On Booing at Concerts

[I'm WAY behind on writing about some musical experiences from this past summer. So for the next couple of days, I'll try to quickly (I hope) give some general impressions.]

From July 4th until the 20th, I attended the 44th International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany. In my next blog post, I will be giving a more in-depth summary of my impressions of the festival, and some of the more interesting things that I heard when there. For now, I just want to broach the subject of booing.

About midway through the festival, I experienced a new phenomenon for me: booing and jeering after a performance. I should mention that there are anywhere from one to three two-hour concerts of new music per day, and it can be trying at times. Actually, it became a habit of mine to nod off at least once per concert; I am far from being alone in this regard. That aside, I had never been to concerts where people voiced their opinions so vocally. I am much more familiar with a scenario where I will, after a performance, shuffle off with a few friends who might have gone to the concert with me and fill the remainder of an evening grumbling, analyzing, and critiquing over a number of beers. Often, when hearing music by younger, "up and coming" composers (and older, established ones too), the uproar tends towards statements like: "why did someone write that", "somebody stop them!", or "who are they studying with". But these are private conversations. We seem to be worried about hurting people's feelings or putting our own reputations in jeopardy and are content to keep our thoughts to ourselves.

Not at Darmstadt! When a composer has shoddy ideas, they are booed! When the instrumental writing lacks interest, it is booed! When there's no reason for the piece to have been written, it is booed! In short, when a piece is terrible or even just harmless drivel, BOOOOO! I need to mention that the performers were NEVER (at least when I was there) booed. We trusted they were doing their best (which, at Darmstadt can mean performing after a paltry one or two rehearsals in a couple days after seeing a piece for the first time). It is the composers who were taken to task after their pieces. Not only that, but the booing started when they appeared on stage to thank the performers and so were faced with the very real possibility of seeing their boo-ers in the flesh. I was told that at the 2006 festival, wadded up programs were tossed onstage as well. That may be a little bit too much.

I have to say that this experience in general was a breath of fresh air, though. Why not voice one's opinion? Who says that just because a piece is new, and a "fresh" idea or genre mash-up is being attempted, it should be lauded just because? No. There has to be some sort of opinion in order for this music to matter more than the fact that it came from some wunderkind. I can't think of an emptier experience than walking out of a concert that has made me shrug my shoulders and say "hmmm" to myself. Enough of that. It has been a while since I remember reading any real critical discourse in new music. It could be that I am looking in the wrong places, but people seem content to write around the music (describing the surge in the "scene", or the genre-defying experiments of a new ensemble band regardless of if they result in something satisfying) than about the music. Yes, it may be that opinions are relative and critics might be more apt to describe an experience (concert) as an event and let others make up their own minds. Seems fine, and it surely isn't going to alienate anyone (thus gaining readership, and in a time where concert audience numbers need to be boosted, maybe this isn't a bad thing, actually), but I feel like dissenting opinion has its place in our concert-going lives. And it would actually, I believe, help a composer to know that there's some friction with an audience. Maybe certain passages or compositional approaches will be revised or honed further. We all can benefit in the end from healthy discussions.

In a time when there really isn't an avant-garde anymore (actually, I don't think it can even exist), and its tough enough to even go out there and be a musician, there is still a need for some sort of discussion and critique, while understanding the need to get people out and fill the seats. Whether or not this filters out poorer composers is a matter of time. Otherwise, those who shout the loudest will be the only ones who the public hears and who, ultimately, will represent our American musical landscape. This is unfortunate, because there are many voices out there. Sure its a loud city, but brute force can lead to other consequences.

Not that booing is any kind of real answer. It just points to a culture that is willing to think, question, and possibly dissent from what is being presented rather than one that is complacent, submissive, and accepts the inevitability of a product. I was taught to engage in this type of culture with regard to politics, books, and art. Why not in music, as well?

That said, I still haven't booed at a concert here at home!