IDEA lectures with John Sloboda
Enhancing the concert experience for audiences: collaborative research involving composers, performers, and arts organizations

John Sloboda is Emeritus Professor at Keele and was a staff member of the School of Psychology at Keele from 1974-2008.

Abstract: The presentation will review a range of artist-involved projects undertaken within the "Understanding Audiences" programme of the Guildhall School London, aimed at deepening the connection between classical musicians and their live audiences, which can often be quite distant and uninvolved.   The projects have involved augmenting audience-musician communication before, during, and after a concert, and evaluating the impact on both musicians and audience.  Enhancements before a concert include observing a rehearsal, and participating in discussions between artists.  Enhancements during a concert include improvisatory interactions, and opportunities for audience movement.  Enhancements after a concert include feedback mechanisms, and artist-audience dialogue.  Data indicate that interventions identified as aesthetically meaningful are those which allow deeper engagement with the musical content, understanding of the authenticity and humanity of the musicians, alongside a highlighting of live musical performance as a process of continual discovery rather than the presentation of an inscrutible and "perfect" end product.  Implications for research and musical practice are discussed.

Please note, that the presentation will be held in English.

The IDEA Lectures (Interdisciplinary Debates on the Empirical Aesthetics of Music) aim at bringing together internationally well-known researchers who discuss questions that relate to the production and reception of music from various perspectives.

Musicologists from all branches of their discipline take part as do musicians, psychologists, cognitive scientists, sociologists, philosophers and ethnologists.

External guests are welcome. Please call for registration 069 8300 479-201.