Ideas for Interacting with Potential Audiences

You’re on your way to an orchestra gig, you’re wearing your all-black or your black tie tuxedo and you stop in to your local Starbucks/Caribou/Dunkin’/ActualLocalCoffeeShop#drinklocal for a pick-me-up before the show and it happens… someone asks where you’re going all dressed up. At this point, you have two options. You can either A) say something non-committal about some gig you have to do whateveritsnobigdeal or B) engage this person in conversation about this gig you get to do. 

Let’s say you chose A. I mean, you don’t want to be late for your call time and they’re not going to come anyway, right? They’re just making fun of your outfit. Well, congratulations, you’ve just proven to this person that people in tuxedos are douchebags and whatever you’re doing isn’t worth their time. Well done, champ.

Ok, let’s say you chose B. Tell them about your gig! Tell them what excites you about it! Is it the repertoire? Is it the fact that you get to play loud? Do you get to play bass oboe and what is a regular oboe and what the difference is and holy crap that means you’re doing THE PLANETS which is totally where John Williams stole most of his themes for Star Wars and you should totally come to the show!

That may be over the top and a little too aggressive (I’ve been told I can be a little aggressive). But enthusiasm can be contagious and you have been given an opportunity to bring an audience member into your world. At the absolute minimum, your excitement can help dispel the myth (IS it a myth?) that classical musicians are lofty, negative, bougie assholes. What’s so wrong with that?