{"id":602,"date":"2007-12-21T01:19:29","date_gmt":"2007-12-21T09:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/21\/is-non-traditional-better-why\/"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:26:13","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:26:13","slug":"is-non-traditional-better-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/21\/is-non-traditional-better-why\/","title":{"rendered":"is non-traditional better – why?"},"content":{"rendered":"

An article<\/a> that I’d heard about but not read until today – it’s in this week’s Seattle Weekly, and ostensibly it’s a review (by the excellent writer\/critic Gavin Borchert) of the Chiara Quartet’s concerts in two completely different Seattle venues: Meany Hall and the Tractor Tavern.<\/p>\n

Here’s Gavin’s excellent (and if I may say so, exquisite) set-up:<\/p>\n

\n

Whenever the<\/strong> future of classical music is discussed, on blogs or in print, you won’t be far from complaints about the concert experience and the traditions of audience protocol. The words “suffocating” and “oppressive” are likely to crop up, and the conclusion drawn is that the formality, pretentiousness, and oppressiveness of expected concertgoing etiquette is turning off the potential new audiences necessary to keep the classical world from collapse.<\/p>\n

A couple of things puzzle me. First, the classical concert experience is, in all essentials, identical to that of dance, theater, literary events, or for that matter\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbarring the munching of popcorn and cheering the fireball deaths of villains\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmovies. Go to the performance space, buy a ticket, sit down in rows, watch and listen, try not to disturb your fellow audience members. Yet it’s only in conjunction with concerts that you hear complaints about what a crushing burden this all is. Second, why is sitting quietly considered such an unendurable ordeal? Millions of people do it every night in front of their televisions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And here’s his almost equally satisfying conclusion:<\/p>\n

\n

So what have we learned? Well, maybe people behave the way they do at concerts not because it’s an artificial standard imposed by ironclad tradition but because the music sounds better that way. Maybe listeners feel classical music most deeply when they pay quiet attention to it. Maybe sometimes not clapping is OK, and we don’t need to rush in and obliterate every silence. Maybe true innovations in concert presentation\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnew ways of getting music and music lovers together\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwill be concerned not with questions of formal vs. informal, loose vs. uptight, but with what setting best allows music to work its magic.<\/p>\n

The concert experience as we know it could stand some fine-tuning\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI don’t mind hearing musicians talk to the audience, and I’ll be the first to cheer when the tuxedo finally dies\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut it’s evolved into a simple, commonsense, even efficient format for the communal experience of art, whatever hall you’re in. What’s the problem?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, many readers agreed – click here<\/a> to read their comments.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article that I’d heard about but not read until today – it’s in this week’s Seattle Weekly, and ostensibly it’s a review (by the excellent writer\/critic Gavin Borchert) of the Chiara Quartet’s concerts in two completely different Seattle venues: Meany Hall and the Tractor Tavern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[148,115],"tags":[67,117],"class_list":["post-602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-music","tag-classical","tag-critic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-9I","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":962,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/12\/seattle-loses-long-time-music-critic\/","url_meta":{"origin":602,"position":0},"title":"Seattle loses long-time music critic – is Portland next?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Melinda Bargreen, classical music critic in Seattle for the past 30 years, has accepted a buy-out from the Seattle Times as part of a restructuring of the paper's staff. You can read her last column here. Now read this blog entry by our lone full-time classical music critic here in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":623,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/29\/bizarre-music-news-of-2007\/","url_meta":{"origin":602,"position":1},"title":"bizarre music news of 2007","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Seattle Times' classical music critic Melinda Bargreen reports on the bizarre classical music news that occurred around the world in 2007. Unfortunately (and am I sensing a pattern here?) she neglected to mention a couple items from her own backyard: The Seattle Symphony is being sued by a member\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1160,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/09\/23\/critic-stays-put\/","url_meta":{"origin":602,"position":2},"title":"critic stays put","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"David Stabler David Stabler, the classical music critic for the Oregonian newspaper, has stated on his blog that he's not taking a buyout from the paper, and is staying on indefinitely. It's good news.\u00c2\u00a0 Full-time classical music critics are getting to be as rare as hens' teeth, and David is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/olivessf.live.advance.net\/images\/special\/lostinthemusic\/david_stabler.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1022,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/07\/09\/the-critical-diaspora\/","url_meta":{"origin":602,"position":3},"title":"the critical diaspora","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"There's been a lot of coverage lately of the dismissal\/downsizing of some of the nation's top print classical music critics.\u00c2\u00a0 And there should have been.\u00c2\u00a0 Newspapers are one of the primary ways that orchestras communicate and market to their target audiences.\u00c2\u00a0 Check out these statistics, courtesy of the Newspaper Association\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2847,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/11\/bon-voyage-to-david-stabler\/","url_meta":{"origin":602,"position":4},"title":"bon voyage to david stabler","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's all send out some serious \"Allez, allez!\" vibes to the Oregonian's classical music critic David Stabler, as he rides the Seattle to Portland Classic today - and he's doing it on a team that is doing the entire ride in one day! 8-O \u00c2\u00a0 That's some serious average speed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cycling"","block_context":{"text":"cycling","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/cycling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"David Stabler riding up Larch Mountain - Photo: Martin Stabler","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/large_Stabler.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":95,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/11\/09\/arnica-hits-blogosphere\/","url_meta":{"origin":602,"position":5},"title":"arnica quartet hits blogosphere","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"We got a nice mention from Oregonian classical music critic David Stabler in his blog today - it was a nice surprise! Also of interest, Norman Lebrecht, the non-enfant terrible of music pseudo-journalism (imagine that Rupert Murdoch decided to start a fine arts spin-off to the Fox News Channel -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}