Averting the Orchestral Crisis

This is another paper I wrote earlier in the semester for an Arts Leadership class called Artistic Decision Making. It was taught by Richard Decker, vice president of the Syracuse Symphony.

The modern orchestra competes against a technological age offering a large variety of easy entertainment. The audience houses several different generations of people at any given time; as such, tastes and expectations of the client base are demanding and varied. In order to keep up with the changing times and audience members, the orchestra needs to find a way to balance the old, conservative model of success with newer, innovative risks. To keep these ideas focused and easy to sort, I have identified five different appeal aspects of a successful product that consumers expect based on my personal qualitative analysis of successful businesses and musical groups: Quality, Relevance, Accessibility, Scarcity, and Importance.

The quality of the orchestra seems to have a direct effect on the customer size. This is an obvious factor for any musical director or patron. The harder the orchestra works, the better the response from patrons and the easier it will be to market the concert. Marketing and Public Relations are an integral part of the orchestra. The more times a person sees a press release or newspaper article about the orchestra, its impact on the community, and interviews with musicians, the more effective it will be. The idea of a symphony concert must become as natural as a trip to the movies. If possible, the orchestra should look to publicize their events in unique ways to attract a younger audience. They should market in coffee shops, at movie theaters, and other areas of entertainment to destroy the perception that the symphony is “high art” and not accessible to people of all intelligence levels. Perhaps a poster with an artistic shot of a younger symphony musician outside of the concert hall (as opposed to the generic panoramic shot of the full orchestra in the hall) would appeal to the generation of internet users who likes things personalized.

Once the audience is attracted to the orchestra, they must be convinced that orchestral music is relevant to their lives. Aside from making an emotional connection to the music, they should be given to the opportunity to be educated about the music they are going to hear. Many orchestras offer a pre-concert talk, but more can be done without antagonizing those who wish for the concert to be free of speeches. When people are getting into their seats before the concert they can have the option of watching a big screen above the stage that gives an informal slide show or presentation on the music that is about to be heard. A clever way of engaging the audience would be to incorporate several different learning styles into the slideshow. Perhaps a brief explanation of the music, the composer’s intent, and the life of the composer can be interspersed with artwork that was influenced by the music or the age the music was created in. The screen can have trivia questions about the composer’s life with random, interesting facts to help them feel like they know the composer before they hear his work. Those who wish to ignore the screen and socialize with the people around them can do so freely without feeling forced to learn; the curious who do not want to come to the symphony an hour early for the pre-concert talk will be satisfied with these attempts.

The idea of accessibility is important to a consumer. If the cost of going to the event (in terms of effort, money, and time) is equal or greater to the cost of the event, people will hesitate to go. Parents have to find babysitters, patrons have to pay to park, and leave several hours out of their day for the purposes of attending the symphony. Most orchestras I am aware of recognize these factors and offer their patrons several different days and times to attend the concert, and sometimes even ticket discounts. I think this idea can be expanded even more. If the orchestra has two distinct types of consumer personalities, like “conservative” and “contemporary”, then the orchestra will find it difficult to cater to both on the same night. It would be interesting to have one night dedicated to the traditional, formal concert setting and another night in a more casual, social-oriented setting. For the night of the casual concert the patrons could be offered a chance to mingle with the orchestra in a reception before the concert and receive free drinks for a higher ticket price. If financially possible, the orchestra should consider looking into playing in new concert venues, especially more non-traditional settings like sports arenas, comedy houses, or museums. It would be wise for a smaller version of the orchestra to perform in these kinds of places on non-concert days to increase awareness and boost interest.

Orchestras should consider the idea of making their popular products seem scarcer than they actually are in order to increase the desire for them. Instead of following the traditional overture, concerto, and symphony format for the majority of concerts, the orchestra could program several smaller works and a movement or two out of a symphony. This would allow the orchestra to play a wide variety of music, giving them the chance to play new music without an audience getting overwhelmed by the lack of tonality. The new music would be interspersed with very popular classical pieces at first. Gradually the orchestra can introduce wonderful classical pieces by composers who are not as recognizable as Mozart. This particular set of concerts could be called “Top 10 pieces of the month” or “Dim Sum”, denoting that there are several smaller works instead of a long symphony. Those who have never sat through a symphony before might find it less of a chore to sit through a concert with tons of variety. When people hear clips from symphonies that they like very much they will be more likely to want to listen to the full thing.

Another idea to make the orchestra a “unique” experience is to involve a large amount of visual art in the performance. The movie “Fantasia” is very popular because it combines animation with classical music. Television shows once used classical music as their background to add to the drama of the show. It was great education for children, because they recognized the piece later on in life and always wanted to hear it as they got older. The orchestra could consider commissioning an animation artist to draw something related to the music to be shown during the piece, especially for music that is more difficult to understand tonally. If a patron can relate the piece to his or her life, regardless of how pleasing it sounds to the ear, they will enjoy it more. Another interesting idea would be to involve dancers in the concert. The dancers could make up a dance to fit the piece and do it on the stage while people were watching. Dancers could be as varied as Salsa dancing for a Ginastera piece or even a mini-ballet for Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite. I believe the visual art will only enhance the effect of the music, not distract patrons. This would be fantastic way for people to get exposure to different kinds of art and support the arts in general in their schools.

Ideally, the orchestral experience should be more emotionally important to people than a trip to Starbucks. A way to reinforce this idea is to convince the audience that the orchestra finds the community important. Other than frequent educational outreach events, the musicians could find ways to harness their musical talent and passion into benefiting the community in very practical ways. The orchestra could put on a benefit concert to raise money for arts education in schools or endorse organizations that do charitable activities for the name recognition. If possible, the price of tickets could slightly increase for the season with the intent of donating 5% of ticket prices to a specific charitable institute, like a children’s hospital. The consumers would not have to do any extra work or donate time in order to make a worthy contribution to the world, and they would forever associate the orchestra with a good cause, giving them more reason to support the orchestra and find it more important than a trip to Starbucks.

There is no easy way to solve the orchestral crisis. I believe the best chance the orchestra has of staying a living art form is to replace the association of antiquity in people’s minds with innovative and purposeful art that is relevant to people’s lives. There are many creative ways to go about doing this as well as the practical: it must evolve the orchestral experience along with the technology and cultural expectations of the age. The orchestra should not be a few steps behind the age; it needs to adapt as quickly as it can to understand its market and exceed its expectations. Only then will it interest the patrons and keep them returning for more.