Exploring performers’ perceptions of the audience-artist/artist-audience dynamic

This roundtable discussion aims to explore musicians’ perceptions of their audiences. Recent research has demonstrated the extent to which audiences can be seen to be active participants in live performances (Burland & Pitts, 2005), identifying a range of strategies for enhancing and encouraging audience engagement (O’Neill & Sloboda, 2017). At the same time, there is a wealth of literature which highlights the ways in which performers aim, and plan, to communicate with their audiences, primarily through the interpretative, expressive and creative aspects of their craft (Payne, 2016). Drawing on the expertise of a panel of practitioners from different performance traditions (i.e. live coding, experimental music, dance music, Jazz), the session aims to capture insights about the value of the audience for performers within different musical traditions. In doing so, we aim to explore: the ways in which audiences can influence the creative process during the performance (as well as in its preparation and evaluation); the extent to which different performance traditions engage and communicate with audiences; and the contexts in which the performer-audience dynamic is most/least meaningful. The discussion aims as much to provoke questions about what we don’t know about the artist-audience dynamic, as what we do know, and to consider questions of why (and if) this is important and what the applications of such insights might be for the range of stakeholders involved in curating live musical performances.

Panel speakers: Joanne Armitage, Jez Matthews, Nicole Raymond, Kathryn Williams

Chairs: Karen Burland, Emily Payne