So What Is The Relationship Between Composer And Audience In 2009?

[Steve Moshier]

[Steve Moshier]

Hopefully, a relationship that encourages positive responses and continued observance!

[Jeff Harrington]

We're in a new frontier now and the pop groups should be worried! Huge fan base, rock star status, and the paycheck to boast about!

Heh.

[Shane W. Cadman]

It should be one of respect and appreciation. We are nothing without an audience. Our challenge is getting our music to them.

[Iván Sparrow]

We are nothing with an audience. We are nothing without it.

The whole audience thing is overrated and, essentially, irrelevant.

[Shane W. Cadman]

Exactly!

Ken Palmer said:

If we are nothing without an audience why write at all.

[Shane W. Cadman]

Do you really mean that?

Iván Sparrow said:

We are nothing with an audience. We are nothing without it.

The whole audience thing is overrated and, essentially, irrelevant.

[John "Sparky" Prokop]

All I know, it's a great big world out there. A lot of minds, a lot of mouths to feed. That's why I, speaking only for myself mind you, think of my writing "career" as cooking for myself, as opposed to opening a restaurant or a catering service.

[Steve Moshier]

Auditoriums, theaters, 'chamber' spaces, vinyl recordings, 45's, cassettes, 8-tracks, CD's, mp3's: All of these 'mediums' were developed for one primary reason (and many 'smaller' reasons) - to share aural art with an audience.

[Jeff Harrington]

There's this old bugaboo which was instrumental in killing off high modernism - that they didn't care about their 'audience'. So, now when anybody brings up the word 'audience' it bring up the whole Babbitt "Who cares" crap etc.

I want as big an audience as possible while doing exactly what I want to do. That is not a style problem. It's a promotion problem. I think my music is good enough to attract a vast audience, yet I have a $0 advertising and promotions budget so I build audiences in other ways.

I create musical spider webs of intrigue and fantasy that once I lure the listener in, they never ever forget me.

;-)

Steve Moshier said:

Auditoriums, theaters, 'chamber' spaces, vinyl recordings, 45's, cassettes, 8-tracks, CD's, mp3's: All of these 'mediums' were developed for one primary reason (and many 'smaller' reasons) - to share aural art with an audience.

[Jason Bolte]

I want people to hear my music, enjoy it, hate it, it really doesn't matter to me as long as the listener reacts!

On another note... I have come to the conclusion that we as composers, performers, and musicians must be be involved in the creation and expansion of our audience. Composing or performing is only 1/2 the equation (I am guessing some would say even less)... we must promote our music and the music of our fellow musicians to the public at large. Work with a local new music group, or better yet, create your own! I know Steve Moshier has done this and I am sure many others have as well. I have had the experience of doing this sort of thing through the Kansas City Electronic Music & Art Alliance. We are in our third season and have had some really wonderful successes. www.kcema.net - Hey, if you are interested, please submit something for performance consideration we are always interested in hearing new work for possible programing.

[Steve Moshier]

Look at the positive reactions our fellow NNM members got last week from the Rhys Chatham and "In C" at Juanita's experiences: Both with fellow musicians in attendance and the audience that experienced them!

[paul bailey]

i'm not sure what my 'relationship' is with my audience but i can say after 8 years of putting on shows i had an evening that represented most everything i believe a show should be. sometimes you can't control the venue, music or other bands you play with but our midnight show at juanita's was real special for the following reasons:

1. we played in a club where the audience could vote with its feet. if they got bored and wanted to leave they were free to do so and if they wanted to grab another drink during the show they did. i can't say enough how playing in a club is a truly authentic experience. most classical musicians i know wouldn't do it because if people don't like your band they all go out for a smoke with five minutes.

2. i really liked playing at the same level as the audience. for whatever reason when we are usually higher up on a stage this is awkward for me. standing right in front of the crowd made the boundary between performer and audience disappear and it was interesting how many were "participating" by taking pictures and shooting video (even after 30-40 minutes). there is a strange and very powerful psychology behind those urges that i don't quite understand.

3. it sounds like a petty thing but i'll avoid shows where i have to pay for parking. although parking in the neighborhood wasn't easy it was free.

4. to me the point of playing terry riley's "In C" is that we were able to invite many in our 'audience' to come and perform in the show. i figured that we would get a nice group who had played the piece before, but in reality over 1/2 the musicians that showed up were newbies (playing "In C"). although some could gripe about how the performance was "over the top" (and i agree) i think the waves of enthusiasm that were bound to happen when you get such an interesting self-selected group playing music at midnight in a club in LA. overall it created a pretty powerful feedback loop with the performers feeding off the audience and giving right back. after about 10 minutes i realized it the performance was like a huge boat that couldn't turn and wouldn't slow down.

5. the biggest part of the night is that we went away with a bigger group of friends that are helping form a new music community around modular improvised music. playing "In C" is so much like reading marshall mcluhan's "the medium is the message" everybody namechecks it but few have read it. being exposed to the aesthetic of the music, performance practice, venue... is the best way to understand it.

our performance was like planting a flag the alt-classical music experience. we don't need no stinkin' messiah and xmas to have a party. we will put on the show when when and where we want and don't have to ask permission from anybody.

ok... that is a little much i'm just getting a little excited ;)

in summary

authentic venue, performing standing in street clothes (no special costumes) group improvisation, audience participation, free or low cost event

My Performance with the LANME and the Paul Bailey Ensemble