In my first post, Out of the Shadows, I mentioned that the musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony out of all the major orchestras I keep track of, truly demonstrate and care about the audience connection. Here are two instances of how they turned seemingly hopeless challenges into opportunities. Plus, the first in the series of “On the Go”, what people in the business are listening to right now…..
Outreach
Not Sorry, Charlie……..
The question of the day – how do you satisfy an audience that ranges from 12 to 80? That is what I pondered last Thursday, 15 November, and it’s taken me this long to write about it. I’m going to tell you what happened, but I’m not going to let on how we did it until the end of the post. So there………….
Challenge = Opportunity part 2: Loading the Basses!!!
Though nothing to do with the title I am thrilled to welcome to our mad corner of the Internet Jason Heath someone who I don’t know personally but who’s other blog I knew well and enjoyed regularly, I now feel like a total “rookie” on this site! OK enough with the sport analogies, this is a real sports story. The St Louis Cardinals AA baseball team, The Springfield Cardinals moved here and into a brand new ballpark, Hammons Field three seasons ago, . They play 70 Games a year, the average attendance is 7000 a game, and they have 4000 season ticket holders “striking” (couldn’t resist) fear into the hearts of the local arts groups. Let’s play Ball!
Humor in music(ians)
FINALLY! One of the great knocks against classical music is the lack of humor on the part of those of us who are the greatest proponents of the art. This is, of course, specious. Musicians are frequently hilarious, and if the public actually knew what goes on backstage they would be shocked.
Chasing our Tails…Conductor Smack Down!
The first in a series of Conductor Smack Downs! The topic what we wear, and what the audience wears has popped up yet again. We so often don’t have an answer to our audience woes, so why do we turn to fashion to solve our problems? If we are building a house and we are looking at a hole in the ground where it will eventually be, the window treatments should be the furthest thing from our minds…. Holly’s Partial Observer article mentions the audience expectations in regards to dress. I am … Continue Reading
Stereoids….
Music is now officially a banned substance at marathons and races by USA Track and Field. We have finally made the sports pages! We are now the unfair advantage. I met with a friend in Rochester the other day who told me she can run further when listening to the first movement of the Eroica Symphony. I should have told her to download some Schoenberg as she would also run faster just to try and get away from the sound! In the immortal words of Bill Maher, I kid Schoenberg.….
Taking it for Granting…..
The Springfield Symphony (MO) was just awarded a substantial grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks for implementing a city wide program of community concerts with the assistance of students from 4 elementary schools helping to produce them with the aid of our professional staff. But, there’s a twist! Two hours before presenting the proposal to the committee, I was standing in front of my Audience Connections class discussing both the program and the presentation getting their feedback which actually altered my presentation. However that’s not the twist (more on the program soon). It’s that the grant is not the reason we are doing the program……
Out of the Shadows……
I could not be more excited about this opportunity, it is both an honor to be invited in by Drew and to share a blog with Bill. For the record my wife Lisa and I are legal immigrants from Australia. My title refers to the fact that now having space on a blog means that I wont just be leaving hit and run comments like I have on Drew’s and many other blogs over the past two years. It is time to step up to the mike and state my position, and to take some hits myself!
Here goes…….