 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2010-04-24 12:44
Thanks for sharing this. The story said:
"Somehow, this orchestra isn't meeting with this audience the way it used to," Dobrin says. "People used to be free to come back into the greenroom and get autographs and that kind of thing. And they can't do that anymore."
I wonder if professional musicians and orchestras realize just how important this personal touch is. When I was in high school, our city had a professional concert band. By chance, I once happened to meet the assistant conductor. I was excited and told him how much I enjoyed the band's concerts. Instead of a smile and thank you (and possibly a little pleasant chit-chat), I was given the brush-off. That's not exactly the way to attract loyal young concert goers.
In contrast, when I was in college I once had the opportunity to chat with the clarinetists of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble after a concert. Very friendly and warm people, and their English was excellent! I also had a chance to meet Neville Marriner once, also after a concert, even though I'm far from a major contributor. He was so nice and so friendly that I became a Neville Marriner fan for life. Even though he didn't know me from a hole in the wall, he took the time to chat, listen to my comments, and answer my questions. That's the way to make people want to come back!
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Author: kimber
Date: 2010-04-24 18:47
I play in my local city concert band. One thing that stands out with this band is that at all concerts (before, intermission and after) we are free to wander out in the audience and greet family, friends and strangers alike. Probably half the band is out there circulating at any given opportunity and the audience members really take advantage of coming up to you and saying they are enjoying the concert. It gives them much more of a personal experience and we always get a great crowd for a small town band.
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Author: Bubalooy
Date: 2010-04-24 21:17
I recall during my college days that I also met members of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble after a concert in Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis in the mid 70s. They played a great concert, and they were friendly warm and fun to meet.
In addition, at this time, I met several players from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra after many concerts. I was a big fan. They were always pleasant and accessible to the public. Dennis Russel Davies was conducting them then. I enjoyed meeting him, and Bill McGlaughlin was also conducting them. He was particularly personable and I believe his willingness to meet with audience members, students, etc. did a great deal to promote this group.
I can understand that the musicians may be tired etc. after a performance, but it is too often true, I think, that they forget that it's for the audience and that they should appreciate the people who give their time and money to hear them.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2010-04-26 12:34
Peter Dobrin's comment about lack of contact between orcehstra members and audience members was, of course, one point in a much longer article in which he detailed a number of factors that may be contributing to the orchestra's financial problems. He didn't mention, nor does the NPR piece in this link, that the audience is not merely separated from the backstage performers' areas by the physical layout of the Kimmel Center, but by doors with electronic locks. Performers and others who are authorized to be backstage on a regular basis have key cards to open the locks. Performers for one-shot events need to get a guard or a "regular" who has a key to open doors even between one backstage area and another (the areas behind the smaller Perelman Theater and Verizon Hall, which share the Kimmel's space, are also separated from each other by electronic locks). There is a separate performers' entrance at the back of the building where a uniformed guard lets performers into the backstage area by "buzzing" an electronic lock from behind a glass-fronted security desk. If there is a green room anywhere in the building, I am unaware of it. Occasionally, featured performers (conductors and soloists) come out to the lobby to autograph CDs and chat. And some of the orchestra musicians enter and leave the building through the lobby (consequently mingling with audience members) rather than use the backstage security door.
I'm not certain that any of this security is for the performers' benefit, though. I think it's to keep the public away from expensive equipment and stored instruments and, to some extent, it may also be a result of anti-terrorist fears that followed the 9/11 attacks - there are many more places to hide or to hide things in a multi-stage venue like the Kimmel than there were in the architecturally simpler Academy of Music.
Karl
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-04-26 15:21
Here in Baltimore we also have security to keep the general public out of the backstage area. I don't believe it is for the safety of the players necessarily but to keep the instruments from going missing. We have an awful lot of expensive instruments and equipment back stage and in the locker rooms. We do have a green room and when someone wants to meet someone they can ask to have a player paged or meet us when we come out of the back stage entrance. We do have times when the players are invited to meet the subscribers in the lobby for drinks etc. after some of the concerts. We also have student nights that we offer the same opportunity for college students to meet the players that are interested.
I do think things tightened up though after 9/11. People are no longer able to bring in cases etc. into the hall, they have to check them before entering. I think that's still in effect. There are some occasions that a few of our players go into the audience before a concert but only a few. Most of us are getting dressed and warming up and playing with our reeds.
I don't think the problem is not meeting the public as much as a systemic problem in the USA. We just don't have the musical heritage or education here and it's now catching up to even the great orchestra's over here. Cleveland is also in big trouble as are other major orchestras. Although we in Baltimore are one grade lower then Philly we just took a major cut in salary, benefits and size. I think one of the major problems in Philly is that the "OLD" money is drying up as the older benefactors die off. I believe this is a problem is many of our orchestras today. Not enough of the younger generation supports us the way the older generation did both in numbers and financially. Of course the recession could have a bit to do with it too. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Ed
Date: 2010-04-26 15:43
A couple of thoughts-
It states ""Some people enjoy playing pops. I'm not one of them, personally," Koen says. "A certain amount of that is OK. But there's a point -- and I don't know how you define that point -- [where it's] too much. How much will run the risk of damaging the great music that we play?"
I don't know that pops ever hurt Boston or many other orchestras.
I have said many times that we are certainly getting away from classical music being any part of our culture. Years ago orchestras were on the major broadcast radio stations. Bernstein/NY's Young People Concerts and other programming appeared on CBS.
One is hard pressed to find anything other than popular music anywhere in the media. The number of radio stations that carry classical or jazz is dwindling. It is nearly impossible to find the same on TV unless it is PBS, and even then it is becoming rare in most markets.
Classical music is not on the radar. People view it as something for the elite. Unless that changes, it is only going to get worse. The audiences are getting older and grayer and dying off. New audiences are not appearing. I am not sure what needs to be done, but somehow if orchestras and other classical ensembles are to remain alive new audiences need to be cultivated.
I know.....easier said than done.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2010-04-26 17:08
Ed Palanker wrote:
> .... I think one of the major problems in
> Philly is that the "OLD" money is drying up as the older
> benefactors die off. I believe this is a problem is many of
> our orchestras today. Not enough of the younger generation
> supports us the way the older generation did both in numbers
> and financially. Of course the recession could have a bit to do
> with it too. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
Well, in Philadelphia it isn't just older benefactors dying off. It's also large corporations - especially banks - that were once locally based and supported local arts organizations that have merged into bigger and bigger mega-corporations with headquarters outside the Philadelphia area - in some cases outside the U.S. borders. Where you used to see several banks' names among the major donors not only to the Philadelphia Orchestra, but to other union orchestras in the city and its nearby suburbs, now those banks have been taken over by larger operations based in Delaware, Virginia, California and Massachusetts. They may be still donating to orchestras in Richmond, Wilmington, Los Angeles and Boston, but not so much anymore to orchestras in the immediate Philadelphia area.
One orchestra I play in out here in Bucks County used to count among its principal supporters a major steel company, a large chemical manufacturer and a sizable regional bank. They have all either gone bankrupt and closed or moved out of the area. With no businesses of comparable size coming into the area it's been apparently hard to replace the lost donations and our season, short as it was to begin with, has dwindled to almost nothing (and we don't get nearly the salaries of a major symphony).
Symphony orchestras in the U.S. were never paid for by concert audiences - they were funded from the beginning by wealthy benefactors who simply thought classical music important and by large commercial interests who saw advertising value in publicly supporting local community events, including both arts and sports. It's the loss of that commercial support that I think has hurt U.S. symphony orchestras more than anything else.
Karl
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-04-26 22:05
Karl, you are correct, that is also a major reason for the lack of funding in Philly and many other places as well. We have the same problem here in Baltimore. We used to get support from some major banks and insurance companies that had their home here in town as well as some major industries. Most have been taken over or merged by and with "out of town" companies and we are the losers. We used to have several Fortune 500 companies here if the Baltimore area but almost none now. It's a sad state for symphony orchestra's. ESP
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Author: elmo lewis
Date: 2010-04-26 23:22
No one has mentioned the changes in our tax code. Before Reaganomics wealthy people were subject to high tax rates and could reduce their taxes by donating to non-profits and charities. With the lower tax rates they now enjoy they have little incentive to make charitable contributions.
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Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2010-04-27 00:38
There are many factors at work here and some of this will piss off some on this thread but so what:
1) US population is moving to the West and the SW. The older Big Five cities are history (except for NY, Boston, and Chicago). They depended on old economy companies in manufacturing which are no longer viable unless supported by the government. The West is where its at.....LA (Dudamel) and SF (MTT). Seattle is doing fine despite being out of the AFM. And the West has Silicon Valley, CA (the state with the third largest GDP in the world (if it were a country)).
2) Indeed, the conglomeration of companies has hurt the arts in cities that depended on local corporate support. All I can say is wait till the Chinese own the US because then you will have to read who your sponsor is in Mandarin.
3)Classical music lost its relevancy to US society after Bernstein and his wonderful broadcasts. The fact that network TV carried broadcasts of the NYPO shows how far our intellectual capital has dropped when now Dancing with the Stars or American Idol is what people crave to watch after dinner. Sick.
4)Orchestral musicians killed the Golden Goose. Very few cities can support a 52 week employment, yet the orchestral musicians insisted that their BOD support a 52 week employment contract that was destined to fail. This model cannot be sustained in most communities. Sure, during the go go years when the market went straight up, the little guys like Columbus thought they could do a 52 week season. And if they had done a slow growth trajectory, they would be better off now. A 52 week season should be viewed as a luxury of being at the very top (NY, CHI, BOS, LA, SF) not the norm.
5)Music education is definitely at a lower point than 20-30 years ago. Performing groups such as orchestras are now expected to fill that gap with "Educational Concerts". But they were never trained to do that line of work. It was the job of the school music instructor. Sad state of affairs when most schools do not have a well educated, well rounded musician to head their school program.
6) Definitely the economy has had a dramatic impact. As Buffet says, when the tide goes out, you figure out who is swimming naked. And many orchestras who were able to patch up their deficits through one time donations or one year increased development programs, made it work after the dot com crash. But they never thought that the Great Recession would hit and make their promises to the musicians fools gold. Shame on the BOD and managers of those orchestras who made promises only to break them year after year after year. And you wonder why morale is low?
7)There is still a bright spot however. Students come to the US to study. That means that we still have the best educational system in the world. Lang Lang came here instead of going to the Shangahi Conservatory. Most great players have studied in the US at some point in their careers. Also, the conductors all want American orchestras not European or Chinese or Russian. Hence Dudamel leaves S America to come to the US, Muti leaves Italy to come to the US, Welzer Most comes to the US. The money is here but more importantly the quality is here. So that says alot about the Made in America label and the desire of musicians to come here to study and their desire to want to find a job here.
Mind you that could all change in the 21st century as Chinese orchestras start stealing players from the Mighty Five here in the US. But that Day of Reckoning has yet to come.
Sorry for the treatise. School is over and now you can go out and play in this glorious spring weather.
Post Edited (2010-04-27 00:40)
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