[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]
Not being a regular concert-goer myself, I often wonder why people make the effort to go to concerts.
What is it that they look at?
I went to an orchestral concert once and got thoroughly bored (even though I loved the music).
Not only was the seat uncomfortable but there was nothing to look at other than a sea of identical-looking violinists in the far distance (we had cheap seats) sawing their violins in unison.
So I shut my eyes to focus on the music, then wondered why I hadn’t stayed at home and listened to a CD: the seats are more comfortable and the drinks cheaper.
I’m fed up with seeing choirs and singing groups just standing on stage singing and – if they can get their noses out of their books – occasionally looking at us.
If I make the effort to go out to a live concert, then I want all my senses to be stimulated, especially my aural AND visual senses. Yet in most concerts – sung or otherwise – there is simply nothing to see.
I am trying to do something about it.
One of my aims is to make choir concerts more theatrical, to try to find different ways of presenting each song mainly through different physical configurations of singers on stage, but also through lighting and other theatrical devices.
It’s hard to get feedback on what audiences expect or get from attending live concerts.
Apart from applause (or not) after each song, the fact that audiences seem to want to keep coming back, and the rare comment in our comments book, there isn’t much feedback as to choice of repertoire, presentation, audience involvement, length of concert, etc.
I’m rather flying blind and just hoping that what we have to offer is attractive. Maybe if I tweaked things a little we would get better audiences?
So do tell: what is it that you get from going to a concert that you don’t get by staying at home and listening to a CD?
(There is, of course, something else that the audience can look at whilst we’re singing, and that is the programme. I wrote about this a while back: Why I don’t like concert programmes)
Chris Rowbury: chrisrowbury.com
