The answers to these questions change depending upon the age of the students and the size of physical concert space. At all levels, the purpose of concerts is to allow students to share their hard work with family and friends. As students grow older, their skills and therefore their audiences, can grow.
At the elementary level, the concerts are for the students and their parents. As teachers, we do not need to worry about attracting this audience. They parents will attend simply because their children are playing.
At the middle school and high school level, bands, choirs and orchestras can gain exposure and serve the community by providing music for sporting events and ceremonies. Middle schoolers will probably only be playing for eighth grade graduations and middle school sporting events, but this is terrific practice for high school. Our middle school recently had a faculty-student basketball game, and ten middle schoolers played the Star Spangled Banner. The small ensemble was nervous, but they sounded wonderful and gained confidence by completing the task.
High school ensembles often display high levels of musicianship and therefore can serve and create a sense of community. My own high school band and choirs perform at the town tree lighting and parade each December. We also perform patriotic music in the Memorial Day parade each May. Both events are well attended by families and adults without school aged children. The festive music at the tree lighting, and the patriotic music honoring our fallen veterans at the Memorial Day parade are the main attractions. The performances of the high school ensembles create the structure and agenda of the events. If we wanted to attract a larger audience at our concerts each quarter, the tree lighting would be a great time to make announcements and distribute information about the upcoming concerts, since so many people are at the events.
Unfortunately, some schools are limited by the size of their auditorium. It is often difficult for our high school auditorium to fit all of the parents who attend concerts and award ceremonies. In this situation, the music teacher should not worry about attracting new audience members.
Other schools are fortunate to have large auditoriums and the ability to put on multiple performances of their concerts. For example, Hall High School holds a Pops and Jazz performance each year. The event is a themed musical review, combining the jazz bands, choir members, and theater department. Pops and Jazz has multiple performances over a weekend. The impressive performance often sells out and attracts audience members of all ages. The people of the town obviously love and support the annual event, and the program brings the community together.
If a music program has the physical space, attracting community members without school aged children is a worthwhile goal. By publicizing concerts in press releases, at service events such as tree lightnings and parades, and at sports events that the pep band performs at, music departments can grow the size and breadth of their audience.
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