Music Video Lesson: Dealing with a Loud Audience

Hi. I'm Robert Estrin here at virtualsheetmusic.com and livingpianos.com with a subject, how to deal with a loud audience. You know as performers, we all have a certain amount of ego and if you go out and people aren't paying attention, it's pretty insulting. So how do you deal with such a thing? Well, this is not such an easy question and there are different facets to it we're going to cover today.

The first thing you have to realize is what sort of performance is this, anyway? Because they're not all the same. For example, if you were to go to a classical violin recital and you went to the performing arts center, and there were people who were loud, this is one sort of situation which is totally apathetical to the experience because after all it's destroying the musical expression for the whole audience. But, other times there might be a wonderful performer at the mall playing solo flute or maybe there's a party and a great jazz player. Well you can't expect people to all stop and be quiet in those settings. A rock band actually might thrive on having the audience be very vocal.

So you have to understand the context of the performance and don't be upset with an audience if they are there, for example, at a party and they're eating and they're drinking. You can't expect them to not be talking with their friends. So you have to kind of put your ego at the door and realize that's a job, not really just a musical expression.

Now what about those situations, where it's an actual concert and you have some people who are loud in the audience. How can you address this? There are a number of ways. One is confrontational. You could actually, as a performer, look directly in the area where the noise is coming from and try to intimidate the audience members. This may work or may backfire. It's hard to say. And the last thing in the world you want to do is make the distraction of the audience even bigger by making some kind of dynamic between the factions of the audience and yourself.

Another method that I really love to utilize in a situation like that is when you come to a quiet section and people are making noise, play even quieter. That's right. As counter intuitive as it seems, it draws people in because it gets quieter and the people around who can't hear it, they'll be incensed and they will shut those people up in short order because they are there to listen to the music. So sometimes, saying things quietly makes people pay more attention. So it is with your music.

So you can choose. It depends upon the dynamic. All audiences are different. All playing experiences are unique. So, realize the situation that you are in and what is appropriate. If you have some member or members, you don't want to start a feud with your audience and get into it with them but if it's just one annoying person, you might get people to help you to collude with you to quiet people down so the rest of the audience can enjoy it. And that quiet playing, try it some time. You will get people on your side and people will have to be quiet to listen to you. After all, that's why they're there, right?

All right. Thanks for joining me. Robert Estrin here at virtualsheetmusic.com and livingpianos.com.

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