Sharing Music: Social and Communal Aspects of Concert-Going

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the academic community to better understand how concert audiences experience and value live classical music (Kolb 2000; Pitts 2005; Pitts et al. 2013; Radbourne, Glow & Johanson 2013). Numerous authors have recognised the social value of concert attendance, especially important for infrequent and young attendees (Brown 2002; ACE 2004), however it is often assumed that frequent attendees are motivated by purely aesthetic reasons. Similarly, it has been acknowledged that a listener’s experience of a concert is impacted by the presence of other audience members (Pitts 2005), yet there has been little research on the nature of the ‘community’ formed by a concert audience. In this paper, we wish to share our initial findings from our two collaborative doctoral awards in partnership with a regional chamber music promoter and a regional symphony orchestra. Through questionnaires, focus groups and interviews with audience members, we have sought to add additional understanding of concert attendance as a form of socialising, the short-term communal aspects of being ‘in-audience’, and the longer-term communities that surround cultural institutions, which can be seen to be displaying fan-like qualities. We aim to demonstrate that aesthetic pleasure is never the only motivating factor behind concert attendance, even for frequent attendees, as their selection of concerts and their listening experiences are always influenced by social interactions.

Audience engagement with community music performances: Emotional contagion in audiences of a ‘pro-am’ orchestra in suburban Sydney

“…Although limitations associated with recruitment at the opera and Messiah may have contributed to these results, they do suggest that non-subscription events are valuable for attracting new audience members. This tends to confirm previous research, which has demonstrated that performances of more popular material are often more accessible to new attendees, and so regular attendees may use these opportunities to encourage others to attend (Dearn & Price, 2016).…”

“…Therefore, research on audiences in live performance settings is taking more of a focus on the influence of social processes on the audience experience. For example, Dearn and Price (2016) demonstrated that for many audience members, socializing both with friends who have attended with them and with other audience members is an important part of the overall experience of concert attendance, with the meaning a listener takes from their experience being modified through discussions with other attendees. They further showed that long-term loyalty to a local orchestra is often influenced by the degree to which people feel part of a ‘listening community’, but that the establishment of a long-term listening community can be off-putting to new attendees, who may feel like outsiders.…”

“…There is some acknowledgement that although the presence of other people can enhance the concert experience for some audience members on some occasions, at times the presence of other people can be distracting and can detract from the enjoyment of the occasion (Dearn & Price, 2016; O’Sullivan, 2009). Conventions surrounding behaviour at classical music concerts in the 21st century typically require that the audience be largely silent, repressing overt emotional responses to the music (Sigurjonsson, 2010).…”

Livestream Experiments: The Role of COVID-19, Agency, Presence, and Social Context in Facilitating Social Connectedness

“…Social connectedness with the audience, but not the artist, was correlated with reduced loneliness, lack of companionship, and anxiety which suggests that feeling connected to other audience members is also an important component of virtual concert attendance. Real concert attendance may be motivated by a sense of community among audience members ( Dearn and Price, 2016 ). Similarly, previous research shows that viewing livestreams of content as varied as videogaming, eating, and dancing is often motivated by social interaction, meeting new people, and a sense of community ( Friedländer, 2017 ; Hilvert-Bruce et al, 2018 ).…”

Corona Concerts: The Effect of Virtual Concert Characteristics on Social Connection and Kama Muta

“…Concert attendance is often cited as a favorite musical experience ( Krause et al, 2020 ). Live music attendance is beneficial for health and wellbeing ( Fancourt and Steptoe, 2018 ) and offers concert-goers the ability to connect with other fans ( Dearn and Price, 2016 ) and to interact, albeit parasocially, with performers ( Kurtin et al, 2019 ). Ticket sales for concerts were a vital source of income for musicians before the pandemic due to increased accessibility to pirated music and steadily declining revenues from streaming ( Naveed et al, 2017 ).…”