Blog Posts

Audience Behavior

Denise Gagne

The holiday season is here, and I hope it's going to be special for everyone! After all the work that goes into putting on a holiday performance, it can be unfortunate when your audience displays inappropriate or rude behavior. I've seen parents walk out as soon as the class their child is in has performed; I've seen a parent yell loudly as her child walked on (and off) the stage, "I LOVE YOU AUSTIN!" I've seen the parent paparazzi run down the aisles surrounding the conductor when their child's class is performing so they can get that perfect picture. We've all had the perfect moment spoiled by a cell phone ringing, and we've a;; had screaming babies. What's needed is audience education. It starts with the children, but their parents (and sometimes our colleagues) need to be taught what is appropriate behavior in a concert.

Here's a way to turn audience education into a lesson and/or a performance!

Audience behavior notation 1 Audience behavior Notation 2

Process

Have the students read the rhythms.
Read the words in rhythm.
divide the class into 2 groups - one reads the rules, the other does the ostinato
Give the students a suggested body percussion to go with the first line. For example: stomp stomp stomp stomp pat pat pat pat pat pat pat
Divide the class into four groups. Give each group one line of the chant and have them create accompaniment with body percussion.
Choose instruments or body percussion to play the ostinato.
Decide on a form for performance

For example:

- drum and say the ostinato 2x as an intro
- ostinato continues while chant is performed 2x
- end with the ostinato 2x dim.

Use this as an opener for a performance. Parents as well as students need to be educated about audience behavior.