are getting fewer while those who take
>advantage of positive audience reaction are getting more exposure.
>
>I once had an idiot of a conductor who would turn around and glare at
>the audience if they made any sign of positive recpeption prior to the
>very last note. Quelle schmuck!
>
>Bottom line: Cynthia has described an audience reaction that should be
>the norm, but is not, unfortunately.
>
>
>=======================================
>Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
>leeson@-----.edu
>=======================================

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