The Audience….who are they…and why do they do that?

So there he is right in the center, and every time I turn around he’s still asleep?  Wait a second why is that person leaving without even applauding, climbing over other patrons, was our performance that bad that you couldn’t wait for even one curtain call?  Are they just rude or is there something wrong with me, oh no IS THAT THE CRITIC??? !!!  We need to stop concluding that this is about us…….(even though it might be)

The man asleep I have had an interesting experience with and  after getting a heartfelt explanation,  it made me rethink everything to do with audience relationships.  We are taught to look for recognition, adulation, and only then do we show sincere appreciation which is such a narrow perspective, essentially boxing in the audience into very black and white categories.  We will be disappointed when noticing that one person isn’t giving a standing ovation and maybe jump to the conclusion that they must not know anything, when it may be that they’re the only one that knows and maybe the performance wasn’t so great!  Actually when I attended a recital once  I noticed that the one person who didn’t stand at the end was still sitting after nearly everyone had filed out, and then the person sitting next to him had to help him by giving him his crutches because his leg was broken!  I even caught him saying to his friend, I hope people realized.   That statement alone made me think that we as artists are often to quick to judge what is behind a reaction to our performance, often never taking into account that just because someone is at a concert, their life doesn’t  just stop.  A great performance of a great piece may have healing properties, but it can’t heal a broken leg!  Furthermore whilst we might be hopeful that people like us and the way we perform, isn’t touching people’s lives with music the reason we do this?  It is not about us, it’s about how music effects them.

So the sleeping man……A while back now I was in the lobby after a performance and a lady approached me to explain why her husband was sleeping through the performance, and that he actually slept through almost all performances!  She explained that he had a terrible sleep disorder, almost never having a restful night, and that they had tried everything, pills, mattresses, pillows, massage, stretching, you name it they had tried it.  It seemed that the only thing that helped him sleep were live performances of classical music, and so they attended as many as possible and since he would rarely hear the performance they bought recordings of the pieces to listen to either before or after.  She hoped I wasn’t upset by his sleeping!  How could I be! In this case we made a real tangible difference to this man’s life, giving him rest and comfort, proving that music can effect people in so many ways.  It is precisely that concept that can help build audiences (coming up next post).

Before leaving, I asked her to explain what she meant when she said that he slept through almost all performances and which ones he didn’t sleep through to which she replied well he doesn’t sleep through bad performances, so bravo to you and the orchestra! Just then he had returned from the restroom, I met him and thanked him and said have a great night to which he replied I already have!

So when noticing the person climbing as fast as they can to get out of the hall just as the applause is starting, maybe instead of jumping to the reflex conclusion that his or her action is a judgment of your performance, think of the what if i.e what if this person is a doctor on call who had just been called to an emergency situation…..we don’t know and so we should never judge!  The audience, who are they?  They….are us!

1 thought on “The Audience….who are they…and why do they do that?”

  1. Dear Mr. Spigeleman,
    Appreciate your thoughts and sensitivity on audience reaction, and the concept of not trying to read in to their response too deeply. It is more important to the audience that you are glad they have come and that the orchestra present a heartfelt performance.

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