Monday, April 4, 2011
Chapter 17 Reflections - Concerts
Of the many facets and challenges of performing concerts in the world of music education, The behavior of public audiences is one issue that is very difficult to address. While school administrators and teachers can exercise direct control over the student body, when dealing with the general public this is certainly not the case, yet it is easy to have the same high expectations for their concert behavior. People whispering, cell phones, general talking, leaving before the performance is finished, and miscellaneous noise and disruption are all part of tho typical "bad concert behavior" list. However, despite this challenge, if we, as educators, can find a way to make an impact and do something about this, the real winners will be our students who will enjoy their performance experience much more with an attentive, well-behaved audience.
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So how should you deal with this as a music educator? As music teachers in public schools, our "students" are more than just those individuals in our classrooms during school hours. We also have to teach parents, administrators, school board members, etc. about what it is we do, why it's important, and how they can help. Like most things, if you start "audience education" early, it is easier. Starting with beginning students' concerts make announcements about turning off cell phones and beepers, put little snippets of information about audience etiquette in programs, etc. And, if you teach the students about these protocols, some of them will take it how to their parents too.
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