Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Tonal Tuesday - Our Audience

As a young performer, I always knew that my mum would be right there in the front row no matter what.  I had an ally who thought I was perfect and that injection of ready support always made it easier to try new things.

As a young soloist at church, I would turn to the congregation and stand in my spot at the rood screen and sing knowing that when I turned back to get in my spot, I would look at my dad in the bass section and get my wink.

That simple but effect endorsement is invaluable.  I know that when our Embro Thistle Singers sings their families are often in attendance.  When they come back afterwards, their comments on the concert are really important.  Why else would we sing if not for our audiences?

The type of audience we have often dictates the music we choose.  In the case of one international charity group, we were not allowed to sing about Christmas.  It was explained that because they are represented in many countries with various belief systems, no Christmas references were allowed.  Hmm.  That was interesting.

Just as important are the audience members that you can ask for an evaluation.  How did those last 3 chords in Over the Rainbow work?  Too slow, too fast?  Were the words clear?  My mother always called that kind of look back a "post mortem".  With my mum, it was often done over a cup of tea and some kind of "slushy" dessert.  Oh yeah.

Appreciation of your audience is a key element.  And when we work with the audience in mind, they pay us back with great support.  Thanks to all of you who come to listen.  You are what it is all about!

2 comments:

Colleen said...

You and Dad always gave great "audience support" for whatever I was doing. Although if I was speaking then Dad really did slide so far down in his chair that I could only see the top of his head, but I knew he was there and just nervous for me. He always popped back up for the applause bit.

Embro Thistle Singers said...

And then there was the time that he fell asleep at your ballet event when we were sitting in front of the radiator. It was the snort when he popped awake that gave him away. Tee, hee.