Can Art Afford To Ignore An Audience?
Ah the wonders of the interwebs…
Two days ago I chatted for almost three hours (!!) with my new Twitter friend and future musical muskateer @HelenKim. (We have some very exciting plans in store for our readers over the coming months…) Being a former whizz with a cello, Helen and I have a lot in common – and one thing we share is a passion for bringing the music we love to the people who just don’t know they love it yet. (Watch this TED talk by Benjamin Zander to see how an audience can be transformed into lovers of classical music in barely 15 minutes…)
And today Helen “twintroduced” me to Greg Sandow (@gsandow), a music critic, educator and writer whose blog I have been digging into this morning.
This particular passage struck me as being worthy of sharing;
Ecosystem. The classical music world, I think, sometimes forgets that it needs one. Instead, we substitute a kind of entitlement. “This is our art. It has to exist.” When funding is plentiful, it might be safe to think that way. But today?
Added later: What I’m saying here isn’t simply about funding, management, or the cultural position of classical music in our wider world. It’s a human thing. If you’ve written a modernist piece — or any piece; or if you run an orchestra — don’t you want to look out at your audience and see people you care about, people whose thoughts and feelings and needs and loves and hates are a central part of everything you do?
And if not, why do you want to work — and, maybe, live — in such cold artistic isolation?
Isn’t this just a lesson in basic marketing? If you want to create a product, you can do one of two things -
- Create a product that you love, something you just know people will want to buy, because hey, YOU love it, right?
- Ask your audience what THEY want - and then go get it and give it to ‘em.
There’s no prizes for guessing that number 2 is where the dosh is, is there? (There can be exceptions to this – like the guy who invented pet rocks.)
Classical music may be art, but art needs to be shipped. And to do this effectively you must find a way to connect with your audience (and understand the ecosystem.) And it seems to me that most serious practitioners in classical music view their art as being quite a rarified niche that should command a certain level of respect and even reverence (when you go even further down the long tail, you find opera and modernist music whose audiences are even more nichetastic).
So go find an audience that is cool with that. It’s probably going to be a tiny one, but at least you get artistic autonomy.
But it’s worth pointing out that in reality the classical music market is a HUGE. Just look at Susan Boyle or The Three Tenors. Millions of people buy into this stuff. ClassicFM has the largest audience of any commercial radio station in the UK.
But the woman who buys an expensive ticket to see Il Divo strut their way through a cheesy operatic arrangement of “Unbreak My Heart” by Toni Braxton would shirk at paying £5 to sit in the gods and watch Philip Glass’s Satyagraha. And sadly, she’s going to walk right on by that virtuoso violinist guy playing in the subway for a laugh.
And that’s ok. Because there’s a place for everything, in my opinion, and I don’t buy into the whole highbrow thing that many of my peers do. I buy what I like, so why shouldn’t someone else?
But as Greg Sandow writes – why work in cold artistic isolation? You need to care about your audience – not patronise them, or brow beat them into submission because “this is serious art and it’s good for you!”
Surely the world of classical music needs to embrace where their audience is – and inspire them, encourage them, educate and lead them. Ben Zander does this just by sheer enthusiasm alone.
The answer is in drawing them closer to you. We don’t get more fans by shouting at people. Why not try a passionate, intimate whisper full of anticipation and commitment and respect?
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Thank you for this. Particularly for introducing me to the quote, “You need to care about your audience – not patronise them, or brow beat them into submission because “this is serious art and it’s good for you!”
I’ve known incredibly talented artists who shirk at the thought of introducing “certain people” to their medium. The thinking has been that to do so, particularly to those who don’t travel in certain circles, would cheapen the art or degrade the community who originally supported it.
I think this is bullshit. How else are we to offer opportunities for learning and discovery if we’ve determined ahead of time who is worthy and who is not? I wouldn’t have an appreciation and love for Rachmaninoff if it weren’t for a chance meeting with a pianist in a GYM of all places. If he’d have sized me up in my ratty gym pants and sweaty t-shirt, I never would have had the hours and hours of auditory pleasure I’ve experienced, nor would I have had the pleasure of an incredibly deep and meaningful friendship.
My experience has been that classically rooted artists are a relatively insular group. I WANT to learn and I WANT to understand. Share with me so that I can do so and then share that brilliance with others.
After all, isn’t that what art, in every form, is for?
Erica´s last blog ..erica_swanson: My h-town and I watched this. DURING DINNER. Yes, it’s that good. http://ow.ly/11ZnH TED talk: creativity and our children’s education.
Twitter: acdolph
January 31, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Right on!
I have to say, that the idea of “classical” or “art” music as somehow better, or more important than any other kind of music really bothers me. I’m even more bothered by some of the communities surrounding this kind of music who turn their nose up or worse at anyone who doesn’t recognize that “their music” is more important than any other kind of music.
To me, good music like any other art, is about what moves the audience. I know for many artists this would be a heretical statement, they see their art is a private practice and its quality determined either by their own experience in creating it, or by the reaction of a small peer group who “understand” what they’re doing.
And that’s fine, and I even think sometimes that that perspective can be useful at times during the creative process, but those artists need to realize that they are creating for what may be a very limited audience, and that doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with the people who don’t like the work.
I don’t mean to be negative, I have been absolutely transfixed and transformed by music that I didn’t expect to like. I think that’s great when that happens, but I think that for that to happen requires the performers, and presenting organizations to be welcoming to people who are not already experienced listeners and lovers of the style being presented. Some of us may need a little bit of help in understanding what’s going on. Really good pre-concert lectures can make a huge difference in the enjoyment of music which is not otherwise easily accessible. Benjamin Zander with the Boston Philharmonic is a master of this, and virtually all of their concerts sell out, I suspect, in part because he’s willing to take the time to help people understand the music.
I realize that I’m becoming very long-winded here, and I have more to say on this topic which I think is really important, so I think I’ll take this to my blog — if you’re interested please check it out http://andydolph.com.
Andy Dolph´s last blog ..Victor Borge, The Great Dane – A YouTube Concert
Well, you’ve already inspired me to put Lady Gaga on hold (I can hear your sigh of disapproval:) and listen to some of our classical CDs instead. It’s been a while! I’ll be tuning in again hoping to find out how we can draw them closer. I think it’s easy to alienate people online, when you want to include them, especially if you’re trying to sell them something.
Are you kidding? I love Lady Gaga…;)