Thoughts on Building an Audience

    I believe I heard the sentiment expressed that YouTube is taking our audiences away, or that it somehow fulfills a need for live music with today’s youth.  If this is true, than it is a sad truth indeed.  I do believe that one negative side to all the social media out there is the fact that in many instances it serves to isolate people, giving them a false sense of connection without the intimacy of face to face contact.  If our mission is to educate students in music, it seems to me that part of that mission should be to teach students the importance of listening actively as audience members, as well as how to perform effectively on stage.  In a school community it is true that we will always have a sizable audience in the parents of our students, however it would also be wise for our student body’s sake to widen the audience they play for, showing them that there are performance opportunities beyond the school auditorium.  Exposing them to such opportunities may also re-enforce their understanding of music’s unique ability to connect people in a real way.  These performances could be in nursing homes, or perhaps in churches, wherever people are getting together to share company.  One possibility may even be playing outdoors in a park or on the street.  Bringing the music out to the audience rather than always expecting the audience come to us seems to be an effective way of building a connection to people beyond the school community.  So building an audience has two important aspects to it.  It should be a part of our students’ musical education to listen actively, to learn how to be a supportive audience member as well as a good performer.  But if we want to widen the audience for our school musicians, then we also need to bring our ensembles out of the school environment and get the music out into the community.