Newbies

From Ian Moss, Development and Marketing Associate at the American Music Center, and a faithful correspondent:

I've known situations where someone brings a classical music newbie to a concert or whatever, they enjoy it or at least say they enjoy it, but that's it. There's no desire on their part to now seek out whatever that orchestra or ensemble is doing next, or to read up on the big issues in classical music, or this or that. They've put in their time and it was a fun night out and the next time they'll go see some comedy or a play or head out to a bar with friends. I'm just not sure that adult classical music newbies are the people that orchestras etc. should be spending the bulk of their energies reaching out to. I think they would be better served by going after the people who like classical music, but don't go to concerts. Like me, for example--I've been living in NYC for over two years, and I haven't been to a single NY Phil concert or an opera at the Met in all that time.

Ian isn't alone. I spoke to a Juilliard class a week or so ago (one other than my own), and the students -- responding to a question from another guest -- said they didn't go to concerts at the big NYC institutions. One woman said she'd been to the Met once. I asked how she liked it; she shrugged. "Maybe that's why you didn't want to go back," I suggested, while adding that of course any performing organization will have bad days now and then.

But the issue, I suggested, really is this: Do any of the New York classical music giants -- the Met, the Philharmonic, City Opera, Carnegie Hall -- give anyone the idea that anything exciting is going on? Anything you just have to be at? I'd say no, and the students certainly agreed. Notice that this situation (if we agree it's how things are) has two parts. First, is anything exciting going on? And second, do the institutions know how to make people think they're exciting? These two things are independent, at least to some extent. There could be exciting performances, and the institution might not know how to tell anyone (or at least not convincingly). Or the performances could be dull or even bad, and even so the institution (a master of marketing hype) creates some excitement.

The reality, I think, is that there isn't much excitement, and if there were, the institutions wouldn't know how to tell anyone. Creating a buzz is something classical music isn't good at. In my consulting work with a variety of groups, I've noticed a couple of things. One is that some institutions don't think of creating buzz because they don't believe anyone could ever care about them. And I've seen in one case a very capable institution make a long list of ways to increase their audience, and not even mention the possibility of creating a buzz in their city. It's as if classical music sits by itself in a little box, and the rest of the world seems very distant. (Which sounds like a sure plan for extinction.)

Ian, by the way, hit by chance on exactly how I'm going to start my book -- with stories of two people I know who briefly joined the classical music audience (one by buying CDs, the other by going to a concert), and how the classical music world doesn't know (and, too often, doesn't think of finding out) how to bring them back.