My proposition would be the following:
Assemble a team: three lutists minimum!
If possible, add recorders, Renaissance guitar, cittern etc., a dulcian
and a trombone, and for the sake of beats some Renaissance percussion.
If you have a portable organ, get it on stage.
Go to your local jazz club and pitch "Early Music Jazz Jam Session".
When playing, have the musicians occupy the functions of respective jazz
musicians.
Jam the hell out of Passamezzi, Romanescas, Bergamascas etc., throw in
some song standards like Vestiva I Colli or Can She Excuse, do virtuoso
solos. I bet the audience will have fun.
Get that stick out of your spine and rock the venue.
Am 04.01.2018 um 20:52 schrieb theoj89...@new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu:
Having friends in psychology, economics, and marketing/advertising, we
have had this discussion over beer. And the general conclusion was that
most artists (including early music artists) ought not be lamenting
about why people don't show up to appreciate their art, but rather they
should be discussing how best to draw in an audience. Think about it,
if a graphic artist wants to put on an exhibit, they will bringing
alcohol, maybe food, hire a musician, and create an inviting atmosphere
for socializing. Moreover, symphony orchestras also have this problem
and their partial (yet successful) solution are the multimedia
programs; live performance of film music over film clips of Harry
Potter, Star Wars, etc.
The fact (sad or not) is that audiences have MANY distractions pulling
their attention nowadays. Music alone, no matter how pure or
inspirational, won't draw an audience as much as music PLUS something
else - drama or a story, visuals, alcohol, dance, etc. I think it would
behoove early music artists to start thinking about this and
corroborating and creating more engaging programs. And there are
successful examples of this out there, but there needs to be more.
One more thing, I am also reminded of a program done years ago by
Steven Wade (?) called 'Banjo Dancing' (?). He performed as one man
with a banjo. He played, told stories, sang, and had a truly engaging
performance. And it drew audiences. There is absolutely no reason why
something similar couldn't be done by a lutenist given some talent and
hard work in creating such a stage performance. And as a disclaimer, I
am not a professional musician, so these are merely my opinions,
looking in from the outside.
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