I recently attended the League of American Orchestras annual conference, held in warm, sunny Atlanta. A lot of the talk concerned whether orchestras are still as relevant to today’s society as they used to be, and whether audiences feel like the orchestral experience is important or interesting. Rather than report much else, I’m just going to throw out a bunch of questions, and hope folks will respond openly.
Does it matter whether you hear music live or recorded? Why?
Do you go to orchestra concerts very often? Why or why not? What about other kinds of music?
What’s interesting about orchestra concerts? What do you find puzzling or frustrating?
Why do people have no problem buying tickets, food and parking for a Twins game, but not so for an orchestra concert?
When you go to concerts, do you feel connected to what’s happening on stage? Does it depend on the group you’re hearing?
If you’re a musician yourself, do you have a preference about playing vs. being in the audience? Why do you think that is?
Are orchestras going to matter in fifty years? Will they be around? What about theater, dance, museums, etc?
Send back those comments, folks! Let’s hear what you have to say. Don’t be shy!
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4 comments:
Mr. Kats -
Andrew Porter here, I played clarinet in the GTCYS Philharmonic/Symphony when I was in high school. Graduated from DePauw University this May with a majors in music and computer science. Thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience in GTCYs back when.
I think the matter is people like playing music and being a part of the experience more than just listening to it, despite the lack of job outlook. The popularity of being in GTCYS and music school orchestras, for example, really prove this point. In this, I think something like music is in a better position than a franchise like the MLB, as you mentioned in your blog. The Twins have 40,000 people showing up each day to watch, not to play. Because of this, baseball has cemented itself as a spectator sport. Thankfully, music isn't!
As professional orchestras whittle down to a select few, I would anticipate that community ensembles and other semi-professional orchestras will rise in terms of talent and popularity. Thoughts?
Thanks for the post!
Part I:
Does it matter whether you hear music live or recorded? Why?
Yes! As much as I love listening to recordings, there is no substitute for hearing a world-class orchestra live; even more so in a great acoustic. In the past two years I have seen some of the best concerts of my life: Staatskapelle Dresden (twice) playing Strauss Quixote, Heldenleben and Brahms 4, Chicago Symphony Bruckner 8 and Minnesota's recent Bruckner 7. No recording can fully capture the beauty or intensity that I heard at those performances. Plus, seeing the musicians/conductor interact/perform and experiencing concerts with other people is unique and more meaningful in itself; though, candy and cough drop unwrapping and excessive/loud coughing can be quite annoying at times.
Do you go to orchestra concerts very often? Why or why not? What about other kinds of music?
Yes. I love music and I want to hear what an orchestra and conductor are going to offer the music they perform. Hopefully it is rewarding and memorable, as is the case most of the time. The only other music genre I attend with any frequency is jazz, usually at the Dakota. I enjoy jazz a lot, too, but I usually don't have the time or money (or desire) to see as many artists as I would like.
What’s interesting about orchestra concerts? What do you find puzzling or frustrating?
Hopefully the entire thing is interesting: the music being performed and the musicians are focused on giving a committed performance. Of the major orchestras I've been able to see live, the ones I have been most disappointed in were the ones where the musicians obviously weren't committed to the performance and were merely going through the motions (or being completely unmusical/distasteful and blasting -- I am a brass player and I have been turned off). Rarely is the music 'boring' or the technical ability of the players lacking that it takes away from a performance.
Why do people have no problem buying tickets, food and parking for a Twins game, but not so for an orchestra concert?
Probably because of the aura of enlightenment that classical music has in general: properness, sterile, upper-class, white, etc. I have not been around the Twin Cities enough in the past six years while at school, so I don’t know how the SPCO and MNORCH are doing with attendance or outreach – I have enjoyed the couple of Casual Classics concerts I’ve seen in the past. I have had the fortune of working with a number of outstanding conductors in regards to making the concert fun/informative/not scary for the audience (Carl Topilow, Robert Franz, and David Bowden come to mind). I think that a little bit of the Pops atmosphere needs to be brought into the traditional concerts. Pre-performance chats are obviously a great way to break down that barrier, but they seem poorly attended in my experience. Perhaps playing the themes and breaking music down before a piece but still during the concert (like the Casual Classics series and whatever Chicago’s similar series is called) would help. The truth is, most concertgoers are the white-haired crowd, and I assume they would tolerate the extra time spent on explaining the music to those who have only been to the concert hall a handful of times (or less). I don’t think the cost is what is deterring people, but the scariness of classical music in general.
Part II:
When you go to concerts, do you feel connected to what’s happening on stage? Does it depend on the group you’re hearing?
See above :) Generally, yes, I do feel connected. Even though I enjoy a good concert regardless of where I sit, I feel even more connected if I am in really good sounding seats. In Orchestra Hall, this means being in the front 2/3 of the hall. Perhaps this is because of hearing loss, or from being able to turn up recordings quite loud, but if the orchestra simply isn’t loud enough (when they are supposed to be) I find it hard to be overwhelmed with the experience. I have attended four concerts in Cincinnati, usually in great seats, but I have yet to have that feeling of being overwhelmed by the sound in that hall. It’s unfortunate because they are a great orchestra. We are very fortunate to have Orchestra Hall (and the much underutilized Benson Great Hall).
If you’re a musician yourself, do you have a preference about playing vs. being in the audience? Why do you think that is?
Hmmm…I don’t really have a preference. Some student/university/regional orchestra concerts aren’t always rewarding for me as a listener, though I am rarely displeased as a performer even if it isn’t a collectively ‘great’ performance. Sure, I would love to be playing with the Minnesota Orchestra or London Symphony, etc, but as long as they are giving a good performance I am quite fine with soaking it in from the audience.
Are orchestras going to matter in fifty years? Will they be around? What about theater, dance, museums, etc?
I hope so! Even though I will be starting my job with an orchestra in September (as in I feel very lucky to be employed doing what I love!) I have to agree with some of the statements I’ve heard from older musicians…such as: we should down-size our conservatories and universities and only have 3-5 of them in the country. This might be a bit extreme, but we are clearly training more musicians than there are opportunities for. Example: if you are struggling at the bottom of your section in your fourth year of college at a minor state university, being a performing musician might not be the road for you (assuming you are a performance major). It doesn’t mean that that person can’t be in the music business, but that they may have to re-evaluate what they ‘should’ do in respect to their time and money.
Perhaps there won’t be as many orchestras in fifty years (given the recent trends), but I think that there will always be a place for classical music in our society – and hopefully a stronger presence of new music in the concert halls (we shouldn’t have to hear a Beethoven cycles every 2 or 3 years). I am not as connected to the other branches of the arts, but I certainly hope that they are around, if not thriving!
Andrew, thanks for commenting and I’m glad to hear you had such a great experience in GTCYS! I fear that if orchestras don’t deepen the crowd’s involvement, audiences will dwindle and some ensembles will fold. I bet that would lead to more community groups. People want music, AND a PARTICIPATORY EXPERIENCE. At Target Field, you can cheer loudly, or savor the fine points of the game, or both. Great music requires a different environment from the ballpark—but both experiences benefit from an involved audience.
Patrick, congratulations on landing a job! Music is a tough business and we’re extremely fortunate to work in it. I must admit that I’ve become increasingly turned off by performances that aren’t very committed, even though the individual players are quite fine. The audience will applaud politely…and then not come back. Contrast that with, for example, Whitney Houston’s recent concerts in Europe—people just started walking out and demanding refunds! Maybe we need a little of that in the classical world…
While I have certain recordings that I treasure, there’s nothing like a live performance. Besides the sound quality that you mention (and hearing orchestras in a great acoustic is definitely a better experience from hearing them in a mediocre one), I think it’s because we need that “village square” experience, interacting with others (we get it both at sports events and walking around a shopping mall). So how to reconcile the need for that experience with sitting quietly in a dark hall for two hours? Somehow, the concert hall needs to feel less elitist, less forbidding to those who aren’t used to it. One should feel as involved in it as at the farmer’s market in downtown Minneapolis. Your own comments underscore this point since you seem less turned off by a mediocre performance IF you’re one of the PERFORMERS.
Thanks again guys for your comments, and please feel free to reply to anything I’ve said, whether you agree or disagree. A blog is, methinks, a 21st century version of a village square—please continue to walk through!
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