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A Study Into the Issues and Perceptions of People Aged 18-25 Towards Attendance and Participation at Classical Music Concerts

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A Study Into the Issues and Perceptions of People Aged 18-25 Towards Attendance and Participation at Classical Music Concerts A STUDY INTO THE ISSUES AND PERCEPTIONS OF PEOPLE AGED 18-25 TOWARDS ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION AT CLASSICAL MUSIC CONCERTS SARA FRIEL BA (Hons) Events Management Cardiff Metropolitan University April 2016 i Declaration I declare that this Dissertation has not already been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. It is the result of my own independent research except where otherwise stated. …………………………………………………………………………………. ii Abstract The dissertation concentrated on research presented by various authors, such as Peterson et al (1996), (Kolb 2001) and Sandow (2012), expressing that older people are over-represented in the audiences of classical music concerts. The dissertation aimed to take this research further, and look into the issues and perceptions of young people aged 18-25 towards attendance and participation at classical music concerts, and explore the hypothesis by conducting semi- structured interviews based on the concert audience and atmosphere, concert setting, knowledge information and awareness, and social issues of classical music concerts. The research concluded that young people found it difficult to relate specific areas such as the audience, atmosphere and concert setting of classical music concerts, often feeling uncomfortable in the audiences and the music venues, and not feeling part of the ‘community’. Another key finding of the study shows that lack of knowledge, information and awareness is clear regarding classical music events. Young people felt as though you had to know certain things in order to be accepted at, and enjoy attending classical music concerts, and spoke about learning to play a classical instrument could help this factor. Young people also felt as though there was a clear lack of awareness of classical music concerts, and more could be done in order for the marketing to encourage new attendees instead of inform the audiences who already attend the concerts. Word Count - 12336 iii Acknowledgements I would like to give a big thank you to all of the contributors who took part in the research project, as well as to my supervisor for giving me plenty of guidance and support. To all of my friends and family who have given me the backing and encouragement needed to complete this dissertation, I am extremely grateful. Thank you! iv Table of Contents 1. Introduction ………………………………………………………1 1.1 Trends and Statistics………….…………………………………..2 1.2 Classical Music Definition………….………………………....…2 1.3 Audiences………………………….……………………………..3 1.4 Aims and Objectives……………….…………………………….4 2. Literature Review…………………………………………………6 2.1 Concert Audience and Atmosphere………….………………..…6 2.2 Elitism and Ideas of High Culture……….…...………………….8 2.3 Concert Setting……………………………….………………….9 2.4 Knowledge, Information and awareness.……….……………...10 2.5 Marketing………………………………………………………11 2.6 Social Factors…………………………………………………..12 2.7 Societal Change……………………….......................................13 2.8 Summary……………………………………………………..…13 3. Methodology………………………………………………………14 3.1 Qualitative research…………………………………………….14 3.2 The Interview Process………………………....………………..14 3.3 Quantitative Research………………………………………..…16 3.4 Comparison of Qualitative and Quantitative research……….....16 3.5 Ethics……………………………………………………………17 3.6 Data Analysis……………………………………....……………17 3.7 Reflection on the Interview Process……………...……………..17 4. Results and Discussion……………………………………………..19 4.1 Background Questions and leisure time activities……….……..19 4.2 Experience with other arts events………………..……………..20 4.3 Audience and Atmosphere…………………………...…………20 4.4 Concert Setting…………………………………………………23 4.5 Knowledge, information and Awareness…………..…………..26 v 4.6 Playing an Instrument…………………………………………29 4.7 Accessibility…………………………………………………..30 4.8 Marketing……………………………………………………..31 4.9 Ticket Prices…………………………………………………..34 4.10 Motivations………………………………………………..34 5. Conclusion and Recommendations…………....…………………….…36 References…………….………………………………………………………………30 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………44 vi List of Abbreviations The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) The Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) vii List of Figures 1. Why Audiences are important (Baker, 2000:2)………………………………4 viii 1. Introduction This research project aims to explore the issues and perceptions of people aged 18-25 towards attendance and participation at classical music concerts. Classical music concerts once reached a wide range of demographics, more of less of every age (Sigurjonsson, 2005), however a large amount of research has found that older people are now over-represented in classical music audiences (Peterson et al 1996, Kolb 2001, Sandow 2012). This poses a threat to classical music events as arts organisations rely heavily on public sector funding, such as the Arts Council UK, to keep these classical music events running. According to the Arts council UK, their main mission is to achieve great art and culture for the population. Arts council UK work extremely hard in order to accomplish this mission by ‘Championing, developing and investing in arts and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives.’ (Arts Council UK, 2013) In order to justify this funding, it is important that arts organisations are able to bring in a range of ages to attend these concerts. The Dissertation will be concentrating specifically on audiences and potential audiences within classical music concerts in Cardiff, and intends to benefit stakeholders of the classical music industry. Cardiff has a range of concert halls such as The Wales Millennium Centre, Wales’ national home for performing arts, and St David’s hall that may benefit from the research project. Cardiff is also home to professional ensembles such as The Welsh National Opera and BBC National Orchestra of Wales who may also benefit from the research findings as they offer a wide range of orchestra concerts and opera productions each month. The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) is also situated in Cardiff, whose ambition is to make an ‘Ever more central contribution to the cultural life of Cardiff’ (Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, 2016). Considering they use their world-class students to put on classical music events throughout Cardiff, The RWCMD would potentially find this study useful. Organisations who are involved in promotion of live classical music who wish to make an audience development strategy may also find the findings of issues perceptions of young people towards attending classical music concerts portrayed in this report constructive. Page | 1 Alongside the professional music groups, there are an abundance of amateur music companies that perform regularly in Cardiff, such as wind bands; concert bands and choirs who may similarly be interested in the issues and perceptions of people aged 18-25 towards attendances at their music concerts. The project will contribute to the literature by providing an up to date investigation focusing on the issues and perceptions of young people in their early twenties regarding why they do or do not choose to attend classical music concerts specifically situated in Cardiff. 1.1 Trends and Statistics Key findings from the Arts council of Great Britain’s Target group Index states that when looking at the statistics of classical music attendance in 2009/10 there has been a significant decrease since 2008/09 throughout Britain. Concentrating more specifically on the dissertation topic, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has recorded the age of classical music concert attendees since 1982. The average age of the audience in that year was 40, however in the year 2008 this has increased to 49 years old. The average age of the population has also increased during that time, however the NEA has confirmed that the audience for classical music concerts has aged faster than the population as a whole (Sandow, 2012.) Figures from the Social Survey Division of the Office for National Statistics for the year 2001 highlights this fact by stating that in Britain 4% of people aged of 16-24 and 6% of those aged 25-34 attended classical music concerts while 16% of those aged 55-64 year old attended concerts. (Sigurjonsson, 2005) 1.2 Classical Music Definition The term ‘Classical Music’ is used in a number of different contexts. According to The Oxford Music Dictionary Online (2016), Classical Music can be described as the following: 1.‘Music composed roughly between 1750 and 1830 (i.e. Post-Baroque and pre-Romantic) which covers the development of the classical symphony and concert’ 2. ‘Music of an orderly nature, with qualities of clarity and balance, and emphasising formal beauty rather than emotional expression’ Page | 2 3. ‘Music Generally regarded as having permanent rather than ephemeral value’ 4. ‘ ‘Classical music’ is used as a generic term meaning the opposite of ‘light ‘or ‘popular music’ ’ For the sake of this dissertation, the term ‘Classical music’ will follow the latter 3 definitions, and be used to describe a music style in order distinguish it from other genres such as pop, rock or folk. The term used in this report will refer to music that has been composed as early as the 1300s, which is commonly known as the ‘Renaissance’ period through the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods and up until music that is being composed in the current day. For the purpose of the study, a wide scope of classical music events will be considered including operas, orchestral concerts, choir performances and both chamber
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