Musicians’ self-reported experiences of the performer-audience relationship

Performers’ strong emotional experiences frequently involve a specific audience response (Lamont, 2012). Yet, despite the large body of research on audience experiences of live performance (including, e.g., Burland & Pitts, 2014; Martin & Nielsen, 2024; Wald-Fuhrmann et al., 2021), there is limited work on the ways in which audiences influence the performer’s creative process during performance, as well as in its preparation and evaluation. This paper explores musicians’ self-reported experiences of the performer-audience relationship gathered using a questionnaire survey. Initial qualitative data analysis suggests that the audience plays an integral role (both positive and negative) in the emotions and behaviours connected to performance, and that performers’ experiences of their audiences are shaped by, and distributed across, a range of bodily, material, social, and cultural dimensions. We conclude by considering the implications of performer perspectives for working towards a framework for understanding the performer-audience relationship and its potential applications for pedagogy and practice. We also reflect on the methodological challenges of capturing and understanding musicians’ experiences of live performance, and identify potential avenues for future research.