Audiences

There are really only two ways I can think of to build an audience.  The first way is by promoting.  This can be through advertising, word of mouth, or by playing concerts outside of school in a variety of settings.  I’ve never actually had to do any of this.  I’ve been in many bands over the years, and I was never really the guy that took on the promoting and marketing of the group.  This is probably because most of these bands were groups that I wasn’t completely invested in.  In any case, promoting a musical group, be it a rock band or a high school jazz band, is something that I have little to no experience in and don’t know a lot about yet.

The other way I can think of to build an audience is by being both really good and interesting.  If your band plays at an exceptional level, then most likely more people will attend the next concert.  Even better than just being good though, is to play something that really grabs people’s attention and that everyone will remember.  If the band is unique in some way, then it’s more likely to build a following and get a bigger audience.  I would guess that the school bands that attract the biggest audiences are the ones that have a special identity, that play a lot outside of school, and that even have a name they go by other than “Such and Such High school Band.”

I’m not sure that it’s always necessarily important to build an audience as a high school band or orchestra director.  The most important thing is for students to get lots of experiences performing in front of an audience period whether it’s an audience of 30 or 3,000.  Preferably, students would get the chance to perform in front of audiences of greatly varying sizes.  In fact, playing in front of a small audience can be a valuable experience.  I’ve had many gigs where there were only about five people actually listening.  I sometimes had to remind myself that I should care just as much about playing well as if I was playing in front of a huge crowd.

I remember that in “Teaching Music With Purpose”, Peter Boonshaft says that rehearsing is much more important than actually performing.  I guess I disagree to some extent.  I think they’re both equally important in different ways.  The whole point of being musicians is for other people to hear us play.  If we just play for ourselves, then that’s great, but what have we really accomplished?  What’s the point in playing if others can’t hear us ultimately?  It’s sort of like the tree falling in the woods with no one there to hear it expression.  Performing in front of an audience is a form of practicing.  It’s the practice of being comfortable on stage with people watching, and the practice of not just playing the right notes with the right musicality, but having good stage presence and being a good performer.