My goal when I started Project MAD was to pursue new ideals for a symphonic organization with an entrepreneurial spirit of fresh ideas and bold innovation. But as I come to artistic strategy or “design” as I prefer to call it, keeping the entrepreneurial spirit going seems easier said than done! It has been a challenge to allow my imagination to really run free when it comes to “messing with the product” because my ideals behind the artistic design for an orchestra are steeped in the American symphonic tradition, through my own musical training and past experience.
Yet, it’s so evident that innovation is necessary in every aspect of the American symphonic model in order for it to evolve and be relevant in modern culture. Certainly, music education plays a huge role in sustaining classical music, but the artistic design of choosing what music to play, when, how often, where to play it, what artists to involve in it, and what its presentation should be like, are all important artistic elements, and they all need a fresh, creative approach. The goal in my head with this model is to capture and retain modern audiences, particularly younger audiences, the orchestra field’s long-elusive targets.
The easiest things to examine first are aspects of symphonic presentation. These are visual and non-musical aspects of how the symphony does its work and creates “the experience.” In this area, I’ve decided that what the City Symphony needs is a ”makeover.”
Consider this metaphor. An orchestra, as we’ve traditionally known it, is like a legendary star past her prime. ”She’s” the same amazing star she’s always been, but she is long overdue for a makeover. Though she has aged gracefully for centuries, she is now showing her age and starting to severely decline. She wears clothes way out of date, her face rarely has any color or make-up, and though she still sings beautiful and fascinating music, she’s ignored by most young people. They don’t really understand who she is or the music she sings. She has a reputation for being very stiff and formal, and she is definitely set in her ways. Her shows are visually dull compared to almost all other modern entertainment. She expects people to applaud only at certain times. She doesn’t speak to the audience much, she just sings and bows and leaves. She’s expensive to see in person. And she has been this way for a very, very long time. If she doesn’t somehow change the way she appeals to audiences and puts on her show, she risks becoming a relic.
The good news is that she, the orchestra, despite her stodgy old ways still has immense artistic value. If you close your eyes and just block out the presentational traditions, there’s still this music that has the power to deeply touch people of all ages. With that metaphor in mind, I was able to think outside the box and blaze ahead with the idea that “nothing is sacred except the music itself.” So here we go: the City Symphony’s presentation “makeover.”
Concert Dress. Yes, the traditional tuxedos would be the first to go in the City Symphony, except maybe for occasions that might warrant formal attire, such as a special gala concert. This change is so, SO long overdue in the orchestra world. The field clings to treasured historic traditions in many ways, but especially when it comes to the formal male uniform. Dispensing of the tux doesn’t mean that symphonic presentation should not have a uniform look. I think orchestral presentation benefits from visual uniformity that helps support the feeling of a unified ensemble in sound.
I propose that the City Symphony would engage a professional fashion stylist to choose and/or design a new uniform look (or looks) for them. The look still needs to be elegant and respectful of the refined music, but more culturally relevant to our modern time. It would be vitally important for the orchestra’s wardrobe to be developed in close collaboration with the musicians. Attire that works well for a clarinetist may not be so ideomatic for a violinist. Musicians are in the best position to decide what is comfortable for themselves. Stylists are creative professionals who understand how to choose a fashion aesthetic that respects the refined artistic legacy but appeals to a modern audience that is visually oriented and fashion conscious.
Now, I know what some readers who might be familiar with orchestra management might be thinking, what about the subs? How would the City Symphony handle a new uniform when it comes to hiring temporary or last-minute substitute musicians? One of the reasons the tuxedo has survived for so long is due to its universal use from orchestra to orchestra. I don’t think this new approach to concert dress has to be that involved or complicated. Certainly airlines, hospitals, police forces, and other industries that adopt uniform wardrobe policies consider the need to clothe new or temporary employees regularly.
Also, concert dress doesn’t have to end with one look – my idea is not to replace the tux with another option that remains stagnant for the next century. The City Symphony might choose to have a set of looks, a performance wardrobe that could appear in rotation, changing from concert to concert, or by the season of the year. Periodically, the audience should see some new clothes on the musicians.
Just maybe, fashion companies would collaborate with the City Symphony, providing a stylist and some or all of the clothing in exchange for sponsorship recognition? We see this in entertianment media all the time. Think: ”City Symphony Attire by Jones New York.”
Lighting. Let’s add just a little make-up or color to the stage through lighting. The world of technical theatre has advanced with sophisticated lighting options, and yet most orchestras still perform under a very static white stage wash. Because I enjoy music of all kinds, I go to popular concerts from time to time, where the production values can often be as much a part of the concert as the music itself. Younger audiences – the symphony’s future – have become accustomed to stunning production values, particularly in lighting.
I’m well aware that my fellow classical purists as well as music critics might cringe at the thought of a light show at the symphony. I can hear it in my own head: enhanced production values might draw attention away from the music. There is a very fine line between distraction and enhancement, though. Naturally, this artistic aspect would depend on choosing the right lighting designer and achieving an artistic balance between highlighting the music and appealing visually to a modern audience. In the entrepreneurial spirit, I have to take this gamble.
I’m not talking about rigging up a vast system of show trusses packed with intelligent lighting instruments, spewing chemical smoke everywhere, and light plots that swim and swoon throughout the Rite of Spring (but I’m willing to admit I’d go see such a thing). In fine theatrical productions, a truly fine lighting design is one that the audience doesn’t necessarily notice. It illuminates the stage and enhances the mood, setting, and action of the piece perfectly.
Stage lighting is a really versatile element of theatricality. And I have always considered live classical music to be a theatrical discipline. It is visual when it’s live. Music is supposed to make us think and feel something, and it relates, even if only enigmatically, to sight. I also think performers just tend to look better when lit beautifully.
I remember an orchestra concert several years ago during which the lighting system failed. I happened to be backstage with the stage manager when it happened. The lighting technician was able to quickly patch things up to get some lights working, but couldn’t get the system to full throttle, so the stage was lit but dim. The orchestra was playing Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony. The conductor naturally stopped at the blackout and waited for direction from the stage manager. When the partial lighting was restored, he quietly asked the orchestra if they could still see their parts? They agreed they could, so they started over and played through the piece. The effect of this ‘accidental’ dimmed lighting on the concert was palpable, particularly during the famously beautiful slow movement. Several people came up to me in the lobby afterward and said they really didn’t mind the accident at all, that we should dim the lights more often. I took note of it.
Staging. In my mind, as this blog series has unfolded, the City Symphony’s hall has always been thought of as the modern, sexy, architecturally wonderous, acoustically magical, multi-purpose variety. A multi-purpose hall provides for flexible staging configurations, including concert hall, pit orchestra/proscenium stage, and variable acoustics for different kinds of repertoire. A multi-purpose hall provides the opportunity for more creative staging of musical works, more collaboration with dance, opera, and/or theatre with the orchestra. It would also allow the City Symphony to present other kinds of performances to generate revenue and own the marketshare for live music in its community, one of MAD Foundation’s strategic goals. A few orchestras in recent years have brought dance pieces into their masterworks concerts, and I like that idea. Photochoreography, such as James Westwater’s work, is another interesting visual staging option, though I would do these programs as “specials.” Changing the staging for the occasional unusual program adds the needed element of visual variety into the old ”concert series” tradition.
Though it pains me some to acknowledge it, I’ve noted Andre Rieu’s orchestra stage setting with props, drops, ballroom chairs, chandeliers, and of course, the ball gowns for the ladies. For classical purists, it is pure cheese. But for thousands of uneducated ticket buyers, it’s going to the symphony. In their defense, they create a frothy staging appropriate to their Viennese-themed show that seems to attract huge audiences. They fill up arenas around the world, and are constantly on public television. Other orchestras should take note, at least they are staging something different and selling it well.
Video Technology. There are some orchestras that have deployed video projection technology in their concert hall, similar to the the screens used by popular acts to provide close-up views in arenas from the nosebleeds. I would incorporate videography into the City Symphony for a few reasons.
When the beautiful flute solo opening to Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun is played, I think the principal flutist should be seen as well as heard. Because a symphony performs with so many bodies on stage close together, it is often impossible for audience members to really see individual musicians. Personally, I love seeing musicians playing up close, especially during appropriate moments in the score. We see this in filmed concerts, why not live?
As much as videography also might annoy the traditional purists and critics, I still have to go for it in the goal to attract younger audiences. Videography in popular music has progressed to the point of almost an expected element of performance. With people glued to visual media all day every day - computers, iPhones, HDTV, Blu Ray, etc., they want to see as well as hear everything on the stage.
Done really well, I believe videography would actually help audiences of all ages to enjoy and understand symphonic music better. Video can help audiences to recognize and appreciate important parts of scores, to acknowledge the talents of individual musicians, or just watch the huge brass section as they play through that loud and triumphant finale.
Also, how many orchestra patrons today know the face of their principal trombonist? With video, they can get to know each musician’s face over time. Developing closer relationships between musicians and patrons ultimately translates to the bottom line. The audience needs to get to know and respect every musician on the stage, not just the conductor and soloist.
Videography would also allow patrons to see more of what the conductor does physically and expressively from a better vantage point than rear-view. Patrons seated on both sides of the hall would also be able to see the keyboard during piano concertos, a very popular preference of concertgoers.
Another reason to put video cameras in the concert hall relatees to an idea that I mentioned in my last post on the MAD Foundation’s business complex. I suggested that a traditional movie theater might be one of the MAD Real Estate Division’s tenant businesses, so that live concerts might be transmitted into one of the movie theater’s screens, targeted for a more casual and family audience that would be able to watch and listen while munching on popcorn, helping children pay attention without disturbing the live audience in the hall, and all at a cost comparable or lower than movie admission. This idea supports one of the MAD Foundation’s strategic goals: to make programs affordable and accessible to the broadest audience possible.
But videotaped performances also open the possibilty for local, national, or global concert distribution and outreach, such as the Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall, and Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Live in HD series. One of the other goals of the MAD Foundation is to share excellence in the music created locally with the world by any means possible. For the City Symphony, I’m imagining the potential of live digital video transmission even on a local or regional scale – just to the broader population around its home city. If orchestras don’t do this at least near their home turf, then LA and Berlin, or other major orchestras that sign up first, will own that market space. Technology like this is a new frontier to distribute live concerts to targeted consumer groups. I’m particularly looking toward the “great retirement” of the Baby Boomer generation. By 2030, one in five Americans will be senior citizens, and many of these people, with wealth, will live in retirement villages and assisted living centers. These complexes are practically becoming self-contained worlds of their own. If these older people can’t, or just don’t wish to, travel to the city to get to their orchestra’s concert hall, their orchestra can come to them in HDTV, and surround sound in their own headphones. It is far more expensive for orchestras to do run-outs than to make full performances available through phenomenal and accessible technology. Given that the proper legal and financial agreements are developed with the musicians, they can be.
I’ll talk more about technology as I move further along.
Other Presentation Factors. Before internet technology and social media came on the scene, I used to say that arts presentations begin and end in the parking lot, not in the hall. Today, I believe that presentation can begin weeks prior to arriving at the hall. Internet and social media are now presentation tools to engage and prepare audiences for performances with artistic, social, and educational content before they ever arrive. Getting musicians to Tweet and contribute Facebook items is just a start. I envision that the City Symphony would use internet and social media extensively in both pre- and post-concert presentation. These tools can be used to bring audiences into the preparation and rehearsal process. Theater companies have already started to do this, distributing “conversation seeds” via Tweets, blogs, video blogs, etc., surrounding the production of a play from selected cast members’, director’s, or designers’ points of view, welcoming audience response. Internet and social media tools should be used to generate “buzz” around the presentation, to pique curiosity in the musical process and demand for the final live concert exprience.
Now, for orchestras that are preparing new programs week after week after week, this is a ton of content to generate. The City Symphony’s programming strategy, however, is going to be a little different – I’m going with an entirely new “repertory” model. I’ll talk about that in the next post or two.
Once patrons do arrive at the venue, however, presentation does continue in the parking lot. The exterior areas around a venue should be well-maintained, secure, and well-lit, from the time the first patron arrives until the last patron leaves. The external presentation is a reflection of what happens inside.
Once patrons step inside the lobby of the concert venue, presentation goes yet another step forward. As I mentioned in my previous post about MAD’s City Symphony Music School, they would be in charge of providing free pre-concert lectures, as most orchestras do, but I would further add to the lecture with visual exhibit walls in the lobby that would feature content about each program. Musicological ephemera can make a visually-compelling exhibit around the music: photos and anecdotes about the composers, historic or famous quotes from critics about certain pieces on the program, newspaper headlines of political or social scandals from the time and place in which works were written, very visual and browsable exhibits. These visual exhibit walls should also showcase the artists. In addition to conductors and soloists, I would include the concertmaster and headshots of principal musicians who might be playing major solo passages in that evening’s repertoire – to give the audience the message of what, and who, to listen for, and reinforce that “relationship” between musicians and patrons. The word relationship is very important to the marketing and development strategy I’ll be talking about in this series later.
In terms of program notes in the concert program, I tend to favor slimmer notes written at an approximate eighth grade reading level. Even with a degree in music, I’ve found some orchestras’ program notes hard to understand without a PhD in music theory and/or history. They need to be easily understood by a broad demographic, but they need not be fluff. They can still be substantive in content, but digestible to modern lay readers. And of course, audio-enhanced program notes online or through a podcast or smartphone app are a part of the aforementioned technology-related pre- presentation tools that are possible today.
The old fashioned printed program book is still an invaluable presentation tool to not only inform and educate the audience, but promote the City Symphony’s other programs, the Music School’s educational opportunities, human interest articles about composers, soloists, conductors, and players, and so forth. I would cut down the dry, long guest artist and conductor biographies, and add more personal interviews and stories about making music. Surprisingly, no matter how much I throw sticks or rocks at this old tool, I wouldn’t take it away from the symphony model. I would just try to update its content a little more.
Post-concert presentation activities are also important, such as question and answer sessions with composers, conductor, and musicians. I’ll mention other pre- and post-concert stuff when I get to marketing and development. I will continue with artistic design in upcoming posts. Stay tuned.
