The Frozen Chosen: audience response in classical music

An interesting video by Mandolinist Chris Thile on the similarities of all genres and audience response in an orchestra concert. Fantastic playing. Great insights. Chris says that he doesn't think it's the musicians in orchestra concerts that are too reserved, but the audiences. I thought this was worth a comment or two.

Audiences don't set the tone for a concert - the musicians do. Three cases in point:

1 - I went to a Pink Martini concert (with orchestral accompaniment) in Lexington, KY. The audience was comprised of the same crowd as the orchestra concerts who typically sit quietly like any other classical audience. But Pink Martini's performance and was so engaging and interactive, we were doing a conga line by the end of the concert. I dare you to do that at a Boston Symphony concert.

2 - Another notable concert, also in Lexington, was Time for Three - a trio of two violinists and a bass player also with orchestral backup. This was part of the Lexington Philharmonic's season so naturally the audience for this concert was very similar in make-up to their typical audience. Similar to Pink Martini, Time for Three's stage presence, joy, humor, and audience interaction was infectious. Audience members were quite vocal in expressing themselves during the music with impromptu hoots, hollars, and applause.

3 - On the other side of the coin, I was at a Cleveland Orchestra concert many years ago sitting in the front row. Bartok Concerto for Orchestra - Fourth movement. For those of you who know it, it's a lively, dance-like movement full of hypnotic rhythms that make passive listening a challenge. My friend Mara and I started subtly shifting back and forth to the beat, enjoying the music.

I thought the last stand violinist was going to jump out of his seat and throw his violin at me, he was so outraged. This is during the concert, mind you. Once he noticed me, he became visibly agitated, giving me glares, huffs, and puffs. This is an orchestra member doing this - not a fellow audience member. I stopped and sat quietly in my seat.

Given these three examples, I think we'll have a hard time contending that audiences are the sole problem. The musicians create the atmosphere, and the audience responds. This "call and response" that happens during the concert creates the ethos of a particular concert experience. It isn't a one way street.

After all, if audiences were solely responsible for the stagnant, reverential atmosphere of our current orchestra concerts, how did they get that way to begin with? Did they have a meeting and decide to only clap after pieces (not after movements and certainly not when the musicians are playing) and to remain absolutely silent and still during the music? No. They weren't the sole culprit but were responding to something else.

As I wrote about my first post (Beyond the Notes: A summary of my thoughts) I contend that art (and by default classical music) became a pseudo cult in the 19th century. I believe this created the overly-reverential atmosphere of the concert hall. As the concert became a ritual, aimed at serving music rather than human beings experiencing something together, life started to ebb from the concert hall. 

Why? Because music can never satisfy the human need to worship something. I've tried. It doesn't work. In my own life, I've found that God Himself is the only one who satisfies that need. And once that is set, music can finally take her rightful place and flourish in ways she never could before.