I had to laugh out loud today at a comment I read in Patricia Mitchell’s blog, obeinsight. She recounts a story about when a patron once asked her what goes through her mind when she plays, this was her answer:
“I wanted to tell her I was trying to decide if I would have my typical bowl of Cheerios when I got home, or if I felt more like a beer.”
As a tuba player my response would be, “Why can’t it be both?”
But seriously, on average, most patrons are fascinated at what and how musicians do what they do. Sharing this sort of thing is wonderful, what we need to do is provide more opportunities for this sort of patron/musician interaction to occur.