I know that going to vocal recitals is a dead past time in our modern age of movies, tv, and tweets. Virtually everyone will also try to rebuttal my comment with "I go to concerts!". Here though I'm talking about a classical format recital with two people on a stage sharing stories in musical form, usually in a foreign language, and without subtitles. (Sometimes translations are provided.) I'm not referring to music student population either who are still trying to find their way as well. I mean the neighbour 4 doors down with a mortgage, a car on the verge of some major repair, kids in school, and the every day pressures of time.
The "Art of the Song Recital" for the lay person is a hard evening to promote. Give them a rock scream fest and people will go in droves. Promise them an entertaining evening of Opera stories and beautiful melodies and they can't find the time. Now a days people want flash, sparkle, fireworks, and have the attention span of no longer than 3 or 4 seconds. People seem to want a BIG bang for their buck. Offering entertained with our ears instead of eyes seems to never be a big draw.
Here is my most recent realization of how I know this to be true. I was having coffee with a friend across from a sports bar the other day and couldn't help but have my own eye caught to their TV broadcast. It was some sort of rodeo, cowboy, horse training type program. I do not even know for sure what the show was all about because I couldn't hear the program, only see it. I was taken with how there wasn't a single frame that lasted longer than 3 seconds. It wasn't an advertisement or commercial spot trying to get your attention for their product either... that was the visual format of the show. I waned in my conversation for about 15 minutes with my friend because I couldn't help but study and actually count out the seconds in disbelief. Every 2-3 seconds the picture changed. I thought that a bucking horse was pretty exciting with all that big motion and potential danger of being thrown afar and on a head for the cowboy, but scene still changed every 3 seconds. This type of editing that causes the eye to dart and pulse to quicken. What chance has a classical singer in this world where a soul searching expression takes 15 seconds to 4 minutes to express? It's such a beautiful journey and there is such a small audience few and far between who can handle it now a days. A group that this person hopes grows significantly over here life time.
So then I am talking about people going to a smaller theatre, or church sanctuary on a Friday night, to hear a stranger spill their soul out on the floor for roughly 1 and 1/2 hours, in real time, with out the aid of amplification or digital assistance. Family attendance at a a concert doesn't count either, as family members think the moon hangs from their kin's breath regardless if they were Florence Foster Jenkens. (Look her up if you don't know her. She was rich, a horrible singer and therefore her fame is terribly amusing.)
What then does this expressive art form have to offer then? I believe it is exactly the kind of activity that people are looking for now a days. In a world where we seek out Meditation Guru's, Yoga masters, Zen states of transcendence, self-help seminars to find inner peace, trying to get as many friends on FaceBook as possible to feel popular, and complain about the disconnected state of modern society, to those people I would recommend taking in a voice recital. To feel connected to humanity in ways you never thought possible listen to the passions expressed in the a composers of your great, great, great grandparents time and how that message still rings true and relevant today. If you want to have a deeper understanding of why we're all here and the potential darkness and beauty of our beings then explore the musical poetry conveyed by a singer and their collaborator. If you want moment of sheer beauty that takes your breath away, allow yourself to connect to the resonant transference of the performers in a live recital. Experience life in the energy of sound that you can literally feel in your chest from your seat in the audience. The true recital attendee gets 100 fold back for their ticket price than any one who goes to hear *pop singer X sing her latest strains. (Yes, I like "X" too but I get little out of pop music.)
The Classical Music recital is entertaining, gives light to darkness, and wisdom to knowledge. In this upcoming summer program season, people of the world, seek out these recitals. Classical recitals are an art form wit an intimate passionate transference from performer to audience, where the audience is part of the energy. It is such a rewarding experience for the audience that you'll wonder after why you had not gone more often.
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