Appealing to the youngs
How do you do, fellow kids?
A few weeks ago I wrote about a recent survey from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on why people don’t attend the symphony. The RPO is back with more:
More than three in four adults (76%) say they would be more likely to attend an orchestral concert if orchestras took steps to modernise the concert experience, according to new research.
Shorter concerts (27%), more matinee performances (24%), conductors speaking to the audience (20%) and being encouraged to keep phones on during a performance (11%) – these were just some of the things people would like to see at orchestral concerts, according to a new study commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. …
Music students, a younger generation of orchestral advocates, cared the most about people feeling free to react to concerts in a modern way. Music students were most likely to want to see audiences being encouraged to react on social media during a concert (28%). This group also wanted audiences to feel free to take photographs or film clips of a concert with their phones (21%) - and being encouraged to applaud between movements, or whenever they wanted to (19%). …
Huw Davies, Deputy Managing Director at The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra commented: “As we embark on another exciting season of concerts, we wanted to take a moment to ask audiences about the steps that could be taken to make a concert experience more attractive. From the results there was no black and white response, rather people’s responses reflected where they were on their orchestral journey. People new to the genre had suggestions that supported their learning; music students were passionate about digital engagement – themselves young ambassadors for a new generation – and more established audiences wanted the orchestras they loved to be more accessible. At the RPO we are already making progress in many of these areas and these steps form part of our mission to present orchestral music to the broadest possible audience.”
They did not ask (maybe this will come out in a future post of survey results) about what changes people do not want to see. We all have a conservative disposition about something, and if people are going to be on their phones during concerts, taking videos, applauding when they think the bassoon has just done a nice job over the past few bars (although their chances of actually noticing that are greatly diminished when they are at that moment posting on Insta), then I do not want to go any more, and I will lament that loss.
I attend concerts because of the experience they promise now. To chase young audiences by saying “we will make orchestra concerts just like everything else you do” is to lose something valuable for people who already attend. And it is far from clear that chasing young audiences on the assumption that what they really need is permission to have and use their phones will, on balance, increase audience size.
Shorter concerts, matinees, a talk by the conductor? Great. Because these don’t affect the experience of sitting and listening to a piece. But cell phones? That is what young ambassadors for a new generation want? Stop.
Yeah, it's an interesting mix of recommendations/thoughts. The no phones/applause only on finish norms seem to me natural extensions of a liberal ethos, e.g., the right to swing one's fist ends at someone's nose and thus also no to a way of participating in a collective experience that interrupts someone else's preferred participation. I can't hear the music while someone's applauding the bassoon; I can't watch the concert while there are bright screens being held up high in front of me.
At the same time, the idea that one sits in immobile silence with restrained applause after sometimes very lengthy performances is genuinely disenchanting for a lot of folks; I have to admit its appeal has waned for me. Classical music sometimes is very intellectual or austere in some fashion, or deeply historical; it would be lovely for a conductor to also function as a pedagogue and say a few things about the music the audience is about to hear. And sometimes it's emotional in a way that cries out for embodiment of a sort. Not dancing in the aisles, but not one's best imitation of a statue either. Shorter pieces, more explanation/contextualizing (especially for pieces that aren't frequently performed)? Those seem like lovely ideas. Concert spaces more like the Hollywood Bowl, etc.? Also lovely, if not practical in many climates.
I’m of that age where I’m getting invited to lots of weddings of the offspring of dear friends, folks who are same age as the young music students surveyed here. A trend I’m seeing: those same young people are declaring their wedding ceremonies as phone-free zones. They are declaring - “Be in this with us, put down your phone.” Might that actually be a more appealing message?