Making Classical Music More Approachable

There is an air about the classical music scene that folks who don’t understand it are wary of. I almost feel sorry inviting my extended family to my concerts, as they are more comfortable in a football stadium than a recital hall. Some people avoid orchestral concerts because of the unspoken rules and intimidating formality; they don’t know what to wear, or they fear the embarrassment of having to cough between movements. I want to be an aid in tearing down that barrier. Performing, at least for me, is meant to be a shared experience, not a show-and-tell. In an attempt to draw a new demographic to the classical music scene in the South Carolina upstate, Sarye, Leila, Juniper, and I used our Petrie 360 platform to organize a chamber music concert blending spoken-word poetry and standard classical repertoire. We called the concert Whose Cup of Tea? inviting patrons to sip their drinks while enjoying a laid-back concert. We read translations of all foreign vocal pieces aloud before they were performed, as if letting the audience in on a secret. Leila even “conducted” the audience in creating a rainstorm soundscape while I played the second movement of Poulenc’s flute sonata, essentially letting them control the energy of the piece with snapping, hand scrubbing, rain sticks, and thunder drums. Nervous silence dissolved into a sense of collective ownership of the music we were creating. In an age of emerging Artificial Intelligence, it is important to nurture the human connection that draws us to music in the first place. After our concert, it was evident the audience felt like an active part of the experience.

Another crucial part of demystifying classical music is landscape. Music has an innate ability to imitate it. It's a collection of what a composer may hear, see, smell, taste, or experience. A familiar physical landscape such as Glendale Shoals allows us to unlock a deeper understanding of music composition. Rushing water may become trickling arpeggios, and jumping fish may translate musically into glissandi. There is beauty in the fact that we all experience landscape differently. My creative project will compare the musical sounds and landscape of George Gershwin's Summertime and Robert Dick's Fish are Jumping by setting live performances to videos of Glendale Shoals.