An Exciting New Program – And How Stations Might Use It

One of the biggest of the “big picture” questions that classical radio stations and performing arts organizations struggle to answer is how we make classical music more accessible to people that perceive it as old-fashioned, washed-up, and stodgy.  One method is to focus on the music itself and try to make it easier to understand.  Through “inside the score”-type interactive presentations before concerts, chamber music groups and orchestras have attempted to bridge the gulf of understanding between performers and audiences.  Bill McGlaughlin’s radio program Exploring Music accomplishes this quite well, too, by tackling a different topic each week and guiding listeners through the life of a certain composer, conducting a survey of Beethoven’s string quartets, or any number of other educational topics.

Another method of making music more accessible is by focusing on the people who perform it.  It’s not something that has been done a whole lot through any media, but it’s beginning to happen more and more. Pianist Zsolt Bognár has created a fascinating series on YouTube called Living the Classical Life, in which he profiles the daily lives on numerous up-and-coming and already established classical musicians, including Stephen Hough, Daniil Trifonov, and Joshua Bell.

One of the best radio examples is NPR’s From The Top, in which host Christopher O’Riley doesn’t talk too much with the young musicians about the music itself, but about the triumphs and struggles of their daily lives.  For me, From The Top  is not so much a music show as it is a storytelling show.  I tune in to meet the young musicians featured on the show as people, not so much to listen to and judge their performances.

Now there’s a new game in town, and it comes from pianist Lara Downes.  She has already made a name for herself with her genre-bending performances and recordings, and now she’s getting into the radio business – or at least she’s trying to.  And the project is awesome.  It’s called The Green Room, and much like Bognár’s video series, it seeks to shed light on the everyday lives of prominent classical musicians.

Downes has posted a few episodes on SoundCloud, and I listened to the one about violinist Anne Akiko Meyers.  It’s quite good! Anne shares her stories of concertizing while pregnant and the work written for her (and her new baby) by John Corigliano.  The program could definitely use some help with editing and other production elements (a fact that Downes freely admits, and is a big part of why she’s raising money on Kickstarter for the program), but the content itself is very compelling.

That being said, I don’t think it’s a program I would to add to my station’s on-air lineup, for a number of reasons.  First of all, the episodes don’t appear to be consistent lengths, making scheduling a problem.  Another issue is that the program is talk-heavy, which makes it a tough sell for music formats.  BUT – that doesn’t mean the program doesn’t have great potential to engage listeners.  I think it’s the perfect program for stations to use as a podcast in conjunction with its over-the-air music.  To make it really effective, a station’s music director could program a series of Anne Akiko Meyers recordings over the course of a week, and then have hosts direct listeners to the station’s website or social media where they could learn more about Anne’s life and career.  That way people that want to hear music and not talk can keep listening, and those that want to learn more can do so.  Just because I would do it that way, however, doesn’t mean that others won’t choose to use the program as part of its traditional broadcast.  It really just depends on the philosophies and priorities of each station.

I certainly wish Lara Downes the best as she tries to secure funding for this project.  I think it has great potential, and I’d encourage you to listen to the episodes she has published already, and even to lend a few bucks if you can.  And I’d love to hear your thoughts on the program and how you might like to hear it incorporated into your own station’s lineup (online, on the air, or both).  Drop a note in the comments section!