do music fans want their music "easy to swallow"? that's a tough thing to understand. one nice feature of the human race is the idea of incorrigible access to personal thoughts. i can't know the listening backgrounds of my listeners, nor the simultaneous mindset as an active audience. (still to come ... real-time reviews. i review albums in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, writing about what i think while i listen). it's important for musicians, conductors, lecturers, etc. to consider the crowd and attempt to include most of them while luring their ears into your lair. i believe that the most complex stuff can be combined with a spoonful of sugar (mary poppins), but there is definitely some work that precedes that act. a clear intent of inclusiveness in the both the music and supporting materials beforehand (program notes, onstage banter, publicity) goes nicely with music that is performed at its highest level. 'high music', as tom waits refers to it, can't be snobby and stand-offish. nobody likes that shit, in any arena. need proof? see one-chord jam bands, local indie rock groups that play out of tune, party cover bands...i've played in each of these and we had tons of people at the shows. they paid there cover, stayed all night, laughed and cried and danced and gawked and cheered, brought their friends, and - often most importantly- racked up a big bar bill. there are ways to crossover genres. see bela fleck, naked city, michael tilson thomas, johnny cash, kronos quartet, and my friends in project.
is it "the responsibility of an audience to do a little work as listeners"? wow - well, i'd like to hope for this but certainly can't expect them to do it, at least not on there own accord. i actually do think that, through social networking and fundamental self-promotion, i can suggest supplements to my art form. i post an 'earformation' twitter feed (check it out on the the left), listing what i'm listening to on a daily basis. i frequently play tunes that are either from the songbook of or arrangements made famous by musicians that i really dig. but, most importantly, i want to further develop (if not initially create) relationships with the listener off the stage. i don't want to talk with you about how great i am or how neat my tunes are, but i would love to share with you the names of the latest artists i've been checking out or recordings that go straight to my heart. off the top of my head - i love pat metheny 80/81, tan dun & kronos quartet ghost opera, colon nancarrow studies for player piano, pete rock & c.l. smooth the main ingredient. just suggestions.
full disclosure: i don't like talking to people. i especially don't like meeting people. it scares me to death. i'd personally prefer to play my music, go hide backstage, do another set, pack up my shit and get outta there. however... that is not the nature of this beast. i want people to check out what i'm doing, follow my music, dig my friends that play with me, share the joy i find in music/books/films that i treasure. as my friend paula tells me, i need to get over myself. i realize that i'm in the wrong business to be a recluse, so i suck down that horse pill of social fear and start shaking hands & kissing babies (providing it's an all ages show.)
yeah leigh ... it is my responsibility to prime my audience for my musical adventures in hopes that they'll be excited about sinking their teeth into what i'm doing artistically, without giving them more than they can chew.
OK, I can go with you on all that. Clearly you give thought to this, as any artist who plays "high music" should.
ReplyDeleteI think what I'm trying to describe is a dynamic in which an audience at a show of yours has the opportunity to go on a complex journey, musically. If you open up and let yourself go there, as an audience member, you come away more satisfied, on a deeper level, than when you listen to a more mainstream product.
I realize about 50 percent of the words I just wrote are landmines, and I can be labeled a snob, and that most people (the ones I hang out with, anyway) enjoy a wide variety of musical experiences over time, depending on their mood. I like those out-of-tune indie bands, too, sometimes. Although I'm still not getting the jam band phenomenon....
(You hide your anthropophobia well, btw. Thanks for kissing our babies.)