Orchestral music has become a historical artifact. People come up in their finest attire to observe silently from a distance as if the men and women were in a glass box. At some point we started experiencing obligation to appreciate what we see and hear in artistic performances. Anything less would produce hurt feelings—heaven forbid!
Concert-goers didn’t used to be this way. Emotional reaction from audiences were commonplace to the point that composers feared their reactions. Stravinsky’s 1913 première of The Rite of Spring resulted in public, violent rioting. More importantly, music was not a presentation piece; it was a way to socialise, see, and be seen. Prior to the 20th century, it was encouraged to converse, stand up, and walk around during an opera. Today, chatting to the guy next to you during live classical music is akin to pulling down an Elgin Marble and taking a poo on it.
Orchestras have much to learn from the customs of this generation and, surprisingly, many preceding it. I don’t go to rock concerts because of the music—I have the MP3s and good speakers to boot. Instead, I go to concerts to move and live with the crowd. Meanwhile, sitting in a dark concert hall is uncomfortable and awkward. Yes, the music’s pretty—it doesn’t stop my eyes from wandering, desperately seeking amusement. I don’t advocate laser light shows to accompany Mahler’s 5th Symphony. (I bet Gus would approve if it were suggested.) The act of concertgoing would benefit from deformalisation. The sooner orchestras stop being wrapped up in how sacred their work is, the more effectively we can heal the rift between contemporary genres and classical music.
Deformalisation would break down the sense of obligation as well. Patrons visit concert halls to appreciate music, and it would take sheer musical butchery to leave the goal unfulfilled. Changing attitudes to accomodate pursuing amusement instead of appreciation carries a bonus: if a patron comes to be amused and is not indulged, his time and money is being wasted. If Michael Richards can’t get away with disregarding his audience, why should your favourite local orchestra? Booing and showing displeasure towards repulsive contemporary music is the only way for a crowd to communicate its sentiments of the moment. You can’t write a letter from the mezzanine, and even the laziest slob with some musical sense has a say.
In hindsight, my reforms produce an amusing double-edged sword of theatre-going. On one hand, I insist people should go to have fun and listen casually. On the other hand, consider the responsibility of booing down bad music, preventing it from reaching future music appreciation classes in which it shouldn’t belong. If the partition bothers you, throwing chairs always speaks louder than words!