The Need To Build An Audience And Why This Is Of The Utmost Importance To The Future Success Of Any Music Program

As a music educator in the making, one of the main concerns that I see any band, orchestra, choir or jazz ensemble director having is how to maintain and build on the audiences that are turning out for any of the concerts, recitals, performances or public presentations that their respective ensembles are putting on. During my tenure in the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford's Hartt School, as a student, staff and adjunct faculty member, this was an ever present and pressing issue of concern to all involved parties. For all intensive purposes, the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz would put on five concerts per semester. These included: two "jazz combo ensemble" concerts, which were typically held on back-to-back Thursday and Friday evenings respectively, a "big band" concert, which might be staged anywhere from Wednesday to Friday of a given week, and two "jazz vocal ensemble" concerts, which were usually held on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, back-to-back, with one each for underclassmen and upperclassmen respectively. These events were usually spread out over a three to four week period, with the big band leading off the festivities, followed by the aforementioned two jazz vocal ensembles, perhaps during the same calendar week or in the week immediately following the big band's performance. The jazz combo ensemble concerts were always seen as the culminating events of the semester in the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz. There are a number of factors to take into consideration when evaluating the success of these events from the stand point of audience size. The first item of information that is important to know, is that a weekly jam session has been ongoing at a barbecue restaurant called Black Eyed Sally's, located in downtown Hartford. This event takes place on Monday evenings from 8:00 pm. - 11:00 p.m. and represents a gathering spot for musicians and aficionados alike. The "die-hard" jazz fans in the Greater Hartford area frequent this "happening" from week to week. Consequently, it is rather difficult to count on them as willing to venture out multiple nights during the course of any given week, after they have already made an evening appearance following the beginning of their work week. Several faculty members from the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz have tried to establish jam sessions at other venues across the city of Hartford, but without sustainability. Even when these alternative events were scheduled during the second half of the week, the audience would be nowhere near the numbers seen at Black Eyed Sally's on Mondays. I think that it is important for us to take people's lives and obligations into consideration, as we attempt to plan concerts and public performances, be they school sanctioned or otherwise. Frequently, I feel that our passion for the art form, which we hold so near and dear to our hearts, blinds us to certain realities of the world around us. I am absolutely in favor of the idea of staging multiple events throughout the week, but I think that they need to be scheduled strategically. In the case of Black Eyed Sally's and "secondary" venues in Hartford that might be open to having a weekly or bi-weekly jam session, if the "jazz" community would like to maintain the Monday night "happening", then perhaps they would be wise to establish another regular or semi-regular presentation on Friday or Saturday evenings. The You Tube clip below is from a Monday night jam session at Hartford's Black Eyed Sally's Blues and Barbecue, which took place in February of 2011. The video features the following musicians interpreting trombonist Curtis Fuller's "Arabia": Josh Bruneau on trumpet, Haneef Nelson on flugelhorn and trumpet, David Wilson on cornet, Yunie Mojica on alto saxophone, Kris Jensen on tenor saxophone, Peter Greenfogel on tenor saxophone, Raynel Frazier on trombone, Brian Simontacchi on trombone, Kyle Aaron on piano, Matt Dwonszyk on bass and Rob Griffith on drums.

Another aspect of the above discussion about the Black Eyed Sally's jam session, which is particularly relevant to the task of maintaining and building one's audience is the idea of a musical community, regardless of the specific genre(s) in question. Earl MacDonald is a phenomenal pianist, composer, arranger, educator and chair of the jazz department at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. Through his website www.earlmacdonald.com, he maintains an active blog entitled Ever Up and Onward. On December 30, 2012, Earl's posting "Rethinking Concerts" provided band, orchestra, choir and jazz ensemble directors everywhere with many thought-provoking talking points to take into consideration as concerts, gigs, public performances and presentations of all sorts pop up on the ever expanding calendar of a music teacher. One of the first areas that Earl touched upon, which caught my attention was the idea of a community, in this case within the confines of what we call "jazz". He expressed concern that perhaps the UCONN community and surrounding area was being saturated with too many performances from the jazz department, throughout the course of any given academic year. Prior to sharing this thought, Professor MacDonald related a tactic that he had been experimenting with for several years, in an effort to build the average size of an audience at any given UCONN Jazz performance. Through connections that he already had, along with going out on a limb and contacting directors he did not know personally, Earl decided that he was going to bring in high school ensembles to open up various UCONN Jazz concerts. This idea sounds extremely logical, simple enough and frankly, quite obvious when mulled over a bit. However, Professor MacDonald quickly found that the increased numbers he had been expecting to fill the seats of von der Mehden Recital Hall simply weren't materializing. Frequently, the high school groups would have one or two adult chaperones along to assist the director and students in any way that they could. Besides these additional persons, many of the adolescents would not have a parent present to watch their performance, particularly if the high school in question was not so close to Storrs, Connecticut geographically speaking. In addressing Earl's first concern, that being that UCONN and surrounding communities were being saturated with too many performances from the jazz department during the course of each academic year, I don't think that this is particularly true. As music educators, we want to provide as many opportunities for our students to perform as possible. Being that Professor MacDonald is teaching at the collegiate level, almost all of the students that he comes into contact with have aspirations to make music a part of their life in the future, either predominately or secondarily. These learners should absolutely be challenged to learn as much repertoire as possible during the course of every semester that they study at the University of Connecticut, subsequently meaning that they need to perform on a regular basis. Before my time as a student at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz, along with the jam session in downtown Hartford, which at that time was held at a restaurant called Kenny's (now known as the Red Rock Tavern) located on Capitol Avenue, there were weekly gigs held on campus at a dining facility known as the Hawk's Nest. Starting in the 1990's there were also alternative performance ensembles in the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz, which put on one or two concerts per year, depending on their numbers and overall skill level. These groups included jazz trumpet, saxophone and trombone ensemble. Even though most students at the high school level do not aspire to become professional musicians, the more that they are able to showcase the work that they have put in throughout the course of in-school rehearsals, sectionals, practice sessions and potential private lessons, the more enthusiastic they are going to be about music in general. In talking about a musical community, I think that Earl MacDonald has brought up another relevant concern for any performing organization, that being geographic location. Although Storrs, Connecticut is not that far off the beaten path, many people view it as being a "haul" from most major metropolitan areas. Although Storrs is an actual community with public schools and businesses, the majority of the "village" is the University of Connecticut itself. Making connections with area high schools and teaming up to not only build one's audience, but also to staff the ranks for future generations of a program, be it at the middle school, high school or collegiate level is an absolute must for any director, but might it not be wiser for someone like Earl MacDonald to bring the music into the schools, as opposed to having the schools come to him? The same could be said for a high school director who makes contact with his or her middle school colleagues and potential future students. I understand the idea of wanting to showcase one's facilities or making students feel welcome in their future home, but I firmly believe that there is a lot to be said for making the effort to literally "come down" to the level, stage or step below you, offering a nurturing mentor-like experience for the younger steeds in the process. Below is a picture of pianist, composer, arranger and educator Earl MacDonald, chair of the jazz department at the University of Connecticut. Earl has built a terrific program, which features many accomplished artists, such as bassist Gregg August, saxophonist John Mastroianni and guitarist Doug Maher.

After perusing the aforementioned blog posting "Rethinking Concerts" a bit more, I happened to stumble upon an invaluable resource put out by David P. Miller, conductor of the Mississippi Community Symphonic Band, entitled Building Your Audience To Standing Room Only, which he assembled in December of 2010, after receiving multiple requests for copies of a presentation that he had delivered at the 2010 Association of Concert Bands convention in Plano, Texas. Miller's "e-book" is summed up quite nicely in the following five points:  1. We set a goal for audience size. At first, our goal was to always have

more people in the audience than on the stage, and later, to overflow

our venue. We made it.

2. We realized we needed to get new people to each concert, and to make

sure the ones that do come will want to come back. To make them

want to come back, we knew we had to make our concerts appealing.

We did this by (a) having fun – both in rehearsals and in the concerts;

(b) playing music people love hearing, music they want to come back

and hear more of; and (c) having a personable narrator and good narrator

notes.

3. To get more new people to the concerts, we made concerted efforts

(did I intend that to be a pun? I’ll let you decide) to let people know

about the concerts. The first of these efforts was appointing a publicity

chairman, to ensure we have press releases for each concert in all

possible publications, and setting up spots on radio and TV. We also

boosted this by printing up 500 concert flyers for each concert, by encouraging all band members to distribute them everywhere they can,

and by printing concert schedule cards for everyone to hand out. We

make sure retirement homes, nursing homes, and other governed living

facilities, particularly their recreation directors, know about our

concerts well in advance, and we publish our season’s schedule on our

website as soon as we know it.

4. We stay in touch with our audience by gathering their names and contact

information into a list. We do this through “stay in touch” forms in

our concert programs and a signup form on our website. We actually

do stay in touch with them by sending them, by email or postal mail,

an excitement-building notice in advance of each concert.

5. Finally, we make it a point to say “Thank You” for all donations, no

matter how small.

I think that many of these notions connect quite nicely to the sentiments expressed by Professor MacDonald in his blog posting from Ever Up and Onward. We always need to have a goal, because if there is not a tangible milestone for one to work towards, then many are going to quickly wonder what the point of engaging in preparation, practice and the actual execution of an activity itself actually is. Music educators at any level of academia would be wise to remember the notion of working with that which we have. From the moment that a band, orchestra, choir or jazz ensemble director accepts his or her position, observation should begin as to the culture behind performances, both in and outside of school. If there are only ten people in the audience at the first concert, then we have to build from there. Perhaps the second concert will have twenty, thirty, forty or even fifty people. While we need to be realistic in our expectations, I think that it is also ideal to aim high, as opposed to underestimating the potential of drawing an audience that exists. It is crucial that we develop an environment that concertgoers feel comfortable in, enjoy and want to come back to. David Miller is absolutely right when he asserts that if the musicians on stage are having fun, the audience will respond with the utmost enthusiasm to the energy that is subsequently generated. As music educators, it is our job to develop a love and joy for our art form in students. If we show learners that we are passionate, dedicated and deeply connected to that which we teach and pass on, they are bound to pick up on this state of being and run with it. One need look no further than Conrad O. Johnson, better known as "Prof.", who I discussed in my previous blog posting. If you have not seen the documentary Thunder Soul, I highly recommend that you watch it immediately! Choosing to program music that audiences will relate to, understand and connect with is not nearly as difficult as we make it out to be. I think that there needs to be a distinct compromise between teacher and students. In order for students to be receptive to that which we like, they in turn need to recognize that we are open to what they are listening to. The savvy music educator needs to consider the demographics of his or her audience, so that as Miller alludes to, they too are given a bit of what they want, subsequently opening their ears to unfamiliar sounds. The concept of a concert narrator offers a bit of variety to the potential for mundane routines that can inadvertently crop up in performance-based settings, such as the director always being the speaker, audiences having no background information concerning what they are listening to, etc. This added element can lighten the mood a bit, injecting humor into the concert when utilized effectively and drawing the audience in, by making them feel more connected to the creative process. I believe that the other strategies outlined by Miller speak for themselves, and while a public school music program would not be in a position to take direct donations, a parents or friends for music organization would be an extremely effective ally in not only collecting concertgoer information, but informing audience members about any fundraising that may be taking place during a given academic year. Below is a video of the Mississippi Community Symphonic Band, directed by David Miller, featuring tenor Steve Hyland in a performance of Maestro Miller's arrangement of the standard "O Holy Night" from the annual MCSB Christmas Concert held on December 15, 2012 at Christ United Methodist Church in Jackson, Mississippi.

Between the two resources shared above, I think we see that there is much to be taken into consideration by the ambitious band, orchestra, choir or jazz ensemble director, as to how to maintain and build his or her audience at annual performances. Clearly, there is no definitive solution to this quandary, but the important thing to remember is that being proactive will never do a disservice to one's institution or organization. The technology that exists in 2015 makes publicity a much more streamlined process, and with a bit of ingenuity, along with help from one's friends (pun intended!), the task of keeping people interested in what your ensemble has to offer becomes infinitely more tangible and realistic. Where there is live music, there will always be an audience of some sort. Although many people have acquiesced to accessing concert footage from the comfort of their own homes, a contingency will continue to exist that demands live performance in all its deserved glory.