APU’s School of Music works to engage the artform’s audience in new ways as the audience of classical music ages
Daniel Shapiro can say more with a stroke of a piano key than in any arbitrary amount of words.
This was evident in his solo piano performance on the evening of Nov. 21 at Azusa Pacific’s Munson Chapel, where Shapiro made the technicalities of performing Beethoven’s sonatas look effortless.
Perhaps Shapiro was able to convey so much emotion through each of them because he “thinks in sounds,” specifically orchestral and vocal ones. His 25 years of experience as a pedagogue have also helped him deepen his understanding of the music itself, as he discovers new things about it with each performance.
Or, it may simply be his inheritance of the “classical musician bug,” which Shapiro said does not have a cure in our day and age.
But while the classical musician bug remains as timeless as the notes that Beethoven penned almost 250 years ago, the audience that appreciates the artform has significantly shrunk. This is partially due to generationally-based differences in culture, as the main audience that still appreciates classical music has aged. Another reason for this is the way in which the atmosphere around the artform has dramatically morphed.
“It used to be that classical music was a party,” said Joel Clifft, the director of keyboard studies at APU. “It wasn’t separate or different than going to a bar to listen to a rock band. People would cheer in the middle of the thing, and they would even be moved to riots sometimes.”
Now, Clifft compares the poshness that surrounds music recitals to a museum piece hanging on a wall that audience members have difficulty interacting with and understanding.
“There is such an atmosphere of stodginess and proper recital etiquette that’s killed the joy for the actual music because it’s not fun to go listen to it if you are stuck in an uncomfortable scene and you’re not able to respond audibly or physically to what’s going on,” Clifft said.
This was true of Shapiro’s performance, as the people who came to appreciate his mastery were few. Aside from a few curious APU students and School of Music faculty members, the crowd consisted of a handful of elderly couples.
However, Clifft feels the problem that the field of classical music faces does not diminish its value.
“I can’t imagine a world without Beethoven or these wonderful works of art,” Clifft said. “The audience may not be as big as it was for classical music 100 years ago, but I don’t believe that it will ever go away because humans can relate to finely crafted works of art that produce an emotional response. That’s not going to change.”
Another obstacle that Clifft attributed to the barrier between performers and audience members is the lack of education. He explained that there are some “on-the-surface” elements of classical music performances that can be immediately enjoyed by the viewer. However, he feels it takes exposure and knowledge to fully appreciate the artistry of a musician.
For this reason, the School of Music seeks to bring in musicians and experienced pedagogues like Shapiro to APU, in order to maintain a common appreciation for the art and keep students engaged. The day after his performance for example, Shapiro delivered a piano masterclass where a handful of eager music performance majors were able to work with the pianist in individual thirty-minute sessions.
Students and School of Music faculty members during Daniel Shapiro’s piano masterclass on Nov. 22 at APU. Photo by Anna Savchenko.
Senior piano performance major Qishan Shi was one of them. She was left with a positive impression from working with Shapiro, and said it was helpful to have someone else other than her instructor offer her fresh advice.
As for the industry of classical music outside of APU, Clifft said that many classical musicians have done similar community events and educational workshops to increase audience engagement. He specifically pointed to the infamous Gustavo Dudamel and his performances as a conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
“His audiences just dance and yell and are so alive,” Clifft said.
Dudamel’s success exemplifies how added elements such as multimedia, dancing and fine art can enhance the artistic experience beyond that of a simple spectator. But it’s a hard truth to accept that the population of people who enjoy attending classical music events is thinning, and musicians must seek innovative ways to re-develop an interest for audience members to want to live these types of experiences.
In this respect, Clifft said APU was different.
“I have seen a lot of graduate recitals with three people in the audience at bigger universities but I think it depends on the quality of music as well as the relationships with the community that the artist has,” Clifft said.
While bigger schools can offer an artist a chance to be anonymous, smaller schools have stronger community ties where people are more likely to go to a performance to support a familiar face.
APU’s School of Music also cultivates this communal atmosphere by bringing together all undergraduate music majors together each Monday to perform and listen to all genres of music. Students with a classical focus get to listen and jive to jazz, whole commercial music majors get to hear classical pieces and maybe even draw inspiration from them, Clifft said.
“I think that’s a big part of deepening appreciation and building an audience to not be stuck in one genre as far as what we appreciate and understand,” Clifft said.
As Shapiro said, it all comes down to one’s love for music and the transformative power that a single performance can have on an individual’s life.