REACHING OUT: AN ARTIST'S PERSPECTIVE
Good morning, and welcome to my first speech.
Before I get started, I'd just like to give you a quick idea of what I'm going to talk about. I'll start with two formative experiences that I had when I was younger, focusing on what they showed me about outreach. Then I'll mention some of my own ideas for reaching out, and for how the Internet and TV can figure into the future of classical music.
Two formative experiences: My first full recital...
First, my two formative experiences.
I began to play the violin when I was 4 years old, and at 10 I gave my first full recital. I sent out invitations to everyone we knew and hoped somebody would show up. Most of them did. That included at least 40 ten-year-old girls that I knew, filling the front two rows of seats. Some of them were in school music programs, and were curious to see what a concert of the music they were studying would be like.
But the rest of those 40 ten-year-olds didn't know classical music at all. They came instead because they had a personal connection to me, not because they knew anything about music. That's the first time it occurred to me that something as simple as feeling a personal connection to a performer could bring people to music they might never have given a thought to.
...and Backstage at PCMS
I had one more formative experience.
In the mid-90s, my dad spent a few years working for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. If I had time, I would usher at concerts, or work the Will Call desk. I watched everyone's efforts to spread the word about upcoming concerts, and I eavesdropped on audience members chatting at intermission. I saw how hard it can be for even the best-run musical organizations to build and keep loyal audiences.
At the same time, it struck me as ironic that many musicians I knew did relatively little to bring classical music to new listeners, not just in Philadelphia but around the world. Some were reluctant to talk with the media. Others wouldn't come out to meet their fans. I found myself thinking back to many a time when I would go to an orchestra concert, hear a soloist, and run to the Green Room in hopes of meeting them, only to be told either that they wouldn't be coming out to greet people, or that they'd already left the building.
I began to wonder why -- if presenters and educators were doing their utmost to build interest in classical music -- why shouldn't artists also be doing all that they could to help?
Performer's perspective: Outreach by direct contact
That was before I saw things from a performer's perspective.
Now that I'm a full-time performer myself, I can see that it's a little more complicated. An artist's life is a real balancing act between protecting one's time and being available. But that said, I think we artists still can find time to be more involved than we are in helping to bring classical music to the public's awareness.
Much of what we can do best involves direct contact with audience members and with members of the media. When presenters invite us onto their series, we can offer time for interviews with local media and do as much advance work as we can over the phone. When we visit orchestras, we can express a willingness to open dress rehearsals to school groups, and to talk with the students afterwards. If there is time, we can visit local youth orchestras to talk about life as a musician.
These are traditional outreach activities, and they are important to do.
...and whatever else we're comfortable with
Beyond that, each artist should do what he or she is most comfortable with.
For me that means that after concerts, I like to spend time in concert hall lobbies talking with audience members who are curious to meet me. Most people are really uncomfortable coming backstage, so I make it a priority to go out into the lobby after all of my performances to meet people there, to sign programs and CDs, and to chat with them.
That is when I see children, and shy people, and people in wheelchairs, and people who have never been to a concert before. The lines often run into the hundreds, and people sometimes have to stand in line for an hour or more -- yet the people at the end of the line still have smiles on their faces.
Some memorable things happen at those signings. Last year in New York, for instance, at the end of a long line, a 3-year-old girl came up to me after her first concert as an audience member. Her father told me that she'd really liked the performance, and she shyly informed me that she wanted to play the violin. Then, a few months ago, when I played in Stamford, CT, I saw her again. She grinned at me and announced, "I play the violin now!" She'd started last year, one week after she saw my concert in New York.
Seeing that kind of thing makes personal contact just as special a thing for me as it is for fans of classical music. But I do need help from presenters in publicizing these events -- so that no one in the audience falls by the wayside, and so that people know that I want to meet them.
Reaching out by personalizing activities
There are other ways that we performers can reach people, too.
If we are comfortable with words, we can write or help draft our CD booklets ourselves, so that they speak to music lovers directly. I do that, and people seem to appreciate it. If we are recording artists and have a spare afternoon, we can participate in "in-store" signing events, to encourage local record store patrons to visit the classical department as well as the rock and pop sections. We can pay better attention to our web sites and publicity materials, to make sure that they reflect us as we truly are.
To me, all of these activities on the part of artists are connected to the goal of breaking down barriers that keep people from coming to classical concerts. This isn't a matter of self-interest or egomania -- it's an effort to help with classical outreach.
Anyone who doesn't believe that the personal element is important for classical music, should listen sometime to people waiting to get into a concert, as I used to do in Philadelphia. You'll hear them talking with each other about the last time they heard the artist play, or something funny that the artist said on radio or TV. People enjoy the memories and the connections they have with musicians, just as we musicians can enjoy our connections with audiences.
All of this is part of direct contact as I see it.
Now I'd like to turn to a couple of other ways I think performers and organizations could reach out to the public: the Internet, and television.
Reaching out electronically: the Internet
At this point, the Internet is probably the fastest way of disseminating information. It's a medium in which artists -- as well as orchestras -- can do quite a lot.
For example, on the artists' side... Over the last year and a half, on my website at hilaryhahn.com, I've been posting a tour journal called Postcards from the Road. It has digital pictures and a letter from me describing every city that I visit.
It started as a project geared towards grade-schoolers, but adults began coming up to me after concerts and telling me that they'd been following my journal, too. I expanded the concept to include everyone, and my journal now averages more than 8000 hits per week -- so there is interest out there on the Internet.
But my journal is small beer compared to what an orchestra could offer. I know that many of you are already developing educational websites that incorporate a number of ideas that I will suggest, but here's a list of possibilities for both kids and adults that I think would be exciting to explore.
For kids
There's almost no limit to what orchestras could offer children over the Internet.
Kids could use an orchestra website to find a dictionary of musical terms. They could download video clips of local orchestra musicians demonstrating how to play each instrument and giving technique tips.
Kids could follow an interactive instrumental course put together by a musician from their hometown orchestra. They could walk through a "virtual orchestra" while listening to one of the orchestra's recordings. They could also read stories about true onstage experiences, or they could email questions to their favorite orchestra members.
They could send in ideas for what they'd like to see in a concert, write and post their own reviews, and even enter contests to interview famous musicians over the phone or face-to-face or go out to lunch with an orchestra member.
For adults & college students
Adults and college students too could benefit from orchestra websites. They could find out about job and volunteer opportunities or they could join an online orchestra club with other music enthusiasts.
An orchestra could offer adults a series of interactive chats with the music director or artistic administrator, or the head of public relations could post a journal about current activities. Adults could read transcripts of pre-concert lectures or biographies of musicians and orchestra administrators.
Leading up to premieres, an orchestra website could offer a report on the progress of a new opera or a symphony... Orchestra websites could link to individual musicians' and composers' websites to help people find out about visiting artists. They could offer readers information about good recordings of upcoming repertoire, or suggest a reading plan of good books about classical music.
Adults interested in studying an instrument could sort through a database of instrument teachers in the area or find out which local music programs orchestra musicians would recommend. Teachers could go to an orchestra website for guidelines on how to integrate classical music into their classrooms, or they could read about the orchestra's educational and outreach programs and find out how they could participate. Corporate administrators could go to an orchestra website to find out about business and sponsorship opportunities, and while there, could also read articles on the effects of classical music in the workplace.
For all: Website piggy-backing
And thinking in really big terms...
Orchestras could piggy-back on each other's online offerings, cross-linking so that people from small towns and countries around the world could have access to the best information available, directly through their local orchestras' website. I imagine someday there being a giant, comprehensive online presence of orchestras and soloists inter-linked in many ways -- and I suspect that someone here will figure out a way to make it work.
The point is that the possibilities are endless for reaching out to people on the Internet: We just need to realize what those possibilities are, and make them happen in a coordinated way.
Reaching out via TV: Public Service Announcements (PSA's) and talk shows...
As for TV:
I admit that it's a more elusive medium for us than the Internet, because we can't shape our output as easily. Unless we have incredible funding, we can't produce our own TV shows or be visible on television all of the time.
What we can do with television, however, is keep an eye out for opportunities. Along that line... the American Symphony Orchestra League's new Public Service Announcement program, which you just saw, is a good step in the right direction. In addition, those of us who can -- and here I guess I mean mostly performers -- should look for chances to appear on morning, talk, or late-night shows, where we can mix classical music with some conversation.
This takes persistence and good contacts, but if "Good Morning America", or the "Today Show", or Oprah, or the Osmonds, or David Letterman, or Conan are listening... I'd be happy to offer my services. I've been on shows like those in Germany, Australia, Canada, and on cable TV in America, talking and playing short pieces of solo Bach, so I know it can be done effectively.
...and music TV
Music television is another possibility.
I have to confess that I watch music television and its music videos every now and then, in hotels around the world. Maybe some of you watch it, too -- or maybe your kids do.
From a classical-music perspective, it's encouraging to see that such hugely popular music television channels as VH1 and MTV are supporting many genres of music -- not just rock, and not just pop. In recent years, I've spotted an increasing number of music videos that feature orchestras and solo violinists alongside the singers. Classical artists have occasionally been brought into music television studios for interviews, and classical events have been mentioned in music-news segments.
And just lately, classical musicians have begun to appear on MTV and VH1 in advertisement campaigns -- such as "Me Music" (which combines classical musicians with others to promote a comprehensive musical website), and "Save the Music" (which supports school music programs).
So our time may be coming... and perhaps if we all chip away at it -- by continually approaching TV-show producers and booking staff, and by searching out places where classical musicians can make a contribution -- then perhaps by the end of this decade, there will be a place on mainstream music channels for pure classical music.
After all, rap music, hip-hop, metal and grunge, and country-western music, have all become fixtures on music television... So why can't that happen with classical music, too?
Coda
Of course, with all of these approaches to outreach -- music television, the Internet, direct contact with audiences, and programs for kids -- no one contact with classical music is going to persuade an ardent heavy metal fan to come running to the nearest concert hall.
However, a single exposure at the right time can have a pivotal effect on a person of any age. I began playing violin when I was 4 because I heard a little boy play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in a Suzuki lesson, and I liked it. I could easily have taken up T-ball or gymnastics or horseback riding or lawnmowing -- but classical music reached me first, and I became a musician.
So I know from personal experience that the simplest exposure to music can be meaningful... And I believe that if we all reach out on behalf of the music that brings us together, we can touch a lot of people.
Thanks very much, and enjoy the rest of the conference.
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Hilary Hahn was the keynote speaker at the national conference of the American Symphony Orchestra League, held June 14-17, 2000 in Boston. Read about the preparations and presentation of her speech, along with her other activities on the road -- onstage and off -- in her online journal Postcards from the Road.
Delivering the speech
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