What do you want from your audience?

[IainDearg]

I want them to be over 10 in number and under 70 in age.

I've learned to temper my ambitions in line with experience.

[ukeforever]

The audience's attention and appreciation must be earned. It's the performer's responsibility to make him\herself interesting and entertaining. It's not the audience's job to understand what he/she is attempting.

I agree with most of that. Unfortunately, some audiences in some settings can be rude, and there is no hope to be understood for entertainers in those venues, despite how hard they try.

LJ--you say you have no expectation from an audience? I can't believe that. What about basic civility and politeness.

Maybe it's because I teach high school children, but I think being an audience--a listener--is a learned behavior with its own set of rules. I do not see evidence that people know how to be a good audience on their own. Many audiences that I've witnessed have people in them who want to be the show--while someone else is on stage. Our society seems increasingly permissive with 'what goes' at performances. Some performances--plays, musicals, operas--still have basic rules of decorum, but standalone music is not viewed in the same light.

I wrote the original post not with the spirit of a temper-tantrum, but more along the lines of recognizing that I have expectations from the people I'm performing for. If those expectations aren't met, I'm disappointed in the performance experience. In my mind, a performance is a two-way street, and both sides of the equation are entitled to certain expectations from that relationship.

Most of all, I think that acoustic musicians, like many who are on this board, face a unique problem in a music business where music can a) be illegally downloaded for free (produced music therefore has no commercial value to consumers), and 2) where if audiences aren't listening, the music is so loud audiences have no choice. Even at "acoustic" open mikes, I see an increasing lean toward loudness. Audiences have trouble processing an 'unplugged' acoustic number after a loud rock act. Good audiences for our kind of music seems to be shrinking, is what I'm saying.

[Guyute]

Wow, I have to say, I totally disagree with your assessment. I rarely have problem audiences.

Maybe it's the places you're playing or maybe you're a lot pickier than I am, but it's extremely rare that I play at a place where I don't have a lot of fun. If I find that I don't have fun playing at a place, I don't continue to seek bookings from that place.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by ukeforever

...LJ--you say you have no expectation from an audience? I can't believe that. What about basic civility and politeness.

Hi Uke lover...
I've never discussed the audience with any venue we have ever played (other than to find out the background of a congregation if we are taking in a rock-oriented Worship Team).

But if you need something in your 'win' column, then I'll admit to carrying equipment adequate to the room (or I make sure it's already there) so the audience can at least hear me (us) if they choose to listen.

I enjoy bantering with audience members who are listening, but don't live for it or crave it. Nice perk as far as I'm concerned...

[mhs]

I'm with LJ on this thing, and don't want anything in particular from an audience. They are there and that's plenty.

Of course, if they happen to enjoy the performance, and show that in any possible way, it is very nice, but not necessary. If they don't enjoy it (well it's never black and white), then that is OK too since there's things to be learned from that.

I've been in a lot of audiences and never felt compelled to do anything just "because" I was in the audience. I don't like applause partly because it feels like a "learned response" and "mandatory", and as part of that, I don't like the way applauding feels when you are the applauder. It actually hurts my hands. Yelling is probably better.