Concert Experience

Because You Never Know When The Prince of Wales Will Come To Your Concert

Wednesday, September 8th, 2021 by Drew McManus

While discussion about musician stage dress, especially tuxedos, is nothing new that doesn’t mean the topic is stale. For example, most know that tuxedos have been a part of orchestra musician attire for a century, but how long has the tuxedo itself been around and why did orchestras adopt it? That critical point gets overlooked more often than not but violinist Holly Mulcahy decided to take a deep dive into the …

Food For Thought: Post-COVID Curtain Speeches

Tuesday, July 14th, 2020Tuesday, July 14th, 2020 by Drew McManus

I want to toss out a short academic exercise in the form of thinking about how the ubiquitous curtain speech will fit into post-COVID concerts. Even before the shutdowns, curtain speeches were pushing the envelope of ticket buyer patience and starting to have a negative impact on the overall concert experience. At the same time, we all know why they exist. Those reasons will only be exacerbated in the wake of …

Emojis: The Body Language Of Social Media

Thursday, November 14th, 2019Thursday, November 14th, 2019 by Drew McManus

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a dozen times, the ability to engage with readers on social media is a double-edged sword. Case in point, yesterday’s article about Jeremy Reynolds’ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article on conductor body language produced a thought-provoking discussion thread yesterday…on my Facebook wall. That means even though the comment section at the blog post was digital crickets, things were hopping on my wall. Fortunately, I keep …

A Body Language Expert Offering Feedback On A Professional Orchestra? Yes Please.

Wednesday, November 13th, 2019Wednesday, November 13th, 2019 by Drew McManus

The 11/11/2019 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a terrific article by Jeremy Reynolds, who came up with the idea to have a body language expert examine orchestra conductors and provide feedback. It’s as interesting as you can imagine and a few steps short of what I would love to see next: observations of musicians and patrons during a live concert. While I get why something like this begins with music …

#TBT What Topics Would You Like To See On A Sacred Cow Barbeque Agenda?

Thursday, June 28th, 2018 by Drew McManus

Since the concert experience has been the focus of several recent posts, it made sense to highlight some of the more popular articles on that topic over the years for today’s #TBT. But perhaps more importantly, I’m curious to know what topics you think should be at the top of the sacred cow barbeque discussion list. Credit for that idea goes out to composer and educator David MacDonald and a comment …

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