poignant article about orchestral music

[tubajoe]

Agree or disagree, this article is pretty thought provoking...

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/ ... l-out.html" target="_blank

[tbn.al]

Wait a minute......................If they stand up and yell they might obscure my solo, and after all that's the most important thing.......... to me anyway.

[Heavy_Metal]

He has a very valid point. One reason Sousa was so wildly popular is because of his showmanship and his interaction with the audience. His concerts were "experiences" not just concerts.

Exactly. The two rock bands he mentions (The Who and Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band) are also well known for their excellent concerts (personally I can only vouch for the latter, and BTW, Springsteen actually used a tuba on one of his songs). But we don't normally think of classical performances that way. As I understand it, the music we now call "classical" occupied a similar position in society at that time to that occupied by rock, pop, country, hip-hip etc. in today's society. So it makes sense that concerts in those days must have been "experiences" as well, or they wouldn't have drawn much of an audience.

There are exceptions though. I found this the other day while surfing YouTuba- some of us may have seen it before, but if you haven't, just look at how the audience responds- the guy in the blue suit playing air-trumpet and air-violin is priceless- and there's plenty of low brass too. It's the Johann Strauss Orchestra under Andre Rieu, together with 400 guest musicians, playing "Alte Kameraden" (Old Comrades) in Maastricht in 2009. Watch and enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVwsDhNNLtw" target="_blank

[Bob Kolada]

This reminds me of the (very interesting) presentation about the golden age of American bands I saw at the 2012 Midwest. Really cool stuff there.

[daytontuba]

There was a time here where the Philharmonic here played 8 concerts a year - all white tie, tails - to a fairly limited, but supportive audience - and they still do that because there is still an audience that expects, and enjoys, that experience. But years ago, they
finally added a Pops series in the local convention center with tables, chairs, snacks, and beverages. That developed an entirely new - and younger - audience. Now, years later, both series have been expanded and there probably as many - if not more - Pops type performances as there are "serious" concerts. It would seem that some of the folks who attended the Pops programs decided they might try one or two of the "serious" concerts and decided they liked that too. There is now a fairly current, much larger, much nicer, concert hall, and the present conductor seems to be quite aware of music that will reach out and "grab" some of the young folks. These are the kinds of things that need to be done to keep building an audience - sure the technology is great and getting better every day - but there is still no substitute for hearing a piece like Carmina Burana live, with a large orchestra and chorus - sorry tech folks, live beats recorded every time for a piece like that. I find it fascinating that having gone through another college football season, one hears "O Fortuna" (from Carmina Burana), seemingly every weekend, performed by various schools - am sure a lot of us on this forum have noted that - Mars from the Planets gets a lot of football air time too. Don't know whether Orff or Holst envisioned their music being done with cheerleaders dancing, but perhaps he did. My point is that live "classical" or "serious" music will survive as long as we have programs that offer a wide variety of things and keeps the audience involved. Letting the audience get up and dance from time to time is a good idea - just like letting them sing along from time to time. Music is meant to be enjoyed - as well as appreciated!